With more people than ever enjoying their favourite sports from the couch, the team at Foxtel’s Kayo have got their work cut out for them. As more and more people turn their attention to women’s sport in particular, Kayo continues to broadcast with the understanding that you can’t be what you can’t see.
Mediaweek spoke to Kim McConnie, director of marketing at Kayo, at the Ministry of Sport‘s Women In Sport Summit on the Gold Coast.
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It’s been a big month for everyone at Foxtel, with the announcement coming through that they had retained the AFL broadcast rights alongside Channel Seven.
“We are super excited to have the AFL and AFLW for seven years,” says McConnie. “The team have been tirelessly working on that, they’ve been burning the midnight oil. We’re excited to get all the detail.”
See Also: Seven and Foxtel retain the AFL broadcast rights in new deal
The AFLW is a major drawcard for Kayo, and is only one of the women’s sports that is increasing in viewership on the platform. McConnie says that the NRLW season is up 75% to date, and that’s only the beginning.
“We’ve seen a massive increase since pre-pandemic – 70% of people surveyed said they are watching a lot more sport than they did two years ago.
“The great thing is that it’s not just women watching women’s sport – 70% of the audience that we’re seeing is actually men watching women’s sport. It’s such a key growth indicator to be able to see that. We’re seeing growth in cricket, AFLW, NRLW, netball – we’re seeing it across all sports.”
It’s one thing to talk the talk when it comes to elevating women’s sport, it’s another to walk the walk. For McConnie, this has been a journey that Foxtel and Kayo have been on for “many, many years.”
“We invest more money in women’s sport than any other broadcaster in the country, we broadcast more hours of women’s sport than any other broadcaster in the country. Fundamentally, we absolutely believe that you can’t be what you can’t see, and our role is to make sure that people see it.
“The great thing from Kayo’s point of view, is that we don’t see men’s or women’s sport: we see your preferences. So if you like NRL, you’ll go on there and you’ll see NRL and NRLW. What we’ve been able to do is bring the money and make sure that there’s visibility and prominence, we’re really putting it front and centre right next to the men’s sport.”
Kayo has also got another trick up its sleeve when it comes to getting the best of women’s sports in front of eyeballs: Kayo Freebies.
“We now have a platform to put women’s sport in front of the paywall, which is fantastic. We took that opportunity when Channel Nine decided not to take the ICC Women’s World Cup, we put that on for free. We’re also about to put on the women’s basketball for free.”
As well as Freebies, the rise of Kayo Minis has been a major success story for the platform. McConnie says that motorsports Minis have been particularly popular.
“The F1 minis for us have been amazingly successful, but they haven’t impacted the live race numbers at all.
“It’s great for those games, races, and sports in time zones that aren’t that friendly. But we find even in AFL, NRL, and cricket, when there’s a great game people will come back in and just rewatch the Mini.”
Looking ahead to what the next 12 months have in store for Kayo, McConnie says that the team have “a phenomenal calendar” to work with.
“We’ve got the Cricket World Cup back on Australian soil, and the Women’s World Cup as well. It’s a really, really strong summer of cricket – in fact, there is wall-to-wall cricket, which we love. We have the Rugby League World Cup as well, which is going to be exclusive. Then before you know it, we’re jumping back into AFL and NRL.
“We’re already looking at how to make it bigger and better, with women’s sport on top of that. There is a huge amount of great quality women’s sport we’ve got coming up over the next couple of months.”
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