Securing exclusive broadcast rights to the Men’s and Women’s Rugby World Cups has given Nine a stronger position in the sports race than its rivals, according to industry insiders.
The deal, reportedly worth $210 million, kicks off with the 2025 British and Irish Lions Tour in June and includes Stan Sport, the 9Network and 9Now.
Wallabies and Wallaroos matches will be on free-to-air television. Stan will show every match of the next three World Cups, including the men’s tournament on home soil in 2027.
Rohan Sawyer, managing director at Bastion, said securing quality sports rights is becoming increasingly difficult.
“I think these events will start to lift rugby up and you’ll see huge value for brands that want to invest in the broadcast,” he told AdNews.
“It’s not only going to give rugby a lot more relevance, but it’ll put Nine in a really good position to be a dominant sports player as well.
“Sport is a driver of broadcast in this country, hence why it's always competitive at rights time – and the big free-to-air networks need to have this type of content to stay at the top of the tree and relevant.
“Rugby has had its challenges in the last 10 years, but it's about to go through a golden period, so I think there’s a window of opportunity for the product to be really good.”
Sawyer said Nine, which also holds the rights to the NRL and Olympic Games, is building a high-quality portfolio of assets showcased across its streaming and broadcast platforms.
“You’ll always get your volume through free-to-air, and we’ve seen that with Super Rugby – their numbers have declined over the last four or five years behind a paywall,” he said.
“The reality is that you need free-to-air to drive large audience numbers, but streaming platforms allow you to be more tactical about what you show for free and what you show through a paid product.
“The national team is nearly the most valuable product that rugby has. I think viewership will be really strong, both from a Wallabies test match perspective, but also the midweek Lions game.”
Ben Willee, executive director of media and data at Spinach, said the tournaments will attract huge audiences, benefiting both the TV network and advertisers.
“It’s a big win for Nine and Stan sport, especially the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup, because it’s about more than just ratings,” he told AdNews.
“It’s about making a statement that Stan is a key place for premium sport in Australia, and it’s a platform that has been quietly building its sporting credentials over the past few years.
“And hopefully we can finally erase the image of Jonny Wilkinson drop kicking the collective soul of Australia back in 2003.”
Willee said multinational streaming services with deep pockets, like YouTube and Amazon, pose a threat to Australian broadcasters.
“Sports rights are really the key to the future success of Australian-owned broadcasters because it’s guaranteed to rate well and get advertisers in,” he said.
“What we’ve seen in the US, which may be a precursor to Australia, is that YouTube is about to broadcast its first NFL game
“You’ve got Disney who own ESPN. There's all of these enormous companies saying, ‘I want to have a crack at sport’. We saw Netflix have a red hot go at its first sporting test this year.
“If channel seven were to lose the AFL, the ripple effect on its news ratings, advertising revenue, and overall network performance could be devastating. That kind of thing that could effectively destroy a television network.”
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