The concluding quotes are the interesting ones.

"Mr Cox said sporting bodies needed to work hard to invest in products that will connect with a younger audience, while also having to make difficult decisions around balancing broadcast rights agreements.

"Sport is an old demographic and that demographic is dying out," he said.

"Younger people have many other leisure and entertainment choices. That is the existential threat to sport as a whole."

Maybe our young demographic will be an advantage.

Just having a look at the above article.  Interesting what this bloke says about rugby going to Optus:

Media analyst Peter Cox said if RA decided to partner exclusively with Optus it could spell the death of the sport in Australia.

He cited the telecommunications company's recent decision to become the exclusive rights holder of English Premier League football as a case in point.

"I think we have seen with the Premier League out of the UK that there has been a drop of interest in it since it's been on Optus because people don't have access to it," Mr Cox said.

"I think this is a worrying precedent for what could happen to rugby."

Optus has a different business model to traditional sports rights holders in Australia, which allows it to invest in sport and use it as a marketing tool, rather than one that needs to generate ad revenue.

"The telcos have huge cash flows, they have a lot of money so they can afford loss leaders to try and get people to move to their network," Mr Cox said.

"They want to get more people over on to Optus and away from Telstra and the other opponents so that is a business decision for them.

"But that is not necessarily what is best for the sport itself, because it will be a very limited market that can get it on Optus."

some really interesting quotes in that article. it looks like RA revenue and TV money is similar to what the HAL is now. As well as ratings. Clearly, they are heading for a significant drop in TV Rights money. We're so lucky we have 3 and a half years to turn things around. 

Earlier this year, the ratings agency OzTam reported that Super Rugby viewership on Foxtel was similar to that of the A-League, hovering around 50,000 on average in Australian metropolitan cities.

"Sport is not growing a television market," Mr Cox said.

"The free-to-air operators and Foxtel have come to understand what the economics are of their networks, and what the cost of sport is."

RA reported around $60 million of annualised broadcast revenue in the 2018 financial year, which made up just over half of its income base.

Not sure I agree with this. I dont think it is in Rugby or EPL's best interest to see itself as content filler for AFL/NRL/Cricket fans, just as I dont think it is in the best interest of the a-league to accept a position as content filler for AFL/NRL fans. EPL and Optus should see it as part of a wider Australian and global football audience.

Rugby should serve as a warning to Football that if you chase metrics and forget about your dedicated fans and player development, then the future is bleak.

Some figures from Kayo on their 1 year anniversary.  No mention of the A-League but interesting info all the same.

https://www.mediaweek.com.au/kayo-celebrates-one-year-with-customers-milestones/

It's funny how ,they refuse to give us the slightest hint of ratings per program.Why would that be?
But 400k subscribers is pretty impressive.Considering AFL&NRL are finished for now.
Surely the majority will be watching AFL or NRL when its on.Maybe some overlap as well.
In summer,  i wonder what they all want to watch,rather than drop the subscription for 4months?
If 25% of those 400k watch some Football during summer that is around 100k.

Cricket.  They've got every ball in one place.

It’s a Kayo fluff piece and there’s not a single mention of football, let alone the HAL. 

Feck, they even mention the hot dog eating contest. 

😕

Puts things into perspective

If 25% of subscribers were watching the A League there would have been mention of it

It mentions the WBBL. Hot dog eating. Motorsport. 

Was watching the WBBL the other day and the commentators said it was the 4th most popular league of any sport in this country

Not sure if they meant womens only, but they did say behind the AFL and NRL (could have just dropped the W)

Football Fox Sports
A-League 
Melbourne Victory v Perth 33,000

mediaweek.

ACtually, thinking about it, there's a possibility that the WBBL is the 4th most watched team sport on TV in Aust.

Speaking of which:
Football Fox Sports
A-League 
Melbourne Victory v Perth 33,000

that's not great for a Fri night.

If 50% of the people who used to get Foxtel for HAL now have Kayo or My Football,Is 33k that bad?
The crowds for HAL games have not dropped off anywhere as much as the ratings.I tend to believe,that crowds  are directly related to true media interest.Given we have had ten seasons of consistent correlation.
So the drop off in TV ratings has to have been taken up to a significant extent by streamers.When people,doing the research finally work out how to measure the streaming numbers meaningfully.I have little doubt,we will find the HAL is far from dead.

The ratings were dropping at an alarming rate long before kayo existed. For years people complained that they only had fox for the sport and hated paying for channels they didnt want. Kayo is a convenience for the regular sports watcher. No evidence to suggest subscribers are tuning into the A league. I ditched fox for kayo and im barely watching 1 game per week. 

Well 400k people are watching something in summer.
Cricket? Unlike HAL the tests are on CH 7.

If you arent watching much HAL ,is that really indicative of anything other than what bitters ,with no team to support are doing?
:)

I’d agree even if it is an extra 30k watching on streaming services it puts the ratings in to perspective. I suspect this is the case. 

Interestingly, when the Cricket and Vic/Perth game were head to head, the football was trending at number 1 on twitter.

Likely goes to show how meaningless twitter can be though as it’s not translating to stronger viewer or attendances numbers.

Let’s be honest though, after years of a very damaging and negative internal battle for power, what we now see is the results of all of that turmoil. 

Did it occur to you that people just want sport channels in general? I have kayo for that convenience. $25 to tune in and watch so much sport is great. Doesnt mean people are watching anything specific.

Fox ratings
Jets v WSW 31k
Roar v CCM 17k

Other Fox sports ratings for yesterday (note that WBBL only equalled the A-League's lower rating game, although I guess there was a lot of cricket on):

Cricket Fox Cricket
Australia v Pakistan Day 2

First session: 227,000
Second session: 306,000
Third session: 261,000

New Zealand v England Day 2
37,000

WBBL Fox Cricket
Stars v Renegades 17,000

What about abc?

Yes there is. 

It's funny how when all the new media points to good HAL support,naysayers dismiss this as meaningless.I guess Kodak and Blockbuster did the same.

That’s pretty much it .... it’s becoming quite comical if not just a little bit sad - unless you’re actually getting paid by say the AFL to put the sokkha down relentlessly why would you waste your life on forums rubbishing the good and promoting the bad news? 

Prove it

You didn’t offer proof yet you ask for it from me??? .... you just made a sweeping statement that is factually incorrect. 

There IS evidence that people are watching the A League on Kayo and comes in the form of numerous surveys conducted by groups ranging from Roy Morgan research, the A Leagues own research indicating 100–150k are watching each game, Football Nation Radios research, and numerous other surveys all indicating supporters are turning to Kayo. 

So there is plenty of evidence 

100-150k bwahahahaha

It is sad and delusional that people believe 150k viewers are watching each game on Kayo. 

I always thought Waz was a pretty reasonable poster but this 150k stuff is just sad.