Premier League Series(III): TV broadcasts, media exposure and fandom of the EPL in China

Zhang Shanshan, Chief Marketing Officer of Sogou shared some insights of the EPL based on her working experience.

The search data of Sogou suggests that the EPL has enjoyed huge popularity well beyond other football leagues with more than 40 million related searches, triple the amount of Bundesliga. By region, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, home for most EPL fans, makes the lion’s share of those searches.

Which football club and players get the most attention from Chinese fans?

Regarding clubs, Man Utd has the largest fan base in China, accounting for nearly 32% of the total, followed by Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool with Robin van Persie being the most popular player among Chinese fans.

What else get fans’ attention?

We found that male fans are interested in lots of sport content. They are more likely to watch live games. For those who favor live online streaming, what they need most from searching engine are links. In addition, they are also very obsessed with transfer news, highlights and any football gossip. Female fans, on the other hand, are more likely to be contented in finding pictures and gossip about a certain player.

We also discovered that EPL fans also interested in digital products, automobiles, air travel, luxury watches and personal finance. Brands in these categories get the most attention from EPL fans. Longines, Apple, Casio, Rolex, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Chevrolet and Hyundai, also provide powerful factual proof that EPL fans are of relatively higher income.

The upcoming 2015/2016 EPL season will be broadcasted through channels owned by Super Sports alongside 20 other Chinese local sports TV channels and 3 online streaming platforms. Specifically, Sina, Tencent Sports and Letv Sports will screen live as many as 230 EPL matches this season which begins on August 8th. The other 20 local sports TV channels, such as BTV Sports, Great Sports and GDTV Sports, will be able to broadcast two games every matchday of the new season. In addition, Super Sports will broadcast live 150 exclusive matches through its online platforms. Overall, the 2015/2016 EPL will be easily accessible to the Chinese audience.

“We want to observe where the resources would flow to and how services, such as mobile applications, payments, contents, and activities, would be provided when they are being broadcasted on TV networks channels, terrestrial channel, paid TV channels and online platforms” said Zhao Jun, deputy director at Super Sports. He concluded by adding that the EPL, as a brand, will cover all these factors or maybe even more.

On-campus promotions will be one of the marketing highlights of the 2015/2016 EPL. As Zhao revealed, the campaign would be accessible to any brand or media since more engagement generated from a more open environment would give a boost to the commercial value of the brand.

As a sub-licensed broadcaster, how will Sina Sports perform when the 2015/2016 EPL season comes?

As Sina’s SVP and Director of Sports, Wei Jianglei said “Sina will present a large number of videos with commentaries from the first EPL game in the new season where fans would be able to learn more about the Premier League. Moreover, we will attempt to set up 2 virtual studios where football fans with distinctive styles and local dialects could commentate on the game and where the viewers would be able to select a commentator every EPL matchday from 300 professionals to decide their favorite.”

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick