Burst Ambitions
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THE MAGAZINE OF SPORTS MARKET INTELLIGENCE ISSUE 17 | WINTER 2018 BURST AMBITIONS PLUS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS REVIEW • JEFF FOULSER • WORLD CUP AUDIENCES www.sportcal.com WINTER 2018 Sportcal Insight 3 Contents The Big 10 04 The top sporting deals, controversies and moments of the year (part 2) World Cup TV audiences 06 Why traditional TV viewing is not dead yet European Championships 08 An innovative (and successful) addition to the multi-sport calendar Jeff Foulser 12 The Sunset+Vine chairman on wins and losses in the production game Cover feature 18 Analysing MP & Silva’s financial implosion, the rights surrendered and the lessons to be learned from its plight Numbers Game 24 A snapshot of Sportcal Media research and insight Index 29 Key information on the major The Absent Agency events and summits on the horizon There will be a large, noticeable A Sportel Monaco veteran remarked void in the Grimaldi Forum as the to me on the sidelines of last year’s media rights industry makes it annual jaunt convention that “it’s a bit boring this to the Principality for the 2018 Sportel year… there’s no gossip, nothing really Monaco Convention in late October. going on.” MP & Silva’s collapse has been I’m sure his thirst for gossip will be described in newspapers as “the biggest suitably quenched this year. fail in sports marketing history.” While MP & Silva’s bubble may have The demise has certainly been quick. burst, linear TV’s remains very much afloat, There’d been talk in the market that the despite its much predicted death. CAS/DAS in Sports Law agency and its Chinese owners had been The Fifa World Cup in Russia proved in dispute for much of 2018, principally that, for big-ticket sport, there’s still over the levels of investment, but it wasn’t nothing better than the big screen, and the until July that its troubles were publicised. numbers prove it. A couple of high-profile rights losses Elsewhere in this market-focused edition accentuated the problems and once word of Sportcal Insight, Jeff Foulser, chairman was out, the domino effect ensued as of Sunset+Vine – the production firm - 200 lucrative contract after contract was torn seemingly intrinsically linked with sailing 120 up amid missed instalment payments and in recent years – talks us through plans to - - - key executives exited. diversify the client base. - MP & Silva’s plight is expertly Foulser has spent decades in the media Jonathan Rest 3300 + deciphered by Martin Ross in our cover industry, and says to survive you need to Editor story, posing the question of where does have a “strong chin.” One of a kind in Siterland Launched in 2017 Sportcal Insight the downfall of one of the industry’s heavy For MP & Silva, it seems the knockout hitters leave the sector’s balance of power? blow was fatal. [email protected] TALK DIRECT 4 News The Big 10 of 2018 www.sportcal.com WINTER 2018 Sportcal Insight 5 NORWAY — GERMANY — Norwegian administrator Anders Besseberg stepped down as president of Allianz, the German insurance giant, the International Biathlon Union amid a will become one of the International prosecutors’ probe in Austria and his home Olympic Committee’s elite TOP sponsors country into allegations of doping, fraud and in an eight-year deal starting in 2021 that corruption involving Russian athletes and also includes an extension of its global officials. Nicole Resch, the IBU’s secretary partnership with the International Paralympic general, was also provisionally suspended by Committee. Allianz will cover the IOC and THE BIG the IBU’s executive board. local organising committees of the Olympic Games, with the aim of expanding this to national Olympic committees, their teams OF 2018 and athletes. MALAYSIA — CANADA The Asian Football Confederation — accepted an offer from Wuhan DDMC Canada will host matches at a men’s Fifa Culture Co., the Chinese sports and World Cup for the first time in 2026. The entertainment firm, and Fortis Sports, country was part of a three-way bid along a special purpose vehicle set up by with USA and Mexico that defeated Morocco former Team Marketing senior executives by 134 votes to 65. It will be the first Patrick Murphy and David Tyler, for its tournament to feature 48 teams. Canada and commercial rights over an eight-year Mexico will stage 10 games each, with 60 period. The deal runs from 2021 to 2028 10 and includes rights to the Asian Cup held in USA. and AFC Champions League, the top national teams and clubs competitions, respectively. USA — Discovery, the US-based media giant that owns Eurosport, agreed a blockbuster 12-year deal to acquire the international SAUDI ARABIA rights for golf’s PGA Tour, in a $2-billion — agreement set to kick in next year. The A number of sports organisations deal covers TV and online rights and the and broadcasters joined BeIN development of an OTT service, covering Sports in the fight against the more than 140 tournaments a year, beoutQ pirate network active including about 40 PGA Tour events. in the Middle East and North Africa. Arabsat, the Riyadh-based satellite provider in which Saudi Arabia is the largest investor, denied claims that its satellite frequencies were being used by beoutQ. ITALY — FRANCE Games from Serie A are being shown live in BRAZIL — a number of territories on an over-the-top — TF1 registered an average audience of 19.3 subscription service developed by IMG, the Jose Maria Marin, the 86-year-old former SPAIN — million viewers and an 82.2-per-cent viewing agency that holds the international media president of the CBF, the Brazilian soccer share as France defeated Croatia 4-2 to rights to the Italian top flight for the next federation, was jailed for four years for LaLiga, the top soccer league, entered into win the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Moscow. three seasons. The ‘Serie A Pass’ service went corruption, the latest development in a 15-year joint venture with Relevent Sports, The figures for the game, which kicked off live in time for the start of the new season the long-running ‘Fifa-gate’ probe into the organiser of the International Champions at 5pm locally in France, represented the on 18 August, showing all live games, match allegations that bribes and kickbacks were Cup, the multi-continent pre-season best audience of the year in France and replays, magazine and archive programming. paid for media and marketing rights to exhibition soccer tournament, which will the seventh-biggest audience in French TV soccer competitions across the Americas. involve a regular-season game being played in USA. The initiative was promptly opposed history. by AFE, the players’ union. 6 News Analysis www.sportcal.com WINTER 2018 Sportcal Insight 7 Russia 2018 injects life into linear TV No-one watches that box in the corner of the living room anymore. By Jonathan Rest Or so we’re told. But for one month in June and July, the remote control was dug out from the bottom of the sofa, mobiles and tablets were put to one side – still within easy reach though – as, worldwide, the Fifa World Cup emphasised the enduring power of linear television when it comes to broadcasting live, big ticket sport. According to early estimates from Fifa – a deep dive analysis is not expected until the fourth quarter – the total number of unique viewers of the 2018 World Cup in Russia is expected to exceed three billion across all viewing methods. More than one billion are projected to have watched France crowned World Champions with a 4-2 win over Croatia on 15 July. Eurodata TV Worldwide believes 10 per cent of the global final audience Lucas Hernandez of France hands the trophy to teammate Florian Thauvin as they came from 19 European markets, fuelled celebrate victory after the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final between France and Croatia at by the presence of France, England, the Luzhniki Stadium on July 15, 2018 in Moscow, Russia Belgium and Croatia in the final four. As Yassine Berhoun, sports director at Eurodata TV Worldwide, puts it: “This platforms, an organisation record, while a 14.3 million peak for Telecinco, the clearly shows once again that even at 4.3 million people tuned in for the semi- highest audience of the year so far in the age of mobile devices and non- final against Croatia via the ITV Hub, Spain for an event on a single channel. linear viewing, major sports events are creating a new streaming record for the Audiences will continue to fragment the only shows capable of gathering commercial broadcaster. and the gap will no doubt shrink by the such large audiences in front of a TV It is just that the gap between the time Qatar kick off the next World Cup set.” linear and digital audiences was bigger on 21 November, 2022, but linear is still It’s not that the digital audiences were than many would have envisaged. alive and kicking. not there. The main ITV channel registered Josh Smith, director of Fifa TV Fifa says that around 22 per cent an average audience of 24.3 million Services, tells Sportcal Insight: “With of the total tournament viewership viewers for England-Croatia, the highest TV viewing considered to be in decline watched out of home or on computer/ football audience on a single UK overall, people look towards the mobile devices. channel ever. enduring power of live sport to bring Indeed, TF1 reported a record 1.9 A total of 26.1 million people in together large TV audiences.