Bayern Munich: turning football to gold in China

Bayern Munich have launched a marketing offensive in China. It was long overdue. The team is well behind its English and Spanish competition.

This is how far it's come already: Chinese fans now decide when German players can enter the stadium. Kick-off has long been at 2 p.m. in England, Spain and France. This way, matches can be broadcast live during prime time in China. Germany is the next football country to have to adapt to this routine. For the 2016/17 season, the German Football League (DFL) is planning five matches on Sundays, with kick-off scheduled at 1:30 p.m. German fans are outraged. But Asia is too important for the DFL to change its mind - there's a lot of money at stake. After all, The Bundesliga is well behind the English and Spanish leagues. Now, Bayern Munich has finally understood this, which is why the club set off for China last week.

The players were met like kings on Friday at the airport in Beijing with over 1,000 Chinese fans singing German football anthems for them. The Chinese capital was the first stop on a week-long tour of the country, alongside their sponsor Audi - the top-class manufacturer is the German carmaker that sells the most vehicles there.

The tour was the beginning of a marketing offensive. They played against three teams during their tour - in three different cities. In Beijing, they played against Valencia, in Shanghai against Milan and in Guangzhou they played against the Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande. It was a tight schedule for the Bavarians.

A future office in China?

They should have spent more time on their 90 million Chinese fans - according to the team's own estimations - that's more than the population of Germany. Since it's impossible for all of them to get autographs, the club has created a new Chinese website, launched an app and also set up pages on China's most important social networks. Right now, they only have 5 million fans on Chinese social networks. The club is also thinking of opening an office in China, having already opened one in New York. What's surprising is that the team's marketing department has not already done more to tap into this market. After all, German companies are ahead of other Europeans on the Chinese market.

Even Bayern Munich Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said two months ago that his club was lagging far behind. He went to Hangzhou especially to celebrate the opening of the first Chinese online fan shop, where Chinese people can buy fan gear to celebrate their heroes. They can also be certain there won't be any pirated goods on this site. There's a huge market for fake goods.

Millions of Chinese spectators watched the opening match of the World Cup last summer, even though it was in the early morning hours for them and viewing figures did not subside as the tournament progressed. The fact that Germany won made German players such as Thomas Müller and Philipp Lahm even more popular. The Bundesliga clubs now want to exploit this popularity. While Borussia Dortmund recently went to Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, the Bavarians are concentrating on China.

Well-established competition

The Germans can learn a thing or two from the English and the Spanish. The English Premier League is a massive hit in China. International television rights for 2016/17 will bring in about 860 million euros ($938 million), with a large part due to broadcasts on the Asian market. The German Football League can expect a maximum of 162 million euros. While Bayern Munich can count on TV earnings of 38 million euros, even the English team at the bottom of the league earns more than 130 million euros these days. This means that the English can invest more internationally. That means Germany may end up with an even larger bridge to gap. But, in China, it's the Germans who have the best image among European nations.

It's not only the broadcasting rights that bring in money, individual teams have been touring China since the 1990s and they know exactly how to market themselves. Manchester United capitalized on David Beckham's fame in China a long time ago. At the time, the English club sold the football shirts in Singapore. Now, it also has fan shops in China. Manchester United is four years ahead of Bayern Munich when it comes to its online presence. It also has several football schools in Beijing and Shanghai. The Chinese market will also get a major boost when the first top Chinese player gets signed on by a European club.

More Chinese can watch German football

The top Spanish club Real Madrid can also teach the Germans a lesson when it comes to business with China. In 2005, it helped the CITIC group finance the Beijing club Guoan. In return, CITIC agreed to help Real Madrid with their marketing in China. It seems to have been a good deal for both sides: Guoan is now the second-best team in the country after Guangzhou Evergrande. And alongside Manchester United, Real Madrid is the team that makes the most in China.

At least the DFL sold the broadcasting rights to the state-run China Central Television instead of to pay-TV networks the way it did in other parts of Asia. The Bavarians have even signed their own deal with CCTV 5. That means the Bundesliga is now reaching more Chinese fans. That makes the question of when the matches kick off more crucial than ever. And it'll be the Chinese viewing figures that decide. The German fans won' even have a say.