TNT Sports, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned UK pay-TV heavyweight, has once again drawn viewership growth for its coverage of the English top-flight Premiership rugby union competition.
Average audiences across the Premiership campaign rose 10% year-on-year on the 2023-24 season.
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TNT Sports’ broadcast partnership with English soccer’s elite Premier League (EPL) has also aided the Premiership, with the broadcaster reporting that Saturday afternoon fixtures that have directly followed EPL game broadcasts have notched a 47% higher average audience than those that have not.
Commenting on the growth of the league over the past season, Premiership Rugby chief growth officer Rob Calder told Sportcal (GlobalData Sport): “The relationship with TNT is so important to us, and being in a place where you have an aligned partnership with a broadcaster is critical to growth.
“They're completely aligned to our structure for the big moments throughout the season. So, whether that is the start of the season, Derby Weekend, festive fixtures, when we bounce back from the Six Nations, and into the running playoffs and finals, they support those big moments. So they've leaned into the narrative of the season.”
In May, TNT Sports renewed its partnership with Premiership Rugby early, with the long-term contract now running through the 2030-31 campaign.
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By GlobalDataThe deal replicates the existing agreement between the two parties – a two-year deal covering the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons – in that all 93 matches from each Premiership Rugby campaign, including the Play-Offs and Final, will be broadcast live on TNT Sports’ linear channels or its Discovery+ streaming platform.
Speaking on the renewal, Calder added: “[I think] TNT genuinely believe in what we're doing. In our pitch process with them, we talked about where we wanted to take this sport, and they totally buy into it, and I think they buy into our exec team. I think they think [Premiershup Rugby chief executive] Simon Massie-Taylor has got us pointed in the right direction, and I would hope they would say that we're good partners, that we're good to work with.
“We’ve got a year of the current deal left, and then we've got another five years, a six-year runway. There aren't many sports that have that length of deal. And what it gives us is certainty of tenure. It gives us that ability to build foundations, which we've done, but also to start to layer on top of that. It also means that the same faces are going to be involved, and as you develop the same [broadcast] talent, we can flood new talent. TNT can be confident about bringing the existing faces and new talent on that journey.”
The conclusion to the 2024-25 Premiership campaign, its showpiece final, will take place on June 14 at London’s Twickenham Stadium.
The final of the 2023-24 campaign notched a record audience share in the UK across pay-TV provider TNT Sports and free-to-air commercial network ITV (which also remains a partner of the competition).
The game drew a peak TV audience of 1.25 million, with the two broadcasters contributing to a nationwide audience share of 14.3%, the most for a Premiership fixture ever.
In person, the final drew a capacity crowd of 81,688, with tickets selling the fastest of any Premiership final ever.
