Gambling slump a new reality for sports and media

Like Seven, according to a recent report Australian, and also wants to meet with Ten’s new owner. David Ellison. This month he warned Nine and Foxtel: through Financial Reviewif they colluded he would get the rights elsewhere, which left countless executives scratching their heads as to where he thought V’landys would go.

Ask almost anyone in media circles and they will tell you that the idea that Seven has cash is delusional, as is the idea that the AFL and NRL could be given equal importance on the same network.

While Ten and Paramount have new billionaire owners, David Ellison looks set to focus more on efforts to buy Warner Bros, HBO and CNN rather than spending billions on rugby league. There is also no sign that any international giants are interested, although V’landys may seek to split the rights between more than two partners, such as the English Premier League or the NFL.

You’re probably about to lose

More importantly, there is a requirement to keep games on free-to-air TV and the industry has made less money than it did when the AFL, Seven and Foxtel reached the record deal. At the time, networks were in the midst of a post-COVID rebound.

Since then, hundreds of millions of advertising dollars a year have evaporated and one of the biggest financial pillars of modern sport, gambling money, is under threat.

New figures show betting firms have cut advertising spend by 36 per cent since 2022 – much more than any other industry – due to public outcry and upcoming regulations on the industry.

Total spending fell from $139.3 million in the first eight months of 2022 to $88.8 million this year, according to SMI Guideline figures. In the BackgroundThere are consecutive declines every year.

Crucially, figures ending in August have been cut ahead of the busy AFL and NRL finals as well as spring racing.

V’landys knows the power of online betting companies better than anyone else. Racing NSW has flourished under his leadership, thanks in part to Sportsbet and Ladbrokes. The NRL and AFL have major sponsorship deals with Sportsbet, charging fees for every bet placed on the sport and television advertising helps pay for the ballooning cost of the rights.

The Albanian government has yet to officially respond to the 31 recommendations made in the Murphy Report 842 days ago, which called for heavy regulations on the sector, including a blanket ban on advertising. The public supports it but the leagues say the money supports grassroots sports, media companies say they cannot live without it and bookmakers say the ban will lead to illegal activity and the Prime Minister accepts this.

And millions are still being spent splashing betting companies’ logos on team jerseys and stadiums. And the betting industry hopes slowing the flow of advertising money will help avoid a full ban.

This is the first competitive rights process for the NRL since 2012 and a big test for networks struggling with collapsing advertising revenue and the prospect of limited gambling revenue. At this point, it’s impossible to say whether V’landys will get his asking price. Since the AFL deal, Foxtel customers have borne the brunt of the cost, with successive increases in Kayo prices and no more free matches on Saturdays.

Spotted: ‘Boris’ enters the belly of the beast

Tongues were wagging at Sky News boss Nine’s 1 Denison Street HQ on Tuesday. Paul Whittakeror Boris as he is known, was seen heading towards the elevators.

Probably wasn’t a good word to put James Birtlesvice president of programming, who rejoins Nine as EP A Current Event.

Although there is speculation that it may be discussing a bid for 3AW and 2GB. In the Background This was said to be the first face-to-face meeting, more innocently, with Nine chief executive Matt Stanton, with whom Sky is the long-term commercial partner of Nine’s news footage.

free speech warriors

If Boris had answered our call we would have asked him why Sky was revising its regular guest list after Bacongate. While regular After Dark The program was interrupted in the first part of the three-part program. Tony Abbott In the documentary (released by News Corp’s HarperCollins, of course) to coincide with the release of his new book on Monday, viewers’ favorite history educator was prevented from appearing on stage, Stephen Chavura Second week in a row at Campion College.

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Chavura, who later focused on “Anglo-Celtic” social media content Freya is on fire He was fired two and a half weeks ago and will not be returning to his weekly duties. Bolt Report on mondays, In the Background It is said reliably.

Be that as it may, when contacted, Chavura said it was always a privilege to be on the show. Slide and Sky, Sky’s communications team didn’t even bother to reply.

KIIS of death

This week saw our sixth (and second-to-last) radio ratings hit of the year. In a year and a half Kyle Sandilands And Jackie “O” Henderson The Melbourne entry sees the duo settle into the breakfast norm of around six per cent audience share.

Maybe managers at ARN are okay with this. But with the duo’s new $10 million-a-year contracts (each!), there’s an implicit understanding that the cash represents incremental advertising dollars from a new market. However, the exact opposite happened.

ARN’s share of ad dollars spent in its five metro markets fell 12.4 percent in the first seven months of the year, leaving it $7.5 million worse off than last year.

It’s not entirely down to the star duo, of course, but breakfast traditionally determines the day of programming and since launch KIIS’s overall share in Melbourne has fallen to just 4.9 per cent.