Media

$300m broadcast: FIFA Women’s World Cup falls short of TV rights target

Published

1 year ago

July 18, 2023

FIFA will reportedly not meet its $300m broadcast rights target for this summer’s Women’s World Cup, falling short by $100m.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) revealed that half of FIFA’s benchmark would come through bundled deals with TV networks across the globe who the football governing body already has multi-year agreements with, such as FOX Sports in the US.

The rest of the $150m was aimed to be negotiated with broadcasters in countries not tied to any pre-existing agreements with FIFA.

However, the WSJ reports that just $50m was generated from outside broadcasters citing FIFA’s overvaluation of TV rights to the Women’s World Cup with the host nations’ time zones – Australia and New Zealand – also a major factor as to the hesitance to meet FIFA’s loftier price tag.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino may have been spurred on from the success of the last Women’s World Cup in France in 2019, which generated its highest viewership in the tournament’s history with 1.12 billion people overall.

The success of 2019 has also translated into the growth of the tournament and its size, with FIFA expanding the competition from 24 to 32 teams reflecting its belief in the upward trajectory the women’s football game is experiencing.

This has ultimately led Infantino to raising the valuation of the media rights to the tournament, even going as far as to use public pressure against broadcasters as he believed they were undervaluing the competition and threatened a TV blackout.

Despite this, FIFA were able to secure deals in some of football’s largest markets, the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy, as well as in Japan, which was recently sealed one week before the tournament began.

Analysis from Omdia highlights the growth of the women’s game, confirming through its research that the media rights for this year’s Women’s World Cup will make it the most valuable women’s competition in the world.

Omdia does admit however that women’s football and other women’s sports’ media valuations pale in comparison to that of the men’s games, but football is not the only women’s sport having this problem.

Omdia Senior Data Analyst, Ed Ludlow, said: “FIFA caused a stir when it announced that the offers it had received for rights to the Women’s World Cup were 1-2% of the value it had collected for the men’s competition, but a quick glance at other leading leagues reveals that the problem is endemic.

“As of 2023, Women’s Tennis Association rights are only worth a third of the Association of Tennis Professionals; and the WSL is 0.2% of the value of the Premier League.

“In recent years, women’s sport has seen an uptick in television coverage, healthy attendances at live events, and growing sponsorship revenue. The next hurdle for women’s leagues is securing media rights deals that rival men’s sport.”

Author

Ambrose Ijeh

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Media

How To Stream AC Milan vs Liverpool Match Online For Free

Published

2 months ago

September 17, 2024

Ambrose Ijeh

How To Stream AC Milan vs Liverpool Match Online For Free

An online streaming service has exclusive rights to the big Champions League match – but it’s easy to watch it for free.

Liverpool will be returning to the Champions League on Tuesday night, hoping to get back to winning ways on the opening night of the new campaign, facing old foes AC Milan.

The side, who previously faced Milan in the 2005 and 2007, suffered a 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, so they will be hoping to get back to winning ways this week.

However, Milan have also had a tumultuous ride so far, with the team currently in 9th after four games, despite a solid 4-0 win over Venezia at the weekend.

It’s shaping up to be a thrilling match, then, with both teams having plenty to prove, and you can watch it for free on Amazon Prime Video.

Author

Ambrose Ijeh

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Media

LaLiga Signs 2024-25 Broadcast Deal With China Media Group

Published

2 months ago

September 11, 2024

Ambrose Ijeh

LaLiga Signs 2024-25 Broadcast Deal With China Media Group

Spanish soccer’s top-tier LaLiga has unveiled state-run China Media Group (CMG) as its official broadcast partner in the country.

Through a deal announced today, CMG returns as a Chinese broadcaster of the 20-team Spanish league.

The tie-up has come with the 2024-25 campaign already four matchdays in and follows a memorandum of understanding between the two parties in late July.

Last season (2023-24), LaLiga action was shown in China by the Migu streaming service, while rights for 2024-25 have also been snapped up by the iQiyi digital broadcaster.

Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, has said: “China remains a key market for LaLiga, and we are thrilled to bring our league’s unique passion and excitement to Chinese fans through one of the most influential media platforms in the country.”

Over the last few weeks, LaLiga has been scrambling to add more partners to its stable of broadcasters for this season.

Earlier this month, a significant deal across numerous African markets was unveiled with SportyTV, while mid-August saw BeIN Sports extend its exclusive rights deals across the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Domestically, DAZN and Movistar are the main rights-holders through deals running between 2022 and 2027.

Sportcal

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Ambrose Ijeh

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Media

Belgium’s Pro League Launches Five-Season Domestic Rights Tender

Published

2 months ago

September 11, 2024

Ambrose Ijeh

Belgian soccer’s top-tier Pro League has gone to market with a domestic media rights tender for the five seasons between 2025 and 2030.

The tender was launched recently (September 9), and the Pro League is being strategically supported by the heavyweight IMG agency – through a deal unveiled last October – during the process.

The deadline for prospective rights-holders to submit bids is October 16, with a Pro League general assembly to then evaluate the bids on October 18.

Interested parties can obtain the tender documents by contacting tender2025@proleague.be.

The 16-team Pro League’s domestic and international rights are currently held by global sports streaming service DAZN – which acquired previous rights-holder Eleven Sports in 2023 – in a five-year deal running through the 2024-25 season. Eleven tapped sports agency Mediapro to distribute international rights in partnership with the league.

In total, eight rights packages are available for purchase – three specifically for the Pro League (others cover the second-tier Challenger Pro League and various domestic cup competitions).

A new development in this tender is that the packages are platform-neutral, meaning they cover both linear and streaming rights.

In terms of kick-off times for games across the five seasons covered by the tender, meanwhile, the Pro League has said these “remain virtually unchanged.”

IMG, meanwhile, also has a contract in place to collect and commercialize the Pro League’s fastpath data in a five-year agreement with European Leagues running from 2022-23 to 2027-28.