Telstra and the AFL have announced a new player agreement to cross-promote the national competition and Telstra’s services that enhance fans’ access to AFL content.
The new deal, believed to be the first of its kind involving a sports league, players’ association and commercial partner, covers the entire AFL playing group and forms part of the AFL and Telstra’s digital rights agreement, which runs to 2022.
Telstra and the AFL will work with the players to generate digital content and facilitate player appearances to give fans more insight and access to their favourite players. This will include hosting AFL player content onto the combined, official AFL and Telstra digital network.
Every AFL player is available to create digital content that will be shared with footy fans.
Fifty star players from all AFL clubs across Australia will be selected, based on their profile and influence, to become Telstra Ambassadors. The 50 players will appear throughout the year at new, local Telstra store openings and participate in community events, such as coaching clinics, and exclusive meet and greet opportunities with fans.
A financial benefit of the partnership means greater contributions into the AFL player retirement scheme.
According to the latest April 2018 Nielsen Digital Ratings, the AFL network has set a new record for unique audience (UA) reach. The network audience is up 11% on March 2018 to 4.24 million UAs. April’s result is also up 4% on the 2017 season and 2% greater than the previous record set back in August 2017.
—
Top photo: [L-R] Paul Marsh, CEO AFL Players’ Association; Joe Pollard, Group Executive Media and Chief Marketing Officer, Telstra; Gill McLachlan, CEO AFL; Sam Docherty, Carlton player and Vice President AFL Players’ Association