OPINION – Rugby needs In-game Ads… There, I said it.
As usual, Rugby had another off-field controversy. This time, it was before the tournament even started. Last night, France hosted Ireland to start the 2026 Men’s Six Nations in Paris, and it was broadcast across the UK on ITV. Before the match, ITV announced that for the first time ever, there would be ‘in-game advertisements’ during the broadcasts of the match. As you can imagine, it was met with some skepticism but the majority of us just went “fair enough.” In the modern day, sports are fuelled by marketing/advertising. However, there is Rugby, good ol’ righteous rugby… Constantly dragging its heels compared to the other main sports in the UK, which seems hellbent on making it impossible for outside sources to invest. If there ever was an example of “We’ve always done it this way” it’s old timer rugby fans.
Simply put, Rugby is dying, especially in the UK. We see fewer and fewer players signing up and staying on each year. Clubs are announcing closures each month, it feels like, and even professional clubs are now being hit with the confirmed closure of the Ospreys after the 2026/2027 season due to the financial instability of the Welsh Rugby Union. Rugby needs the investment to cover bills and to entice players to keep on playing.
So why are in-game Ads being now blamed for not sticking to “Rugby Values”? Well rugby is the barbarian’s game of chess; its constant and relentless, but it takes the strongest and cleverest minds to dismantle and break down an opponent. You need to be switched on from first to last whistle to make sure you are totally in focus for the whole game. …Actually pinching a piece from the brilliant Sam Larner’s brand new book “Attack The Space” Ball in Play Time (BIP) at the 2023 World Cup on average was 34.18 minutes during a game. So there is LEGITIMATELY almost an hour where the casual fan would argue nothing is happening during a rugby match. Now, that’s not the case, there is a lot of ‘rugger chat’ I could go into, but that’s for a different rant. Basically, the broadcaster saw an opportunity, and that is how rugby can leverage a higher price for its broadcasting rights.
It’s simple maths: Step 1 – ITV shows more Ads, makes more money. Step 2 – ITV makes more money and wants to keep showing rugby. Step 3 – Rugby is seen as a hotter commodity to both broadcasters and Advertisers. Both choose to invest in rugby, rugby makes more money. Step 4 – Rugby can keep choosing the free-to-air broadcaster, as the previous financial differences might have been there, but are now covered by advertising/sponsorship money.
Someone get me a talking meerkat (SIMPLES!).
Why are we all acting like this is brand new? In-game Ads are the devil! How dare they use my sacred rugby time to promote me stuff I don’t need? Don’t they know the Guinness Men’s Six Nations proudly brought to me by KIA on ITV requires my full attention to see the Vodafone-sponsored, green-wearing Irish national team travel to Paris to take on the French royal blue-wearing Altrad-sponsored France. This requires my attention as I have to focus my eyes to distinguish them against the Paddy Power, Bet365 and William Hill billboards encasing the playing field.
These Ads took place at roughly the midpoint in each half. Do you remember what was happening as these ads took place? I do. The first, a reset scrum and a small injury where even the ref was having to tell the medical team it was time to get off the field as they were holding the game up “We don’t need you, we just needed the water.” was the line from Karl Dickson. As a viewer, you missed nothing. Although it did remind me my phone contract is coming up and bloody hell does that Samsung Galaxy chocolate bar swirl with sprinkles look like a bit of kit. The 2nd I hear you ask? Another scrum reset! They filled the time. Being 100% honest with you, I almost missed the second ad as I was texting my dad some vain piece of “analysis” praying I heard the commentators or pundits say it later for some vindication.
And that brings me nicely to the type of person watching a match. Rugby is consumed in a variety of ways but all still hold the same end goal: Watch, enjoy, cheer, moan, rage, gloat, celebrate, complain. So who watched the match last night:
- You have the ticket holder, you’re at the game – it didn’t affect you.
- Armchair coaches and know-it-alls – Too busy tweeting, checking socials and group chats the second every ball goes out of play.
- The Pub goers – You’re probably a few pints of the black stuff in, and you probably don’t even have that decent a view of the telly. If your experience is ruined by a small 30-second ad, that’s a you problem as far as I can tell.
- Dedicated rugby fan (most likely with some affinity to the team playing) – The ads took place during resetting scrums, didn’t miss much.
- A casual fan who happened to turn it on – This is just par for the course in their eyes.
I can’t state enough how much these ads help every level of rugby – Club rooms just saved over £8000 a year on Sky/TNT/PremierSports additional fees for public licensing. Bringing people in through the door. It’s reported that £100m is going back to the unions as a result of these new ads. And the average rugby fan just got 200 international fixtures for free with their TV licences. What do you get for the fact that you can’t even doomscroll now without being shown a paid ad every third post? Not much I bet.
In summary, by the end of the tournament, these ads will feel normal. In five years, it will feel like they have always been there, in ten years, you will have forgotten what broadcasts were like before.
Oh P.S. they literally PAINT advertisements onto the pitch… There have been in-game ads for years.. Old boys in ties just wanted another thing to cry about.
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