Before anybody gets the heebie-jeebies, the following Article is an official Media Release of figures and statistics, compiled and sent out by the Vodacom Bulls marketing machine… but it makes for interesting reading nonetheless.
Topping the South African conference is evidence that the Vodacom Bulls are performing on the field. According to leading sports researchers BMI, the boys in blue lead off the field too in terms of being the most watched Super Rugby team this year. Add to that a 300% growth in Facebook followers as well as over 10 000 Twitter fans and it’s safe to say that the Pretoria based side is having the season of their lives.
The popularity of South Africa’s most successful Super Rugby franchise is evident not just by home crowd attendances or jersey sales but also in television audience ratings. With an estimated 9 644 000 rugby supporters in South Africa, the Vodacom Bulls boast the highest number of supporters compared to the other franchises. Fast approaching the 3 million supporter mark, the Vodacom Bulls has positioned itself as a family brand and has mass appeal across all race, gender and age groups. 49% of its supporter base are Black, while 32% account for the White population, 17% are Coloureds and 2% Indians. The Vodacom Bulls also proudly boast the country’s youngest supporter profile of 42% under the 35-year age group.
When studying television audiences, it’s the same popular rugby franchise that comes out tops. Having monitored 73 games broadcast from February until May on SuperSport 1, the Vodacom Bulls top the charts with an average match day audience of 535 744. The highest audience figures were recorded on March 31st when the DHL Stormers hosted the Vodacom Bulls at the DHL Newlands Stadium. Despite the defeat the 2010 Super 14 champions could be well proud of the 770 000 viewers that tuned in to the Channel of Champions – more than a quarter of a million more viewers above the average Super Rugby viewership for local derbies.
Two weeks later, the Pretoria based side thrashed their neighbours the MTN Lions 32 – 18 and again attracted television audiences well above the average. This particular match rated second in terms of viewership figures amongst local teams with a total audience of 584 200, which is 154 000 more viewers than the MTN Lions would typically expect.
The Vodacom Bulls also dominated the next category featuring local teams against their New Zealand and Australian counterparts. Playing against the Brumbies, Reds, Crusaders and Blues, the Vodacom Bulls dominated the top four spots with an average of 614 725 viewers per game – over 150 000 more viewers on average than any of our local teams playing against an Australian or New Zealand team.
In this category, the team’s highest audience figure was 671 830 for their match against the Brumbies on April 21st, 208 618 more than the overall average. Their fixture against defending champions the Reds on March 24th occupied second spot with a total viewership of 612 826, which was 149 7614 more than the overall average.
A quick comparison to the other South African franchises for the period February to May 2012, revealed that the Vodacom Bulls games are ahead of its competitors by between 78 478 to 199 917 viewers per match. The average for nine Vodacom Bulls games for this period was 535 744, which was 78 478 higher than second highest, the Stormers with 457 266. The Lions were not far off the Cape side with an average of 429 257, while the Sharks (392 816) and the Cheetahs (335 827) didn’t reach the 400 000 mark.
Added to the successful television audiences, is the recent growth of the team’s social media platforms. Having recently increased their presence on social media platforms Twitter and Facebook, the results are something to ride home about with a 300% growth on Facebook. Twitter is just as impressive with over 10 000 fans signing up.
With three Super Rugby titles under their belt and renowned worldwide as the most successful Super 14 team in history with three titles out of five, the Vodacom Bulls have set the benchmark both on and off the field of play.
It’s lekker to be a Bulls Supporter!
… hope I can say so after Friday morning’s game against the Chiefs too….
They waste all that money doing all that research with these so-called specialist researchers. Why didn’t they just come and ask me. I would have given them all that research for free!!!
2 @ Just For Kicks:
Would be interesting to see the Crowd attendance figures at the Stadia for the 15 Super Rugby sides.
I would guess Newlands would be No 1, Loftus No 2, Kings Park No 3… and all the rest trailing way behind them.
After all, Newlands is known as the WonderBra Stadium…. all the support, but no cups
Hoe word die kyker talle bepaal? Sateliet seine is eenrigting verkeer, so hoe weet hulle wie kyk na watse game? Stuur my dekordeerder ‘n sein uit?
4 @ leon:
A lot like the newspaper Amps are measured, I suppose… by Independent organisations specialising in doing exactly that.
For instance, you can’t just take the Circulation figures of a newspaper like Rapport… they print a certain number, which is distributed… some are not sold, not all unsold papers are returned, yet they know how many people read Rapport (about 4 people per copy sold) but they also can pull down the readership to demographics and location, LSM types (how rich or poor, ages, sex), weeks of the year and some other key measurements.
Those figures HAVE TO BE accurate and has been refined into quite a science.
Not sure exactly how they do it though… Handbriekie could have given you a full lecture about it, but she’s at an awards function’s afterparty now… hehehe
For decades and decades now TV Stations and channels have had their viewership measured and analised. That’s how they determine what shows should continue, what should be scrapped, what the price tag and figures should be for advertising revenue, which TV times fall in prime time windows…. ect.
@ grootblousmile:
Om ‘n sekere trend te bepaal kan ek nog verstaan, maar om spesifieke syfers vir ‘n rugby game te kry verstaan ek nie. Ek sal dit maar moet ondersoek want dit gaan my nou bly pla tot ek die antwoord kry.
Blue Bulls and its competitors. Highly uninformed SA public do not know what is going on under their noses.
Blue Bulls 50% equity owned by MARC Group Ltd
The following Directors serve on the company’s board:
John Newbury – (Chairman of the Board) – MARC Group
Louis Nel – Blue Bulls Rugby Union
Jannie van der Mescht – Blue Bulls Rugby Union
Gert Wessels – Blue Bulls Rugby Union
Brand de Villiers – MARC Group
Pasty Malefo – MARC Group
Stefan Crouse – MARC Group (Alternate Director)
Barend van Graan – Chief Executive Officer of the Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd
http://www.marcgroup.co.za/en/blue_bulls_company_pty_ltd/index.html
WP/Stormers 24.9% equity owned by MARC Group Ltd
WP Rugby (Pty) Ltd – The “commercial arm” of WP Rugby. Responsibilities include;
Professional athlete acquisition, development and management,
Event management,
Stadium management,
Brand management and
Commercialisation of all our rugby properties and events.
Pat Kühn – Chairman
Rob Wagner – Chief Executive Officer
Mark Hall – General Manager: Finance
Gavin Lewis – General Manager: Marketing, Events and Stadium
http://www.marcgroup.co.za/en/western_province_rugby/index.html
Those are the guys cashing in on Stormers and Bulls merchandise sales, gate receipts and marketing the teams on Supersport. It is because of this very same things the Kings will replace the Lions.
@ grootblousmile:
If you see the Currie Cup again you will see WP on it 32 times. That is about 9 more than the Bulls.
Cheers
8 @ Spooony:
Relevance?
Nee spoony, ek verstaan ook nie. Ek gaan maar oefen.
6 @ leon:
Volgende keer as ek met ouens soos Hadat Viljoen van Kyknet, Multichoice of die mense van SuperSport mingle, sal ek bietjie hieroor uitvra… dit sal interessant wees om insig te hê hoe hieride tipe syfers bepaal word.
@ grootblousmile:
After all, Newlands is known as the WonderBra Stadium…. all the support, but no cups<— Relevance
@ grootblousmile:
Dankie. Sal dit waardeer.
12 @ Spooony:
Still unsure what message you are trying to convey…
The Marc Group own a stake in all the unions except 3. The Lions, Pumas and Boland.
Supersport got a stake in the Cheetahs, Sharks and Griquas.
Now the Marc group is cashing in from all the tv numbers and all the supporters going to the stadiums. So WP/Stormers and Bulls totals you can combine and see the huge amount of money they are making with the marketing.
The SA Rugby Markerting revenue was over 400million a year. How much did Newscorp pay SARU for 10 years? 7×400 = 28000 0000. That is what Supersport and the Marc Group are getting in on just the merchandising returns. That is about 1 percent of their profits! Gate receipts is 16 percent of their profit!
So Spoons…. in essense what you’re saying is that the Marc Group on the one hand and SuperSport (which is affilated to Naspers / Media24) has SARU by the short & curlies…
… has most of the Rugby Unions in SA by the short & curlies too… and will now endeavour to work the Unions not under their control out of the equasion, in favour of a situation like the Southern Kings, so they could excercise control there too…
Well, yes, I suppose so….. but that is a simplistic way of looking at it. There are a number of other factors at work too…. many other factors.
@ grootblousmile:
It is called money. Kings in bigger revenues. Lions in. No change in revenues
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