Tag: nrl

Who is the most streamed team of the 2019 NRL season?

Posted on October 3, 2019

4 min read

Media Executive, Product & Technology - Telstra

2019 was another strong year for mobile sports streaming with the Telstra Live Pass and NRL Official App, but from the 16 teams out on the field each weekend, which drew the most attention? These are your most streamed teams.

We are committed to providing technology that brings fans closer to the sport they love, and this year we saw the Telstra Live Pass go beyond 3 million subscribers for the first time, with current numbers sitting at 3.2 million. That’s up 29 per cent on the same period last year and we couldn’t be happier.

We’ve partnered with the NRL for almost 20 years now, and we’re proud to use our network and technology to make the way people consume sport in Australia better than ever.

In total, 302 million minutes of NRL were streamed in 2019 to the end of the regular season, as part of the almost 800 million minutes total across all the sports we partner with that have been streamed live so far in 2019.

Each year we celebrate these milestones by awarding the club whose matches were streamed the most with our ‘most streamed team’ award, which is presented at the Dally M Awards night.

So which team won?

2018 NRL Round 10 – Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Brisbane Broncos, Suncorp Stadium, 2018-05-12. Digital image by Scott Davis © NRL Photos

In 2017, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles took home the gong. In 2018, it was Newcastle. This year, it’s the Canberra Raiders – well deserved given their stellar season so far and their first Grand Final appearance since 1994.

The Raiders topped the charts with fans streaming over 43.5 million minutes in the NRL Live Official App and Telstra Live Pass, just edging out last year’s most streamed team – the Newcastle Knights – who came in just shy of 43 million minutes streamed.

Coming in third place was the New Zealand Warriors with 42.95 million minutes streamed, followed closely by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles’ 41.7 million minutes. The tight competition between teams on Live Pass, as well as on the field, shows us that streaming sport is equally loved Australia-wide.

2019 NRL Round 02 – Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm, GIO Stadium, 2019-03-22. Digital image by Gregg Porteous © NRL Photos

The most streamed single match in 2019 was the nail-biting 11-10 game between Manly and Melbourne in round 19. Unsurprisingly, the highest number of active devices came from NSW during that game, with 46 per cent of the streams overall.

The growth in subscribers and minutes streamed shows there is strong demand from fans to be able to watch sport on the go, when they aren’t able to get to the game or watch it on TV.

We’ve found that the most popular matches are the ones that are decided in the final minutes, as fans keep a close eye on the score through the app’s match centre, and if its close will start to stream the crucial final minutes.

Congratulations to the Raiders and their fans this season!

Telstra Tracker top performers revealed

Another key partnership with the NRL is the Telstra Tracker, giving fans an array of insights that reveal the NRL’s distance kings and speedsters and top distance teams.

The ability to give fans an insight into the incredible work-rate of a modern NRL footballer really puts in perspective what it takes to compete at the highest level, and what amazing athletes they are.

2019 NRL Round 20 – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v Penrith Panthers, Bankwest Stadium, 2019-08-03. Digital image by Nathan Hopkins © NRL Photos

Melbourne Storm flyer Josh Addo-Carr recorded the highest speed by any player since tracking began – 38.5 km/h vs. the Cowboys in Round 5, while Manly’s Tom Trbojevic covered the most distance in any single match this year – 9.8 km vs. the Storm in Round 19. Penrith playmaker Nathan Cleary covered the most distance on average throughout the year – 8.7km (league average is 5.8 km per match).

Normal walking speed is just 5km/h on average, and a decent running speed for a normal person is around 24km/h.

Tags: apps and devices, NRL, sport, Telstra Tracker,

The Author

Rebecca Haagsma

Media Executive, Product & Technology - Telstra

Rebecca leads the team responsible for Telstra’s AFL app and web products, AFLW app, NRL products and Netball offering - as well as the team behind Telstra TV. Prior to joining Telstra in February 2016, Rebecca was the Director of Digital Products for the Nine Network Australia, launching Nine’s live streaming and Video on Demand offering, 9Now. She has led transformation projects focusing on moving businesses from traditional media to new customer channels over the past 20 years.

By the numbers: Telstra Tracker gives advantage to NSW for State of Origin 1

Entertainment

Posted on June 5, 2019

4 min read

by Campbell Simpson

External Editorial Lead - Telstra

With kick-off in this year’s State of Origin series just hours away, the Telstra Tracker offers some tantalising clues as to who might walk off Suncorp Stadium victorious tonight. Introduced to State of Origin for the first time in 2017, the Telstra Tracker combines technology and sport to bring fans closer to the game with live player insights.

Coaching, team cohesion and home-ground advantage all play crucial roles in determining winners and losers, but add to that the Telstra Tracker data from this year’s NRL Telstra Premiership – including player-by-player speed, intensity and ground coverage – and things start to look interesting. If you’re a Queensland supporter, you might want to look away now…

Speed

When it comes to outright speedsters, Telstra Tracker data from this year shows that the New South Wales trio of Josh Addo-Carr, Latrell Mitchell and James Tedesco lead all others as the fastest on the pitch tonight.

Melbourne Storm winger Josh Addo-Carr, who has scorched the turf at 38.5km/h this season pips Roosters centre Latrell Mitchell (36.6km/h) and third best of the 34 players on show is Mitchell’s teammate James Tedesco (35.7km/h).

Newcastle’s Kalyn Ponga is the fastest player in a maroon jersey, but of the top ten fastest players selected, Queensland only has four.

High Speed Efforts

Sheer speed is clearly valuable, but it counts for nothing unless you can do it over and over again on the pitch. Sprints are defined as the number of runs in a game where the player reaches a speed over 20 kilometres per hour. When it comes to packing in the sprints, NSW’s James Tedesco leads the count so far this season.

Tedesco’s 40 count is 10 clear of the next best player involved in the Holden State of Origin series opener – Josh Addo-Carr’s 30 per game. Moses Mbye (29) leads the way for Queensland, with Michael Morgan (26) next best.

Average Intensity

Analysing the distance each forward averages through the course of 80 minutes each week, as well as average intensity (measured as metres per minute during their time on field) shows a significant advantage in work rate from the men in sky blue, while the Maroons hold a slight advantage in the halves, hooker, and backs.

The best of any of the forwards picked by both states is NSW’s Tyson Frizell, who covers 90 metres per minute during his 55 minutes on the field. He is followed by team mate and captain Boyd Cordner, who averages 88 metres per minute during his average 72 minutes per match. Next best is Jake Trbojevic (86), Paul Vaughan (85) and Angus Crichton (84) before you get to Queensland’s best.

In terms of distance covered, the Blues pack again has a significant edge. Crichton (7.5km per game) and Cordner (7.1) are the only forwards on show to cover more than 7km per match. Their edge counterparts Gillett and Kaufusi (both 6.9) are next best. The next four on the list are all Blues, with Trbojevic (6.8), Murray (6.3), Frizell and Klemmer (both 6.1) all covering more ground week to week than any of the Maroons.

Queensland have an edge in intensity in the playmakers and backs. However, with halfbacks asked to do much more running than hookers, the fact the Maroons have selected a club halfback at hooker (Ben Hunt’s average intensity of 86 is much higher than Damien Cook’s 72) and centre (Michael Morgan 79) masks what would otherwise be a slight edge to the Blues. Nathan Cleary’s average intensity of 96 is the best of any player on show.

Which team will emerge victorious as the series kicks off tonight? Will the numbers on the page bear out the predictions? Or are they just numbers at the end of the day? Good luck to both teams!

Tags: apps and devices, NRL, sport, Telstra Tracker,

The Author

Campbell Simpson

External Editorial Lead - Telstra

Campbell is the External Editorial Lead at Telstra, and is responsible for Telstra Exchange's editorial strategy and publishing. In his role, Campbell finds interesting stories from within our business and shares them in new and innovative ways. He came to Telstra after working as a technology journalist for over a decade at websites like Gizmodo, CNET and PC World, and has a longtime love of tech and gadgets. When he's not writing, Campbell spends his downtime outdoors whenever possible, hiking, camping or mountain biking around New South Wales.

26 games, four sports, one massive week of streaming

Entertainment

Posted on April 24, 2019

4 min read

by Campbell Simpson

External Editorial Lead - Telstra

Our biggest ever year of sports streaming is off and running, and for the first time we have matches from the AFL, NRL, Netball and Hyundai A-League playing over one chock-a-block week of sporting goodness.

Until now, the AFL, NRL, Netball and Hyundai A-League seasons hadn’t overlapped, but with the commencement of the Suncorp Super Netball season this week, we finally have all four up and running (and jumping and kicking and passing!) thanks to Telstra Live Pass.

Beginning with Wednesday’s match between Richmond and Melbourne in the AFL, and ending with the final match of the A-League home-and-away season between Perth and Wellington on Sunday the 28^th, Telstra will for the first time stream all four sports via the Live Pass and official apps. That’s a total of 26 matches, with total plays across our four official apps expected to top 5 million views.

Telstra TV customers who download the official Netball Live app have even more reason to celebrate, with two live and exclusive matches streamed each week from the Suncorp Super Netball series.

We all lead busy lives, so sometimes getting out to a game or gaining control of the family TV remote control can be pretty difficult, that’s why we’re committed to bringing you the very best of Australian sport live, fast, and data-free wherever you may be.

A wide brown land deserves a wide choice in sports, so if Australia’s premier men’s and women’s domestic football and netball on your mobile isn’t enough, then Kayo has you covered. Just tell Kayo your favourite teams and you’ll get a never-ending stream of live and on-demand action on any device in your house, and of course on Telstra TV. There’s over 50 sports including AFL, NRL, Cricket, Football, Rugby Union, Motorsports, Basketball, Tennis and much more live or on-demand.

Exclusive to Telstra, you can even get up close and personal with your favourite sports with 2 months of Kayo Basic for just $5.* If you’re an existing Telstra customer, you can add it to your Telstra bill.

Throughout this year, every match of the AFL Premiership, Hyundai A-League, Suncorp Super Netball Series and NRL Telstra Premiership (excluding Grand Final) plus a number of other selected tournaments and matches will be streamed on the sporting apps over our network for those with a Live Pass subscription, giving you access to an unprecedented number of premier men’s and women’s international and domestic sport.

Last year, we streamed 670 matches to fans hungry to keep on top of the action; this year, we plan on bringing fans around 850 matches. You’re welcome – just don’t forget to charge your phone!

Since 2012, we’ve used world-class technology to go beyond just sponsorship, streaming our first ever match over Australia’s largest mobile network to become a genuine technology partner of the AFL, NRL, Netball Australia, and Football Federation Australia – and we streamed over 700 million minutes of sport during the 2018 season.

Eligible Telstra customers can use the official mobile apps of the AFL, NRL, Netball Australia and FFA to stream their favourite matches live, fast and data-free, unlocking $329 in value from their service. Non-Telstra customers can still get in on the action, with a number of subscriptions beginning at $2.99 a week, and other options available for monthly or annual passes.

We know that the thrill of cheering on from the stands can’t be replicated, too; that’s why with Telstra Thanks, we give customers access to discounted tickets to all these sports, from as little as $8 for juniors and $20 for adults, with other offers available from time to time like 2 for 1 tickets.

If you’re looking for something to do with friends or family this week, we have 26 reasons why you should choose to watch Australia’s best athletes, with thanks to Australia’s best network. If that doesn’t fill up time over the Easter break, then we don’t know what will.

_{* Monthly subscription, $25/mth after offer period.}

Tags: AFL, football, netball, NRL, sport, streaming,

The Author

Campbell Simpson

External Editorial Lead - Telstra

Lacing up for another NRL season

Entertainment

Posted on March 14, 2019

2 min read

by Campbell Simpson

External Editorial Lead - Telstra

2019 marks the 19th year we’ve sponsored the NRL Telstra Premiership, and we’ve come a long way from our first steps in 2001. The length of our partnership with the NRL, and the value we place in the game’s ability to engage with and inspire all Australians, can’t be understated.

As a long-term partner of the NRL, our mission is to bring this game to more people in more places than ever before through Australia’s largest and fastest mobile network.* We’re proud to offer the NRL Live Pass live, fast and data-free to our customers’ phones, giving them access to streaming matches as well as full match replays on demand.

In 2001 – the first year of the NRL Telstra Premiership – no one would have believed that in a little over a decade’s time people would be able to watch live sport all from a tiny screen in their pocket. Back then, mobile phones didn’t even have colour screens, and ‘Snake’ was as good as it got for mobile entertainment. Technology has come a long way, and we’ve come a long way with it.

Today, though, the Telstra Live Pass, NRL App, and our leading mobile network allow all Australians to watch and engage with every match in the Premiership series – and for all eligible Telstra customers it’s live, fast, and data-free.

We’re expecting 2019 to be even bigger for us than 2018 – itself a 60 per cent jump over the year before. The Newcastle Knights took out our Most Streamed Team award at the Dally Ms, with their matches watched by a cumulative audience of 1.7 million fans throughout the season, and the NRL Official App streamed over 400 million minutes total of NRL to fans across the country. These are impressive numbers, but we know we can beat them this year.

We’re stoked to see who comes out on top this year in the 2019 NRL Telstra Premiership, and we wish all the captains and their teams a very successful season.

_{*All references to Australia’s fastest network are based on national average combined 3G/4G mobile speeds.}

Tags: apps and devices, NRL, sport,

The Author

Campbell Simpson

External Editorial Lead - Telstra

The new NRL Official App: fans tested, we listened

Entertainment

Posted on March 9, 2018

3 min read

by Rebecca Haagsma

Media Executive, Product & Technology - Telstra

In the words of North Queensland Cowboy’s captain Jonathon Thurston when we caught up with him this week, “there’s been a lot of player movement over the off season – so if you’re a fan, you’re certainly rubbing your hands together”.

And the return of footy also sees the launch of the full version of the new 2018 NRL Official App, which gives Telstra customers another reason to be rubbing your hands together!

Since we announced we’d be redesigning the NRL Official app late last year, Telstra Media’s Product and Innovation team have been working harder than ever in collaboration with the NRL, to make live matches available to as many fans as possible on the go.

Taking a fan-first approach, we’ve carried out user testing at each stage in the app redesign, and our latest fan feedback scored the first app iteration at 85.5 on the System Usability Scale, placing it in the “Excellent” range.

We again partnered with the US-based app developers Yinzcam to build the 2018 NRL Official App, and Telstra’s Design Principles of Market Leading, Digital First, Cloud Enabled, Simple, Right First Time and Help When Needed were front and centre of the product build.

Using fan personas and an agile approach to the rebuild, we have aligned the visual design and usability of the app to the new NRL.com responsive site.

Telstra customers will also have access to special features in the app such as augmented reality ‘Facepaint’- which was a popular and sharable feature during the 2017 season.

But of course, the live stream remains the hero of the app because we know fans want to watch footy when they are on the go – live, fast and data-free^*.

Our ambition at Telstra is to be a world-classs technology company and this is really showcased in our sports products. We have amazing depth in terms of the product capability in our team, and when you put this together with our local sports rights and relationships with the sporting bodies – we’re leading the way in terms of building amazing sports products and experiences for Australian fans.

Download the NRL Official App now from the App Store or Play Store and register for NRL Live Pass to stream 2018 Telstra NRL Premiership matches live, fast and for Telstra customers, data-free.

_{* Excludes NRL Grand Final and State of Origin series.}

Tags: apps and devices, NRL,

The Author

Rebecca Haagsma

Media Executive, Product & Technology - Telstra