NPC gets shot in the arm as Sky reveals 9% increase in broadcast audience over regular season
Friday, 10 October 2025
Highest rating game was Canterbury v Auckland in round 2.
Biggest game on digitals channels was Canterbury-Otago Shield clash.
Increase comes in last year of current Sky-only deal before TVNZ gets onboard.
Provincial rugby has received some good news before the NPC quarterfinals get under way on Friday, with Sky revealing that more than 1.34 million New Zealanders have tuned into regular season on Sky Sport and Sky Open, a 9% increase on the 2024 regular season.
Frequent Ranfurly Shield challlenges helped boost these numbers, but biggest game across both Sky’s linear and digital channels was the Canterbury v Auckland clash in Christchurch in round two.
It was watched by 363,000 on Sky Sport and Sky Open, and a further 68,000 on Sky Sport Now and Sky Go.
By way of comparison, the most popular match of the Super Rugby Pacific regular season was the Blues v Hurricanes game 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.
Audiences for the NPC also grew on Sky’s digital platforms, Sky Sport Now and Sky Go, with the audience increasing 7 percent year on year to 477,000
Interesting, there was some evidence in the data that the Ranfurly Shield was attracting a slightly different and newer demographic.
For example, Sky said three Shield challenges made the top five viewed NPC games so far this year on Sky’s digital channels.
The Canterbury v Otago challenge in round 8 saw 72,000 people tune in on Sky Sport Now or Sky Go, the biggest digital audience of the season.
The growth is broadcast audience for the NPC will cement New Zealand Rugby’s belief that the Covid years are well behind it and that investment in the grassroots and rule tweaks to produce a better spectacle on the paddock are both working.
But the biggest influence might be the determined work by provinces themselves, with Southland notably attracting good crowds for their ‘Stag Day’ opener against Otago and Shield defence against Canterbury.
The overall broadcast numbers for Super Rugby Pacific were consistent with last year after strong double-digit growth in 2024.
This NPC season is the last under the current broadcast deal with Sky.
From 2026 onwards, TVNZ and its digital channel TVNZ+ will also broadcast all NPC games in a “co-exclusive” arrangement with Sky.
Prior to the new deal being agreed, it was feared that Sky would not cover the broadcast costs of all NPC games in a bid to reduce costs, but The Post understands that Sky will continue to produce all games next year and supply a feed to TVNZ.