At the end of the regular season of the DHL Super Rugby Pacific competition, and as we head Finals rugby, over 1.94 million New Zealanders have watched the competition on Sky Sport and free-to-air on Sky Open.
Fuelled by the level of competition between the teams across the second half of the season, the lift is 16% compared to 2023[1].
Jonny Errington, Sky’s Chief Content & Commercial Officer says, “Close to two million New Zealanders have tuned into the linear coverage on Sky Sport and Sky Open so far this season – which is already more people than watched the entire 2023 season – with a further 215,000 unique viewers on digital channels Sky Sport Now and Sky Go.[2]
Hurricanes CEO, Avan Lee added “Through the regular season, we’ve had over 82,000 people through the gates at Sky Stadium – which shows the support for rugby in this region is extremely strong.
‘Engagement in the Hurricanes has never been higher through viewership, match attendance, and social media. This will only increase as we head into the finals series.’
Lee said ‘we can’t wait for the quarter-final on Saturday afternoon. It’s great to be at home and the team love to see an awesome crowd. I encourage our fans to come along and be the difference.’
The on-field product itself, partly due to the added shot clocks and decrease in TMO interventions has seen the deadtime in matches decrease by more than six minutes per-match , in a move which has been efficiently managed by the match official teams.
In additional, in 2024, games have restarted 14 seconds more quickly after tries were scored than in 2022, 8 seconds faster after a penalty is awarded - the ball is back in play on average in 21 seconds - and 12 seconds faster when a penalty kick is attempted.
As a result, the 28th edition of Super Rugby – looks and feels different to the game being played in 2022, when the innovations were first added.
On Sky’s digital platforms, DHL Super Rugby Pacific matches across the regular season were streamed over 4.23 million times.[3]
The Hurricanes vs Chiefs on 13 April at Sky Stadium was the third most popular, with nearly 470,100 people watching and over 54,100 people streaming the match across Sky’s platforms. In addition, 15,000 fans watched inside Our House.
Lee said “we can’t wait for the quarter-final on Saturday afternoon. It’s great to be at home and the team love to see an awesome crowd. I encourage our fans to come along and be the difference.”
The Hurricanes take on the Melbourne Rebels this Saturday, 4:35pm at Sky Stadium. Tickets here
[1] Source: Nielsen eTAM AP05+, Data: Cumulative reach, Super Rugby Pacific 2023 & 2024, Sky Sport 1-4 & Sky Open
[1] Sky internal data, Super Rugby Pacific 2024
[1] Sky internal data, Super Rugby Pacific 2024
[1] Source: Nielsen eTAM AP05+, Data: Cumulative reach, Super Rugby Pacific live matches 2024, Sky Sport 1-4 & Sky Open