TV tales

Since the move to BT Sport in 2013 Premiership Rugby have not been shy about telling everyone how well that move has worked in terms of TV viewers.

Using http://www.barb.co.uk/ we at Leicester Tigers Ultra SubMarines have been tracking the viewing figures from the past 11 Premiership Finals and they tell an interesting story.

These figures are based on the average viewers for a programme, other figures may be based on a peak audience which will obviously be higher.  For instance it is claimed the 2015 Premiership Final's peak audience was 297,000; but BARB reports the average figures at 165,000.  Obviously BT's preference for a long pre-game build up and post game analysis will hurt an average but the Premiership Final's record average viewing figures were 394,000 in 2009; the last final before the announcement to move away from Sky Sports.  So whilst you've probably read about a huge rise in viewing figures these are all based from the historic lows recorded on the short lived ESPN.

As we can see from the high point on Sky Sports we have actually lost c.60% of viewers.

Successful growth in TV audiences according to Premiership Rugby

BARB also allows us to track the weekly figures from the 2014-15 season.  BT Sport showed 66 games in the regular season and it is these we shall review.

BT Sport regularly show one game on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The kick off times on Saturday and Sunday migrate a bit around the day but the times are pretty consistent.  On Saturday at 3:15 you can be pretty confidant of catching a game.

Does the kick off time have an affect on the viewing figures?

A simple analysis says that it does.  Traditionalists will rejoice that the most popular time for armchair fans is good old Saturday at 3 o'clock.  As a canny reader will spot that was just the one game though, Saracens hosting of Quins at Wembley.

Generally Saturday was the best day with a consistent 150,000 people tuning in.  The low of 77,500 can be explained as the last day of the Premiership season which saw 155,000 people watch the two games simultaneously broadcast.  Friday nights are the next most popular, a fairly consistent 100,000 tuning in each week, whilst Sundays saw very changeable audiences with a peak 162,000 seeing Gloucester play Wasps over Christmas whilst only 32,000 saw Wasps travel to Sale in October.

That begs the question do the teams involved make a difference to the viewing figures?

Saracens v Bath failed to get in BARB's weekly top 10 so is excluded from these figures

It looks like they do.  Overall Northampton were the most watched team with 1,988,000 views over the course of the season, just beating Tigers by 6,000.

Tigers though had two fewer games broadcast and were well ahead of any rivals on a per game basis.  These figures are interesting when compared with attendances (excluding "big games" at Wembley, Twickenham and Stadium MK).


The TV figures are much closer to the competition average smoothing the results, with Irish attracting the least viewers but only 22.35% less than the average.

Welsh in contrast attracted 70.61% less than the average attendance.  Similarly Tigers attracted TV audiences 26.35% up on our rivals but our attendances were near enough double the competition average.

What this does show is that those clubs that have been successful in building their attendances have also been successful in bringing fans in front of the TV.  The only club to buck that trend is Wasps and this due to bump in attendances generated with the move to Coventry.  It will be interesting to see if their new found fan base is willing to part with their hard earned cash for a BT Sports subscription next season.

Overall the most watched game in the season was Tigers 32-12 loss at The Stoop whilst Sarries "Big Game" at Wembley and Tigers trip to Northampton pre-Christmas were the others with an average over 200,000 views.  The Premiership Final would be the 7th most watched game on this measure.

According to data published this was the most watched regular season match in 2015 in either Rugby Union or League.  For those who love rivalry between the codes the same source gives the Super League an average viewership of 114,327, 2% above the Premiership's figure.

Fixtures Announced for 2015/16

Last Friday Premiership Rugby revealed this season's fixtures and as we at the UltraSubMarines pride our selves on our fast breaking news service we bring you the news only 5 days late.

What we lack in punctuality though we make up for in occasional accidental wit and searing insight.

As has been well signed posted Premiership Rugby is starting late next season and the LV Cup has been scrapped, allegedly for one year only but we'll see if PRL actually let the RFU re-start the cup and what bastardised format they insist on.  

This means that there is a game every weekend for 25 weeks and you only get a rest if you are knocked out in Europe.  Player Welfare?  Nah after all that England flog them for three friendlies Down under in Australia for good measure.

Anyway the Premiership kicks off on 18th October and the first three weeks of the season clashes with the Rugby World Cup.  With Burt "Stuart" Lolcaster's men facing Wales and Australia its not exactly impossible that we will only be missing Marcos Ayerza and only from the first game.

Those three weeks see us away to London Irish, and at home to Harlequins then Wasps.  Irish away is a good test first up, really even with World Cup absences it should be won if we have designs on a home semi final.  Next we face Harlequins either without Brown, Marler and Robshaw or captain fantastic has seen England knocked out at the group stage, or by Samoa or Scotland in the quarters.  

Somehow I don't think England failing so badly will have a particularly positive effect on messers Brown, Marler and capitaine fantastique so either they're not there because Lolcaster's brave boys and bring Rugby home, what ho! Or they might as well not be there because of a shattered spirit after the humiliating humping by Uruguay.  

Old School Fixtures Grid

Wasps is another of those must win games.  With the new local bragging rights at stake, and on World Cup Final day, Tigers will surely be hoping to test out the new 26,000 capacity for this one with many staying on to watch the inevitable Samoa v New Zealand final.

The first week after the World Cup is a tricky away trip to Exeter before we break into Europe.

With the LV scrapped there are no "down" weeks for us next season, every week sees a Premiership or Champions Cup match.  After the first batch of European games we return to face Bath at home, Bath will face the same challenge but Worcester and Newcastle who book end the second set of Euro fixures have no such concern.

Worcester will know they have 3 weeks to recuperate after our game whilst Newcastle have 2 games to rest and rotate to peak for their trip to Welford Road, though they do face a trip to sunny Siberia at some point in the season.  Really both should still be wins.  

Moving into 2016 we face possibly a defining run of fixtures in January: Saracens (A), Northampton (H), 2 European fixtures then Gloucester at Kingsholm.  Gloucester have the same advantages that Worcester and Newcastle have regarding rest, though Gloucester will at least be targeting the Challenge Cup for silverware.

5 wins in January and we are surely in dream land having dealt blows to rivals both at home and abroad, 5 defeats is not impossible and could see major changes in the club.

A truly grueling season drives on straight through the 6 Nations.  Whether the England team is picked by Sir Lolcaster or England's newest coach Jim "'ll Fix it" Mallender remains to be seen but the Youngs brothers are sure to be called for all 7 weeks whilst the Italians will be available for Harlequins (A) and Exeter (H).

I feel we've been particularly unlucky with the fixture draw during the 6 Nations.  Sale, Irish and Exeter at home are all hugely dangerous to face with depleted resources whilst Newcastle, Quins and Wasps away are all games we'd be looking to win with a full squad.

Coming off the back of the difficult January we could claw back a lot of points here with backs to the wall wins, or equally drop 3 or more games where we'd have hoped to win.

The 6 Nations rounds off with Sarries at home that frankly I see as a loss.  You never know but let's just say if I'm a Tigers coach looking to kill time in a casino I don't care what odds they offer I'm keeping my four lots of £200 in my pocket.

The season starts to relent a bit with Sale (A) and Gloucester (H) both of which should see wins with the full side available.

Really April rests on Europe.  If we have a quarter final we could see three massive games in as many weeks as we have European Quarter then Saints (A) before a potential Semi.  Or we have a 2 week build up followed by 2 weeks of recuperation.

Worcester (H) finishes the home programme before going to Bath in May.  What could possibly go wrong there?

The final three fixtures could be relaxing and a chance to finish off a rival's title hopes, alternatively it could be where we make or break a play off charge.

I recognise there's a lot of fence sitting in this article but sue me.  I've no idea whether next year we'll see more of the Semi Final Tigers or more of the Ricoh Tigers.  So I've no idea if we'll be finishing a dismal 6th, another creditable 3rd or bursting into a home Semi Final.

Across the league Tigers have been unlucky to see 6 homes games in the 10 affected by international calls and two of their opponents after European adventures not face such stiff test themselves.  In such a tight and unpredictable league those factors may just be the deciders.

Date	comp	Oppo	Clash
18/10/2015	P	Irish (A)	RWC QF
24/10/2015	P	Harlequins (H)	RWC SF
31/10/2015	P	Wasps (H)	RWC F
07/11/2015	P	Exeter (A)
14/11/2015	EC	Group Stage
21/11/2015	EC	Group Stage
28/11/2015	P	Bath (H)
05/12/2015	P	Worcester (A)
12/12/2015	EC	Group Stage
19/12/2015	EC	Group Stage
26/12/2015	P	Newcastle (H)
02/01/2016	P	Saracens (A)
09/01/2016	P	Northampton (H)
16/01/2016	EC	Group Stage
23/01/2016	EC	Group Stage
30/01/2016	P	Gloucester (A)
06/02/2016	P	Sale (H)	6N
14/02/2016	P	Newcastle (A)	6N
20/02/2016	P	Harlequins (A)
27/02/2016	P	Irish (H)	6N
05/03/2016	P	Exeter (H)
12/03/2016	P	Wasps (A)	6N
19/03/2016	P	Saracens (H)	6N
26/03/2016	P	Sale (A)
02/04/2016	P	Gloucester (H)
09/04/2016	EC	Quarters
16/04/2016	P	Northampton (A)
23/04/2016	EC	Semi
30/04/2016	P	Worcester (H)
07/05/2016	P	Bath (A)
14/05/2016	EC	Final
21/05/2016	P	Semi
28/05/2016	P	Final

U 18s League Fixtures released

Tigers Academy Under 18s will open the defence of their Northern Conference Title  with a trip to the north west to face their Sale counter parts on Saturday October 26th.

Last season Tigers' cubs romped to a 100% record of 6 bonus point wins from 6 and this year's age group will look to emulate the 2012/13 team and go one better as Leicester Tigers UltraSubMarines understands that there will be a final with the Southern Conference Champions to crown inaugural national U 18s champions.

After the trip to Sale Tigers welcome Worcester and Northampton to Oval Park in consecutive weekends in December before traveling to Gloucester then Leeds in January.  They round off the league by playing Newcastle in February.

Unfortunately last year's double header of the Gloucester U-18 game with the Wasps LV Cup game can not be repeated as there are away games on the 21 December and the 8 February, whilst Montpellier has already been confirmed for Sunday 15 December.

To be eligible for the league games players must be born no earlier than September 1995; 3 "over age" players are also allowed so long as they are still 18 years old.

26 October Sale (A)
14 December Worcester (H)
21 December Northampton (H)
4 January Gloucester (A)
18 January Leeds (A)
8 February Newcastle (H)

Fixture Dates and Grids

Tigers fixture list for the 2013/14 season is practically complete after the last month has seen the Premiership, Heineken Cup and LV= Cup all release their fixtures. As is the sport's new custom they won't actually confirm when 5 of the 32 guaranteed games will be played just yet and can change any of the others with 5 weeks notice.  Anyway ...

Tigers kick off their season at home to Worcester on the 8th of September, the latest start to a season in a non-Rugby World Cup year since the game went professional in 1995. Tigers then head to old rivals Bath, exactly 100 years and 1 day since our first fixture with the West Country club on September 13th 1913 (Tigers won 19-5). 

The 21st of September sees Deano returning with his 2nd Tier Champions Newcastle; a trip to Exeter is squeezed in before the derby match with Northampton.  Tensions will surely be running high as Tigers fans and officials are still furious with the behaviour Dorian West, who incited this summer's long running saga over Cockerill's contact with the 4th official, and Courtney Lawes whose late and dangerous tackle was met with no further punishment, the fact he went on the England tour this summer obviously had no effect on the RFU's decision to let him off.  Equally Northampton will be smarting from once again losing their rag, and another final, against their perennial rivals. 

Returning Lions

Tigers' Lions will have all returned by this point.  The EPS agreement between the RFU and the Clubs stipulates that players must have an 11 week summer gap between games.  A game, however, is defined as more than 40 minutes, so its not as simple as merely counting off 11 weeks from the last test.  Well it is Geoff Parling.  

Tom Croft last played more than a half in the first test so is available straightaway at the start of the season; Manu Tuilagi and Dan Cole both played against the Melbourne Rebels on the 25th of June and the Youngs brothers played the 2nd test 4 days later so all 4 will be available for the trip to the Rec.  Geoff Parling will be the last Lion as he will be in line to return against his former club Newcastle.


The big games keep on coming thick and fast as Tigers will then travel to Belfast to open their account in Europe.  Both sides won their group last year and both lost away quarter finals, Tigers going down to eventual Champions Toulon whilst Ulster lost to Saracens at Twickenham.  Tigers will be looking to avenge their previous two trips to the Northern Irish capital, we were manshamed 33-0 in 2004 and humiliated 41-7 in 2012.  Third time lucky?

Due to a clash with Leicester City v Huddersfield, Tigers have a rare Friday night European game against Treviso, our first Friday night at Welford Road in Europe since playing Stade Francais in 2004. 

Complete Premiership Fixtures Grid

The England players then disappear for a month for the Autumn internationals and the Tigers take on Wasps and Quins before the LV Cup starts and the fringe players will get their chance on another Friday night against the Ospreys. 

The England players are back for the visit of London Irish on November 23rd, though as it falls in the IRB's test window we will be missing Ayerza, Goneva and if selected by their country Mulipola and Mafi.  All are available to Gloucester in front of the Shed the following week before returning to Europe with back to back fixtures against Montpellier. 

For the 4th time in 5 years Sale are the Tigers Christmas opponents as they come to Leicester on the 28th of December before Bath are welcomed in the return fixture on the 4th of January.  Tigers commercial team will be looking for two sell outs to swell the club's coffers. 

Tigers tackle the fixture that is already looking like a rather large banana skin when they travel to Treviso in January as the Heineken Cup resumes.  It took a last minute penalty try to save the Tigers bacon last time and a 80m try 4 minutes from time the trip before.  It will not be easy and sooner rather than later we will come up short in Italy.

Fixture Grid for Heineken Cup

The Heineken Cup group stage is rounded off as Ulster visit in what we all hope will be for a home quarter final.

The 6 Nations then swings into gear and we have to make do with two more LV Cup fixtures before the Premiership starts up again after a month off.

The 6 Nations period will be a key time that tests Cockerill's squad depth to its limit.  We travel to Worcester, London Irish and Newcastle in what will be key games, just one win might be enough to secure that always important home play off game.  Gloucester are the visitors to Welford Road in the depleted period and could be missing as many men as the home side with Lancaster seemingly a fan of Morgan, Kvesic, Burns, Twelvetrees and May. 

Just like last season straight after the 6 Nations we face Exeter, though this time at home instead of away, then face the Saints at Franklin's Gardens before any possible European Quarter Final.  I do wonder about these coincidences, are the fixtures truly drawn at random?  They seem to be almost as consistent as they were when he fixture secretaries drew them up pipe and scotch in hand. 

In a further coincidence just like last season we face Wasps the week after the Quarter Finals, then travel down to what is traditionally a happy hunting ground in the Stoop.  A week is set aside for the European Semi Finals, hopefully a taxing week rather than a resting one, before the season is finished off with a trip to Sale's new home in Salford and the visit of Saracens.  The last time we had Saracens on the last day of the season was of course in 2010 when Brendan Venter, a medical doctor in his spare time apparently, went down in Crumbie folklore and Saracens won a dead rubber.

Then the business end.

 

Date	H/A	Opponent
08/09/2013	H	Worcester
14/09/2013	A	Bath
21/09/2013	H	Newcastle
29/09/2013	A	Exeter
05/10/2013	H	Northampton
11/10/2013	A	Ulster
18/10/2013	H	Treviso
27/10/2013	A	Wasps
02/11/2013	H	Quins
08/11/2013	H	Ospreys(LV)
16/16/17 WE	A	Worcester(LV)
23/11/2013	H	Irish
30/11/2013	A	Gloucester
08/12/2013	H	Montpellier
15/12/2013	A	Montpellier
21/12/2013	A	Saracens
28/12/2013	H	Sale
04/01/2014	H	Bath
10/11/12 WE	A	Treviso
17/18/19 WE	H	Ulster
24/25/26 WE	A	Quins (LV)
31/1/2 WE	H	Bath (LV)
07/02/2014	A	Worcester
15/02/2014	H	Gloucester
23/02/2014	A	Irish
02/03/2014	A	Newcastle
7/8/9 WE		LV Semi
16/03/2014	N	LV Final
22/03/2014	H	Exeter
29/03/2014	A	Northampton
5/6 WE		Euro QF
12/04/2014	H	Wasps
19/04/2014	A	Quins
26/27 WE		Euro SF
02/05/2014	A	Sale
10/05/2014	H	Saracens
17/05/2014		Prem Semi
24/05/2014	N	Euro Final
31/05/2014	N	Prem Final

Saturday Night Fever

Premiership Rugby today announced that Tigers will play their home match against Saracens at 8:00 PM on Saturday 23rd of February.  The match is scheduled to be on ESPN after the England v France match which kicks off at 5:00 PM.  I for one think this is a cracking move.  It is called Prime Time for a reason so should work well for TV but better than that rather than existing in the phantom tea time slot that ruins both your afternoon and your evening it instead just your Saturday night entertainment for the night.  I don't say this very often, Well done Premiership Rugby.

Tigers game away at Harlequins on Saturday February 16th has also been selected for TV and will be shown at  5:15 PM live on Sky.

Meanwhile Tigers' games against London Welsh and Sale Sharks have both been confirmed as Saturday 3:00 PM kick offs.

Premiership fixtures:

Sat Feb 9th  London Welsh (H) 3:00 PM 
Sat Feb 16th Harlequins (A) 5:15 PM on Sky
Sat Feb 23rd Saracens (H) 8:00 PM on ESPN
Sat Mar 2nd Sale (H) 3:00 PM

Its All Welsh to Me, LV Cup fixtures confirmed

The dates and kick off times for Tigers final two LV Cup group games have been confirmed.  In Round 3 Tigers are at home to Wasps; the match will be a rare treat a 3 O'clock kick off on a Saturday!  Round 4 will see Tigers to travel to West Wales to take on Llanelli Scarlets, a match which will be broadcast on Welsh language channel S4C.  The game has been moved to a Sunday lunchtime, kicking off at 1 O'clock, to act as a warm up to the Italy France match in Rome later in the afternoon.

Felly, cael tynnu esgyrn i fyny ar eich Cymraeg!

Round 3
Saturday 26th January 15:00 Leicester v Wasps

Round 4
Sunday 3rd February 13:00 Llanelli Scarlets v Leicester

Treviso Game moved

Tigers next European Cup game, against Treviso, has been put back by 24 hours to Sunday December 9th with a 3pm kick off.  This is due to a clash with Leicester City. 

This clash has been on the cards for months so it is a pretty poor way to treat our Italian visitors who may well have booked flights to leave on the Sunday months ago. 

Chirstmas and New Year's fixtures confirmed

Tigers fixture's over the "festive period" have been confirmed as the following:

Saturday 1st December, Bath, Home, kick off 12:30.  On ESPN.
Saturday 22nd December, London Irish, Away, kick off 3:00.  No TV.
Saturday 29th December, Gloucester, Home, kick off 5:00.  On Sky.
Friday 4th January, Worcester, Away, kick off 8:00. On ESPN.

The Bath game is the same day as Leicester City play Derby, however that kicks off at 5:35.