Quantifying the value of sport broadcast rights

Abstract

Although sport broadcasting has received a considerable amount of academic attention, how sport content is valued and monetised from a broadcaster perspective remains relatively underdeveloped. This article adopts multisided market theory to test the broadcast value of Australia’s two most valuable sport broadcasting properties, the Australian Football League and the National Rugby League. To do so, a content and ratings analysis was performed to quantify the interaction between content and viewership within broadcasts. The article concludes that innate game dynamics have a significant bearing on the value generated for broadcasters from sport content. Advertising aired during intermissions generated audiences 23% lesser than advertising within the match itself. Notably, the National Rugby League’s most valuable timeslot was a delayed telecast, which although potentially reducing the audience size, allowed for an increase in the concentration of advertising within the telecast.