New Zealand Sport Collective update

Three months down the track from our launch of the ‘Sky Sport Next’ free to air YouTube channel with Sky, we’re firmly established and proud to have brought together a world-first sporting broadcast collaboration that has proved to be popular and sustainable. 

Here are some of our highlights so far:

  • Our sports have produced more than 500 pieces of content for Sky Sport Next, ranging from Olympic Qualifiers & World Championships to National Championships across many grades. Sky Sport Next content has attracted more than 500k viewers. For many sports this is their first time on a major platform.

  • All content on Sky Sport Next continues to be free to air, giving access to all sports fans, and new reach and exposure to some of our most popular grassroots sports and rising talent. We’ve given a voice to some highly engaged sporting communities, as evidenced by the high viewer numbers for events like NZ Secondary Schools Touch (74,747k total) and Athletics Secondary Schools Track & Field Champs (51,527k total). Sky Sport Next YouTube channel subscribers have exceeded 6,500 and are growing consistently.

  • We’ve given exposure to some of New Zealand’s highest profile athletes competing on the domestic scene, where previously this would not have been broadcast. Athletics is a great example – we live streamed competition from the Porritt Classic on Sky Sport Next, where Dame Valerie Adams qualified for Tokyo 2020, and Julia Ratcliffe broke the NZ hammer throw record. And, last weekend’s Sir Graeme Douglas International was the first time a New Zealand athletics event has been shown live on TV (Sky Sport 9) in more than 25 years.

  • For more than 18 months we’ve worked really closely with School Sport NZ, a board of 12 principals representing all the secondary schools of New Zealand, to create a new standard for the sponsorship and broadcast of sport to protect the health and wellbeing of our youth.  

  • The commitment shared by NZSC and Sky to equality in broadcast continues, with an even split of male and female content, and a breadth of sporting events that represent Kiwis from all walks of life.

Together, the New Zealand Sport Collective is on track to become a major set of sport broadcast rights in New Zealand. We’ve been really chuffed with the positive feedback we’ve received from sports so far on the exposure they’ve gained via Sky Sport Next, and we are proud to be building something really special and of value for all our partners. We’re highly motivated to keep working on behalf of the Collective to grow the value and maximise what we can achieve together. One comment made to us that really stood out was: “The real opportunity with Sky Sport Next is adding a professional edge to the sport through broadcast, and the potential for sponsorship. Even a few thousand dollars could go a long way.” 

If you haven’t already, we’d love for you to check out Sky Sport Next – please subscribe to the YouTube channel to show your support and follow your favourite sports. Check out some of the most popular videos so far below:

We’d also love you to check out our new social media channels (Facebook & Instagram) – please follow us to keep up with all the action!

Lots more to come, and I look forward to updating you again in a few months’ time.

Rob.