Why is Real Madrid muffled in China?

Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich FC have cashed in around 10 million Euros from their 9-day China Tour presented by Audi. Compared to the huge success made by Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, on the contrary, was muffled during the trip to China. 

Many top executives of Real Madrid cannot figure out why Real’s coming alongside with superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos didn’t make any sports headlines in China. 

Compared with Bayern, Real have enjoyed a higher level of popularity in China in term of brand awareness and fanbase, but thier media exposure and fans engagement for this summer trip to China is far behind Bayern. 

It is reported that Bayern has pocketed in around 10 million Euros from the 9-day preseason games. The German giants have been making series of preparations for the China Tour from an early time this year.   

In February, Bayern Munich entered into a content sharing arrangement with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV including providing exclusive interviews and video content to the makers of Total Soccer, a two-hour soccer programme aired every Monday by CCTV’s sports division, which provides Bayern with maximum media exposure on CCTV in advance to the trip. 

Meanwhile, Bayern upgraded their official Chinese website for the China Tour, providing detailed news updates. Bayern stars including Philipp Lahm, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, Robert Lewandowski and Mario Götze also launched their Chinese Weibo accounts. In May, Bayern also formed a partnership deal with Alibaba to supply their commodities on Tmall, making Bayern the first European football club to do so. 

Real followed their way by striking a deal with Tmall in July, but the 700 yuan price tag for Real’s jersey is far more expensive than Bayern’s 599 yuan. In terms of social media engagement and leverage, Real also lagged behind Bayern. Although Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have Weibo, the two players had posted no updates on Tencent Weibo since May 2, 2014. Moreover, media and fans got limited access to Real Madrid and their stars. Only organizers like LeTV Sports got the opportunity for an interview or media coverage, resulting in no coverage from CCTV and other online media in china. 

Maybe it’s time for Florentino Pérez Rodríguez and his team to reflect on the business strategy towards the rapidly growing Far East market. They need to understand the market and the needs of Chinese fans in order to activate and monetize from the market. 

Source: Tencent