Sky's deal with the GAA, heralded as a success by both parties, appears to not have been as fruitful as was originally suggested. A report by UCD's Dr. Paul Rouse, as quoted in The Examiner, questions the validity of many of the claims put forward by both Sky and the GAA.
GAA director general, Páraic Duffy had claimed 427,000 watched last year's All-Ireland hurling final in Britain. Rouse claims however that this isn't accurate as it includes anyone who visited the channel during the game, for as short as one second. The more accurate, and widely accepted, measure of average viewers for the broadcast was 103,800, just 0.975% of market share. That game had been shown on Sky Sports 1 on a Sunday in which nothing else was on, this was a long way short what the channel usually expect;
The normal average audience for a Sunday afternoon slot on Sky Sports 1 is between 1 million and 1.8 million.
In the aftermath of the reported 104,000 viewership average for the hurling final in the UK, the GAA claimed ‘vindication’ for the deal with Sky. The reality is, at best, much more complex — and one might legitimately arrive at entirely the opposite conclusion.” - Dr. Rouse
The hurling replay managed just 54,800 viewers in the UK and Kerry-Donegal a paltry 50,500. The overall figures show that for the average over the 22 games broadcast by Sky in Britain, just 1 in 400 people watching TV at the time tuned in.
Ultimately, the average viewership of Sky’s GAA coverage of all the people watching television at any given time in Britain, amounted to .25%.”
Clare and Donegal will be putting forward motions at congress to make all Championship games free-to-air from 2017. With this report showing the lack of success from the Sky deal to date, it may see support from other counties.
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Picture credit: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE
