Spark Sport Viewers Vent Frustrations to Opinion Compare

Try Harder: Spark Sport Viewers Vent Frustrations to Opinion Compare

Following research conducted by Opinion Compare earlier in the month which revealed a lack of confidence in Spark Sport’s ability to deliver a seamless World Cup experience for customers; the pessimism appears to have come to fruition.

Opinion Compare followed up last week’s survey with a quick poll of 100 Spark Sport customers who watched the All Blacks v Springboks game on Saturday night via the Spark Sport streaming service. The results found that they were highly critical of the coverage. This research was conducted with the same group who expressed previous fears and took place between the 22nd and 23rd of September to gain immediate feedback.

Asked to rate on a scale of 1-9, where 1 is poor and 9 is excellent, only 25% of viewers gave a positive response. The dissatisfaction with the coverage came down to vision quality, poor pixelisation, dropouts and continued buffering. As such, 33% are unlikely to continue with the subscription, while 38% are planning to ask for the refund Spark Sport have made available.

Of more concern is viewer confidence in the ability of Spark Sport to provide high quality coverage for the remainder of the World Cup games. Only 23% of subscribers are extremely confident they won’t experience the same issues as the first All Blacks game.

Our respondents also had a few choice words when asked what advice they would give to the CEO of Spark Sport - a selection of the more family friendly responses are outlined below.

"Be up front and honest, I’m sick of corporate's lying to its customers, no one seems to point out when corporate's tell lies these days. It was not a small amount of customers that had issues. PR people get involved and the lies start rolling and I can’t see how people just accept this"

"Should have done more tests before the start of the RWC. It looks like you have taken on more than you can handle, especially in using unproven technology/services.

If it doesn't improve and prove to be 100% infallible, then you should abandon the whole idea and put it out to Free-to-Air on TVNZ1 and via Sky Ch23 Duke"

"Get better equipment, I have the fastest Fiber connection available yet I spent half the game what feels like watching on the game on my phone in the middle of a hike"

"I know live streaming is still going through its learning and development stages but the All Black vs South Africa game was its true test. Which for me as an avid Kiwi Rugby supporter, Spark Sport failed miserably. Customers will want at the minimum a guarantor of another Live game offered to view a experience with no problems before the next big All Black game. Maybe by providing this proof to the customers of uninterrupted viewing maybe they will return to Spark Sport. At the moment though I can see a mass exodus at this time - me included"

Opinion Compare will keep monitoring the nations feelings towards Spark Sport and streaming in general throughout the Rugby World Cup via our nationally representative omnibus survey of 500 Kiwis each fortnight. Stay tuned for regular insights, or if you would like to give your views you can join the Opinion Compare panel at www.opinioncompare.co.nz

ENDS

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