Damn, to go from 169k in 2012 to 114k in 2015, that is one hell of a drop off.
I'm trying to think if there are any mitigating factors that might explain the decline, other than people just losing interest.

Lets see how many people watch the test series in the autumn which is free to air on the BBC.that is a bigger indicator to me on interest in RL over sky and SL as i myself have sky and have been very close to ridding myself of the soccer obsessed company of late but have stayed as i do like golf,cricket and darts as well as RL and that is covered for me but it is very expensive as a package for what you get.i guess a fair few have canceled though in recent times.

Does anybody know if people who record the game or watch it on Sky Go are included in the figures. I for a while watched games on my iPad using one of my family members Sky as I didn't have it myself. Does that stuff factor into the figures because they'll have been a rise of people who do that.

Yes, the fact that the two televised matches have been moved from Friday-Saturday to Thursday-Friday, and the fact that William Eve's statistics are wholly unreliable (they are based on the BARB weekly top 10s, meaning he includes 65 matches from 2012 but only 50 from 2014, despite Sky televising an additional 13 matches in 2014 due to the addition of Catalan home games).

Never, he'd never twist stats to suit a lifelong agenda.

Waiting 2 minute for a decision that could be made in 2 seconds?

This isn't a like for like comparison.
The big games at the end of season are included in the annual averages but the to date 2015 figures don't show them yet.
So it's an indicator but it doesn't show a reduction yet.

Let's not forget as well that people are turning away from sky in their droves. BT are hitting them hard with the champions league and general sports package and a lot of people want top class fibre optic internet now, something which sky can't currently offer - they can only offer about 40gb atm.

I don't think the level of quality has dropped overall over the years, if you look back over many years of SL and look past the top 4 clubs.

What has changed is the style the game is played in. You watch a game and it's so heavily centred around how slowly a team can slow the PTB down and spoiling tactics used to do that. People should watch some games from the 00's and watch and compare the tackles/PTB's then to stuff we have today. I'm think Brian Carney is on to something with the reduction of interchanging and the positive effect it'll have on all this 3 man tackles/spoiling tactics.

As for every minute matters, we'll just because Wakey threw the towel in doesnt mean it's been a failure or isn't true. Only at the end of the split and at the end of the season will you know what last minute try helped you/cost you what spot.

I agree the Sky presentation needs a big kick up the backside. Seems like they're going through the motions and Wells and Carney the only ones looking passionate about what they're doing. A clearing out/freshening up of presenters/presentation would be welcomed by just about everyone.

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