Big Bash League TV ratings rise 22% in three years
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Rebecca Hawkes
| 25 January 2017

The Big Bash League (BBL) is slogging TV ratings in Australia way over the boundary and to new highs, as greater numbers of viewers tune in to watch the young T20 cricket tournament.
BBL broadcaster Ten claims average match ratings have grown by 22% over the past three seasons, with a national audience of 1.01 million viewers per match – ahead of the semis and final, which are likely to draw even more.

“This season has been sensational. We’ve had huge commercial share growth too,” Ten’s director of revenue and client partnerships Rod Prosser told AdNews. “The upside for us in the current ratings has just been the demand on the trading revenue. We’ve been able to capture a lot of the last minute packages and premium package holder clients and also spot revenue.”

In addition, premium advertising revenue is more than 20% higher than Ten’s performance this time last year, said Prosser.

The BBL has also struck a partnership with Nickelodeon this year, to provide Sponge Bob entertainers at the matches, as well as co-producing a BBL kids TV show with Ten called Crash the Bash.

“The greatest thing about Big Bash is the participation from the family-friendly crowd and how that is incorporated into our broadcast,” added Prosser.

Ten’s current A$20 million a year contract with Cricket Australia to air the BBL expires after next season, with negotiations for the tournament’s ongoing broadcasting rights beginning soon. Ten will certainly face competition to retain the rights: rival free-to-air broadcaster Nine has already made it clear it wants to add the BBL to its other cricket properties from 2018.