Sky reveals flat Super Rugby Pacific audience numbers across regular season, but Black Ferns surge
Thursday, 5 June 2025
Total audience on linear channels Sky Sport and Sky Open decreased.
Rise in digital viewership just covered linear decline during regular season.
By contrast, Black Ferns delivered big increase during Pacific Four series.
Super Rugby Pacific broadcast numbers have been “flat” during the regular season, with the total audience on Sky Sport and Sky Open actually falling from 1.94 million in 2024 to 1.83 million this year.
That decrease was just covered by a 19% increase in digital viewership on Sky Go and Sky Sport Now, but the overall picture suggests that the competition has come back down to earth after recording a 12% increase last year compared to 2023.
A Sky spokeswoman confirmed to The Post that the increase in digital viewership had been enough to make up for the decrease on linear channels - Sky Sport and Sky Go -but only by “a handful”.
As a result, the overall audience numbers were “flat” this year but remained strong in the context of last year’s growth. Sky said.
The most popular match of the regular season was the Blues v Hurricanes in early March. It drew an audience of nearly 504,000 on Sky Sport and Sky Open, plus 139,000 on digital channels Sky Go and Sky Sport Now.
Last year’s most-watched game, the Crusaders v Blues game in round 14, attracted nearly 552,000 on Sky Sport and Sky Open.
Although the total number of games decreased this year due to the axing of the Rebels, Australian broadcaster Stan Sport reported a 27 per cent increase in its average audience across the regular season, while average free-to-air audiences on Nine in Australia grew by 13 per cent.
A Super Rugby Pacific statement also said total match attendance across the competition increased by 6% this year, despite a reduction in regular season games from 84 to 77.
One reason for the flat performance in broadcast numbers in New Zealand could be increased competition for eyeballs, particularly from the A-League, and the relative predictability of Super Rugby.
Despite some encouraging signs of increased jeopardy in Super Rugby matches, with 43.1% of all games decided by a margin of seven points or fewer, the top six teams at the end of the regular season were as expected.
In fact, over the past four years of Super Rugby Pacific only eight different teams have made the top six, with the Highlanders sneaking into sixth once, in 2024, and the Waratahs managing to finish sixth in 2022 and 2023.
Super Rugby Pacific chief executive Jack Mesley seized on metrics that showed a faster, more attacking rugby through the competition.
“The momentum is clear,” Mesley said in a statement.
'…From the rising TV audiences and growth in match attendance this year, to the surge in digital activity through Fantasy and social media, all signs tell us that Super Rugby Pacific is heading in the right direction.“
However, the flatlining of audiences in the New Zealand market, where the competition derives most of its broadcasting income, suggests that much more work needs to be done to shake up the competition.
By contrast, the Black Ferns have had a big year on the broadcast front. Sky said 680,000 people watched the Pacific Four series on Sky Sport and Sky Open – a 42% increase on the 2024 competition.
A further 221,000 people watched on digital channels Sky Go and Sky Sport Now, an uplift of around 72% on last year, and the Black Ferns-Australia test drew a combined linear-digital audience of 360,000.
New Zealand Rugby Commercial is currently in talks with Sky about renewing the broadcast deal, with the commercial entity taking the lead in those talks rather than New Zealand Rugby.
Despite earlier links to UK-based streamer DAZN, The Post understands that Sky is in the box seat to win the rugby rights again.