BBC coverage questioned after underwhelming viewing figures

[josie andrews]

Underwhelming viewing figures have emerged from the BBC’s latest Super League coverage.

This is the national broadcaster’s first year of their new deal that saw them take over from Channel 4 to show free-to-air Super League games. It’s the first time the BBC has shown games since the rebranding to Super League.

Rugby League on TV on X (formerly Twitter) revealed the viewing figures for Leigh Leopards vs Salford Red Devils:

Leigh v Salford on BBC 3 on Friday had a 55,000 average and 63,000 peak. 0.5% audience share. Half the audience of Catalans v St Helens on the same channel last month

This is half of what the BBC saw for Catalans Dragons vs St Helens:

“Catalan v St Helens averaged 110,000 on BBC 3 on Saturday Night. Peaked at 133,000 with a 0.9% Audience Share.

“112,000 average on Sky Sports Main Event with a 126,000 peak and 0.9% Audience Share.”

A higher average on a pay-to-view service than on free-to-air television is very poor, and shows how little the BBC have put into advertising the game.

This isn’t the first disappointment we’ve had from the BBC’s coverage of rugby league this season, however.

Surprisingly, the BBC didn’t broadcast any of the Challenge Cup fixtures on live terrestrial TV in Round 6, including a huge Leeds Rhinos vs St Helens clash.

For many the Challenge Cup is a BBC staple, and the national broadcaster has been showing it since 1948.

Leeds v St Helens was shown on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Red Button, but wasn’t available on any of the BBC’s regular channels.

Instead, The One Show, Celebrity Mastermind and Would I Lie To You was shown on BBC One and on BBC Two, the Great British Menu: Banquet Special and Gardener’s World were seen as more important.

BBC’s underwhelming coverage of Super League

It’s really disappointing that the BBC keep making decisions that will limit coverage of the sport we love; after looking really positive at the start of the year, with a BBC Super League deal for the first time, this feels like a real missed opportunity to make the most of it.

When we agreed to the deal of having Super League games on BBC, that should be BBC One and BBC Two, not BBC Three, which is a channel lost down the pecking order.

The BBC have provided the game with some great coverage of the Challenge Cup and World Cup over the years, but that’s because it has been predominantly broadcast on the two main channels.

BBC One and BBC Two are the first two channels people go past when they switch on their tv and go down the channel list, meaning the game is stumbled upon by new fans and watched by hundreds of thousands, possibly millions.

On BBC Three the coverage goes under the radar, there has been little to no advertisement of the coverage and at the moment the Super League deal with the BBC has been underwhelming.

This weekend, the BBC will show all four semi-finals of the men’s and women’s Challenge Cups across the network, the competition that has been their bread and butter over the years

St Helens vs York Valkyrie in the Women’s Challenge Cup is on the BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer at 11:15am on Saturday.

Later, at 1:45pm, Hull KR vs Wigan Warriors in the Men’s Challenge Cup will be free-to-air on a mainstream channel, as it’s on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

On Sunday, the women’s fixture of Wigan Warriors vs Leeds Rhinos kicks things off, and will be on the BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer at 12:30pm.

Finally, at 3:15pm, the final game sees Huddersfield Giants vs Warrington Wolves in the men’s competition, which will be on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Hopefully this weekend we will see big numbers, with the two men’s games likely to attract big viewing numbers on the two main channels.

Now, we just need to get Super League games on the two main channels to ensure the game gets the coverage it deserves and this broadcast deal can be utilised to its full potential.

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/super-le ... res-91698/

[Charriots Offiah]

I watched the Leigh v Salford game on Sky, I forgot that it was being hosted by the BBC. I am afraid to say that I am of the view that they have very little to add to our game. Channel 4 coverage was so much better.

[Jonathon Kerr (JK)]

Does the BBC pay anything extra for Super League or is something similar to the agreement which C4 had for?

[WarriorWinger]

I watched the game on sky as well as I didn't realise it was on the BBC as well, if I had know it was on the BBC I would have watched it on there to try and boost the viewing figures, but I can't recall the last time I ever watched anything on the BBC other than RL in the past year or so, so I would never see any advertising for it even if it had any on

[doc]

No publicity whatsoever elsewhere on the BBC. Found the Leigh match accidentally while flicking through the channels but it was almost over by then.

[the pieman]

complete lack of publicity and they wonder why no-one watches the game

i saw one advert on social media, RL returns to the BBC this week, but they never actually stated which match or when it was on, so was a waste of a social media post

i thought it was most likely Wigan V Hudds on Saturday afternoon that was going to be on the BBC and told others to keep an eye out for it, but then checked and nowt

i was really looking forward to watching games on BBC this year, but they've shot themselves in the foot with no Challenge Cup games broadcast live on main channels, and then this lack of publicity for the weekend just gone, really really poor IMO

[Ipinwigan]

The problem is that they are tucking the games away on BBC 3 and on i player, with no real adverts for the games.
They always have and always will treat game with disrespect.
The matches should at least be on BBC2.

[fozzie58]

I watched the Leigh v Salford game on Sky, I forgot that it was being hosted by the BBC. I am afraid to say that I am of the view that they have very little to add to our game. Channel 4 coverage was so much better.

Agreed watching the bbc is like going back in time channel 4 was so much fresher even though sky nicked the stand in the corner aspect which I never thought much of unless you like to watch the local uncle fester gurning into the camera of course

[josie andrews]

Both the Women’s semi final are being shown on BBC iPlayer! Disgraceful & disrespectful to the Women’s game IMO

I just hope I will be able to watch them when I get home from both games as I always like to watch all the games back to see the bits I may have missed.

[moto748]

I agree the coverage has been really poor. I think most folk think of BBC3 as "Yoof TV", and it wouldn't even occur to them to check schedules for sport. Just how hard is to plug the game a bit? Mentions on MotD and so on. If the BBC want to know how it's done, they might check how they publicise the Six Nations each year!
I think the camera-work, or perhaps more accurately, the editing is really poor too. Much too many zoomed-in close-ups where you can only see the ball-carrier and maybe one other player in the frame, continual reaction shots to the coaches whilst the ball is in play Why?
Also, it's gaslighting the public to tell that getting rid of the Superleague Show (for all its faults) is somehow an improvement. It isn't. Yes, the brief highlights are available online, but once again the BBC seem to need to be reminded that not everyone is online.