Star Sports has won the India rights to broadcast the Bundesliga, the German football league, for five years starting from the 2015-16 season, according to four people familiar with the development.
DFL Sports Enterprises, the media rights distribution arm of the Bundesliga, is selling the broadcast rights at a much higher price than approximately $300,000 a year that Neo Sports pays, the people said, requesting anonymity. Neo Sports’ contract ends with the 2014-15 Bundesliga season. Star Sports declined to comment.
Indian broadcasters have been willing to invest heavily on rights to broadcast popular European football leagues following the digitization of the broadcast industry in the metros. Most top European clubs have followers in Indian cities, particularly among the young and affluent. Earlier, Star Sports won the English Premier League rights for $145 million over three years beginning with the 2013-14 season, an increase from the $45 million paid during the previous three-year rights cycle. Although revenue from digitization is expected to touch $5 billion by 2020, according to a study published by Hong Kong-based media research company Media Partners Asia, channels such as Star Sports will still be dependent on earnings from commercials.
Last year, Neo Sports said the channel sold its season-long advertising inventory for the Bundesliga. “We have more than doubled Bundesliga’s revenue. The Bundesliga is a fast-paced league. Viewers get hooked due to the speed and vibrancy. The timings are excellent,” Sudip Roy, vice-president of advertisement sales at Neo Sports, recently said in a statement. “Advertisers are more open to investing in football leagues compared to a few years back.” Although the Bundesliga is a superb product, advertisers are inclined more to spend on the English Premier League, said Vinit Karnik, national director of sports and live events at GroupM Entertainment Sports Partnerships, a media consultancy firm. “The big English Premier League clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have an entrenched supporter base in the country, especially the metros,” said Karnik. “However, it makes commercial sense for Star to buy more European football rights as it gives the channel the flexibility to intelligently bundle the inventories of the various top European leagues. The channel can sell the inventory under the basket of European football rather than English or German or Spanish football. It will also make sense for the advertiser to get some bonus airtime on Bundesliga programming should they not have the budgets to buy out the English Premier League inventory.” Should Star Sports decide to go big with the Bundesliga on the digital platform just as they have done with the English Premier League, clubs such as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are likely to have a strong youth-based support base in the country sooner than later. The time zone difference between Germany and India is the closest in the Asia-Pacific region. It could end up giving the Bundesliga more television viewership than East Asian countries for the traditional Saturday afternoon 3.30pm European time kick-off. India is expected to feature in the plans of Bundesliga over the next four years even as the German national team enjoys world champion status. The new media rights deal with Star is likely to help in the league having India on their strategic radar.
Star Sports bags Bundesliga broadcast rights - Livemint
DFL Sports Enterprises, the media rights distribution arm of the Bundesliga, is selling the broadcast rights at a much higher price than approximately $300,000 a year that Neo Sports pays, the people said, requesting anonymity. Neo Sports’ contract ends with the 2014-15 Bundesliga season. Star Sports declined to comment.
Indian broadcasters have been willing to invest heavily on rights to broadcast popular European football leagues following the digitization of the broadcast industry in the metros. Most top European clubs have followers in Indian cities, particularly among the young and affluent. Earlier, Star Sports won the English Premier League rights for $145 million over three years beginning with the 2013-14 season, an increase from the $45 million paid during the previous three-year rights cycle. Although revenue from digitization is expected to touch $5 billion by 2020, according to a study published by Hong Kong-based media research company Media Partners Asia, channels such as Star Sports will still be dependent on earnings from commercials.
Last year, Neo Sports said the channel sold its season-long advertising inventory for the Bundesliga. “We have more than doubled Bundesliga’s revenue. The Bundesliga is a fast-paced league. Viewers get hooked due to the speed and vibrancy. The timings are excellent,” Sudip Roy, vice-president of advertisement sales at Neo Sports, recently said in a statement. “Advertisers are more open to investing in football leagues compared to a few years back.” Although the Bundesliga is a superb product, advertisers are inclined more to spend on the English Premier League, said Vinit Karnik, national director of sports and live events at GroupM Entertainment Sports Partnerships, a media consultancy firm. “The big English Premier League clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have an entrenched supporter base in the country, especially the metros,” said Karnik. “However, it makes commercial sense for Star to buy more European football rights as it gives the channel the flexibility to intelligently bundle the inventories of the various top European leagues. The channel can sell the inventory under the basket of European football rather than English or German or Spanish football. It will also make sense for the advertiser to get some bonus airtime on Bundesliga programming should they not have the budgets to buy out the English Premier League inventory.” Should Star Sports decide to go big with the Bundesliga on the digital platform just as they have done with the English Premier League, clubs such as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are likely to have a strong youth-based support base in the country sooner than later. The time zone difference between Germany and India is the closest in the Asia-Pacific region. It could end up giving the Bundesliga more television viewership than East Asian countries for the traditional Saturday afternoon 3.30pm European time kick-off. India is expected to feature in the plans of Bundesliga over the next four years even as the German national team enjoys world champion status. The new media rights deal with Star is likely to help in the league having India on their strategic radar.
Star Sports bags Bundesliga broadcast rights - Livemint
