380 matches, attended by 13,741,982 fans, screened in ...€¦ · premier league in numbers 380...

PREMIER LEAGUE IN NUMBERS

380 MATCHES, ATTENDED BY 13,741,982 FANS, SCREENED IN 730,000,000 HOUSEHOLDS, ACROSS 225 TERRITORIES. IN HOME. OUT OF HOME. ON TV, COMPUTER, TABLET AND MOBILE. 7 DAYS A WEEK, 10 MONTHS A YEAR. THE MOST WATCHED LEAGUE IN THE WORLD, BY THE MOST ENGAGED FANS

Market case studies: UK p14-15, USA p16-17, India p20-21, China p22-23, Thailand p24-25, Malaysia p26-27, Nigeria p30-31, South Africa p32-33, Norway p34-35

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF GROUNDBREAKING NEW RESEARCH IN NINE KEY MARKETS

3Introductionpremierleague.com

A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF ENGAGEMENTMore people in more places are engaging with the Premier League in more ways than ever before. In a significant step for the global sports industry, new independent research conducted by Repucom quantifies precisely how. Nick Harris explores how increasing numbers of fans are tuning in not just at home on television but out of home, online and via mobile devices.

Research focused on nine key markets including the world’s three

most populous nations - China, India and the USA - plus Africa’s biggest country, Nigeria, as well as Malaysia, Thailand, Norway, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The range of engagement by fans in contrasting regions is extraordinary but the conclusion is the same everywhere. A significantly larger number of people are watching live Premier League matches than conventional measurement tools have ever picked up before.Using a baseline number of those watching in the home on television (IHTV), the uplift in the real total viewing figures ranges from 45% in the UK to 154% in China.

In other words, for every 100 fans known to be watching at home on TV in the UK, another 45 are watching in other ways. And for every 100 watching IHTV in China, another 154 are watching in others ways on top.

The standard global currency of audience measurement is IHTV data. It is a reliable product, one that broadcasters and advertisers understand, one collated and published by respected, authoritative agencies such as BARB in the UK, by Nielsen in the USA and elsewhere, and so on.

It will tell you a programme average (the average number watching at any point throughout the show), the peak (the maximum watching at any one time) and the reach (different people watching at some point).

But it doesn’t tell you how many more people are watching a programme at home but on a computer, tablet or other mobile device. Nor does it tell you how many are watching on a TV or big screen in a public place, like a pub or social centre. Nor how many are watching ‘out of home’ but not on a TV or public screen, but on a laptop or mobile device, whether at work, on the move or elsewhere.

In an increasingly mobile world, consumption patterns are changing fast. This new data, unprecedented in scope, provides the most comprehensive insight yet about how.

Notes on methodology: Repucom surveyed 9,000 fans across NINE key markets in April and May 2015 to capture viewership behaviours of live Premier League matches. Respondents were asked to recall their behaviours in relation to the previous round of matches, stating which they had watched, where, with whom, and on what device. Information was gathered for 43 Live Premier League games in total. Claimed IHTV data (those watching at home on TV) was calibrated against official ‘captured’ audience numbers for respective matches. Projections were then made to account for the size of the non-captured audience (those watching at home but not on TV, plus all out-of-home viewers). All data provided by the Premier League, Repucom, Populus and other sources as referenced.

MARKET CAPTURED (IN HOME, ON TV)

NON-CAPTURED(ALL OTHER)

REAL TOTAL UPLIFT

China 41,746,100 64,370,918 106,117,018 154%

Nigeria 21,769,300 32,066,053 53,835,353 147%

Thailand 40,611,900 28,022,394 68,634,294 69%

India 13,295,700 14,613,137 27,908,837 110%

USA 106,066,700 108,218,200 214,284,900 102%

Malaysia 22,960,400 16,748,914 39,709,314 73%

Norway 5,279,700 2,738,719 8,018,419 52%

S Africa 26,897,600 12,450,033 39,347,633 46%

UK 183,739,200 81,797,751 265,536,951 45%

PREMIER LEAGUE VIEWER NUMBERS LIVE MATCHES 2014/15

4 Sportcal Insight Barclays Premier League

5Football firstpremierleague.com

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FOOTBALL

Live broadcasts to viewers in hundreds of millions of homes across every

continent make the Premier League a truly global phenomenon from Los Angeles, London and Lagos to Montreal, Manchester and Mumbai via Sao Paulo, Southampton, Shanghai and all points in between.

The League provides compelling content for broadcasters and huge exposure for sponsors all year, every year, and it hasn’t become the world’s league by accident. Since its formation in 1992, the League’s ‘football first’ approach has underpinned its development.

Investment in stadiums, facilities and talent - including managers and coaches as well as players - has generated increasing demand and interest in the League in what has become a ‘cycle of growth’ now well into a third decade.

The existence of that virtuous cycle was identified in an economic impact analysis of the League by EY (Ernst & Young) in May 2015, which highlighted how the increasing appetite for the League has been converted into commercial success and sustainable growth, at home and abroad.

This in turn has allowed equitable distribution of the proceeds to benefit wider football development and communities. This delivers greater investment in stadiums, facilities and talent.

Thus the cycle of growth, as EY attests, has led to the Premier League developing football “into a sport that is more attractive and accessible to the public” in the UK and around the world.

The Premier League is widely regarded as the world’s most popular and exciting football league. It offers compelling, competitive football, played in full and vibrant stadiums by a cosmopolitan cast of many of the world’s finest players.

Premier League Kicks: Inspiring young people through football

Premier League Kicks began in 2006 and uses the appeal of professional football clubs to engage young people from challenging communities in regular football, sport and personal development activities. Fifty Premier League and Football League clubs now deliver Kicks at more than 800 sites – with more than 56,000 young people benefitting last year. Since its launch, Premier League Kicks has engaged more than 131,000 young people, with 75% of Kicks projects delivered in the top 30% most deprived areas in the country.

131,000 YOUNG PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY HAVE BENEFITTED FROM THE PREMIER LEAGUE’S KICKS PROJECT SINCE IT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2006, INCLUDING PLAYERS SUCH AS RAHEEM STERLING AND WILFRIED ZAHA

6 Sportcal Insight Premier League

A MAJORITY EXPERIENCE…No big country - of more than 10 million people - attracts a greater share of its population to attend live football matches on a regular basis than England.

England’s football pyramid dates back to 1888 and now comprises thousands of clubs,

with 92 of them across the wholly professional top four divisions. The Premier League sits at the top of this interdependent network, elite but by no means elitist.

The dawn of the current Premier League season, the 24th, coincided with the League becoming a ‘majority experience’ for the 92 clubs. The elevation of AFC Bournemouth to the top level meant that 47 of the 92 clubs in 2015/16, or 51%, have played Premier League football at some point.

No other major football league has had as many clubs involved over the same period. Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga have each had 46 clubs in that time, with France’s Ligue 1 on 43 and Germany’s Bundesliga on 41.

These historic footballing nations have all had well-supported leagues and diverse top divisions across many years but none match England. If every English club played at home on the

36,163 FANS AT EACH

GAME ON AVERAGE

(MORE THAN ANY 20-TEAM LEAGUE IN WORLD FOOTBALL. SPAIN’S LA LIGA IS

SECOND WITH 25,734)

107 NATIONALITIES HAVE STARRED IN THE PREMIER

LEAGUE

same day, they would attract almost 3% of the population, or approaching 1.5 million people, with the Premier League contributing by far the most of any single division, about half of the total.

In Germany and Spain, if every club played at home on the same day, they would attract about 1.6% of the population, or little more than half England’s ratio. In Italy and France the corresponding fi gure would be around 1% of the population, or around a third of England’s ratio.

There is an increasing diversity within the Premier League’s domestic fan base. Children’s season ticket sales are growing, by 26% over the last decade. They now account for 12% of all season ticket sales.

The number of 18-34 year olds attending matches has grown to 40% of all match-going fans. A record 26% of match attenders are female. And last season, for the fi rst time, more than half (51%) of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) population of Britain said they were interested in football. The BAME population accounts for 11% of the UK population but a record 17% of Premier League attendees.

95.9% STADIUM OCCUPANCY

IN 2014/15

THE H

IGHEST OF ANY LEAGUE IN WORLD

FO

OTB

ALL

SOURCE: PREMIER LEAGUE 2014/15

7Audiencespremierleague.com

...WITH THE WORLD WATCHING


BIG OCCASIONS FOR EVERY CLUB…

9Case studypremierleague.com

…IN A WORLD OF GROWING MARKETST

he Premier League is also a ‘majority experience’ globally, with 2.3 billion football fans in

the world and more than half of them (1.2 billion) identifying themselves as fans of the Premier League.

The world’s most populous nation, China, has 174 million Premier League fans while in Indonesia the figure is more than 96 million and in India more than 89 million.

More than a third of the people in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, say they follow the Premier League. That’s more than 50 million people, or approximately the same number as the entire population of England. Countries as diverse as the USA, Thailand, Russia and Mexico each have between 20 million and 30 million Premier League fans.

Arsenalfeatured in four of the top 10 live matches in the USA Aston Villafeatured in the second-most watched live match in Norway Chelseafeatured in all top-six live matches in Nigeria Crystal Palacefeatured among the top 10 live matches in Malaysia Evertonfeatured twice in top 10 live matches in USA Leicester Cityfeatured twice in the top 10 live matches in Thailand Liverpoolfeatured twice in the top four live matches in Malaysia Manchester Cityfeatured in three of the top 10 live matches in South Africa Manchester Unitedfeatured in nine of top 10 live matches in the UK

Newcastle Unitedfeatured among the top five live matches in China

Southamptonfeatured among top 10 live matches in India Stoke Cityfeatured in two of the three most-watched live matches in China Sunderlandfeatured in the third most-watched live match in India Swansea Cityfeatured in the most-watched live match in China Tottenham Hotspurfeatured among top 10 most-watched live matches in the UK West Bromwich Albionfeatured among the top 20 most-watched live matches in Norway

West Ham Unitedfeatured twice in the top 12 live matches in Thailand

174,000,000PREMIER LEAGUE FANS IN CHINA, THE WORLD’S MOST POPULOUS NATION

10

THE CYCLE OF GLOBAL GROWTH

The popularity of the Premier League means its clubs are in demand around the world, in

the fl esh and via all types of broadcast. In the build-up to the 2015/16 season, AFC Bournemouth were one of eight Premier League clubs to play pre-season friendlies in North America. So did Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur and West Bromwich Albion. Chelsea also went to Thailand and Australia, while Manchester City went to Australia, Vietnam and Germany.

Arsenal, Everton and Stoke City played in the Barclays Asia Trophy in Singapore. Aston Villa toured Portugal. Crystal Palace went to South Africa. Liverpool played in Thailand, Australia, Malaysia and Finland. Southampton played in Austria, as did West Brom, while Swansea City and Watford both played matches in Germany.

The Premier League is a global entity, in global demand and of global importance in multiple ways. The Premier League contributed more players to last summer’s World Cup (106) than any league, as it has done since the 1990s.

The Premier League’s 20 teams attract a more diverse range of shirt sponsors - from 10 different

countries across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East - than any other major league. And those shirt deals, worth an average of more than £11m per club for 2015/16, are worth more than twice as much as those in any other league. Some of the world’s biggest brands know full well that the Premier League is the most attractive platform for reaching the widest possible audience on a year-round basis.

MOST PLAYERS AT 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP

RANK LEAGUE TOTAL CLUBS AVG

No.1 Premier League £223m 20 £11.2m

No.2 Bundesliga £101m 18 £5.6m

No.3 La Liga £82m 20 £4.1m

No.4 Ligue 1 £70m 20 £3.5m

No.5 Serie A £61m 20 £3.1m

SOURCE: REPUCOM / SPORTINGINTELLIGENCE

SHIRT SPONSORSHIP DEALS IN EUROPE’S BIG 5 LEAGUES

No.1 Premier League £223m 20 £11.2m

1. P

REM

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GU

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%

2. S

ERIE

A 1

1%

3. B

UN

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4. L

A L

IGA

8%

5. L

IGU

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6%

6. R

USS

IAN

PRE

MIE

R LE

AG

UE

5%

7. L

IGA

MX,

MEX

ICO

3%

8. S

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R LI

G, T

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EY 3

%

9. P

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A, P

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10. M

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%LEADING 10 LEAGUES COMBINED: 490 (OF 736 PLAYERS) - 67%

SOU

RCE:

FIF

A /

GU

ARD

IAN

DA

TA B

LOG

106 PLAYERS 81 72 62 43 34 25 24 22 21

Sportcal Insight Premier League

11Global appealpremierleague.com

MORE BIG TEAMS. MORE MATCHES THAT MATTER

RANK LEAGUE AVG FOLLOWERS

CLUBS IN WORLD’S TOP 10 MOST POPULAR TEAMS

No.1 Premier League 12m 5

No.2 La Liga 11m 2

No.3 IPL (cricket) 7.3m 0

No.4 NBA (basketball) 5m 1

No.5 Serie A 3.3m 1

No.6 NFL 3.14m 0

No.7 Bundesliga 3.06m 1

No.8 MLB (baseball) 2.1m 0

No.9 Ligue 1 1.9m 0

*ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER, PRINCIPAL OFFICIAL CLUB ACCOUNTS SOURCE: SPORTING INTELLIGENCE

MOST FOLLOWERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA* (TEAM AVERAGE)

No.1 Premier League 12m 5

An in-depth study of 17 of the world’s major sports leagues in 2015 - including the four major

US sports leagues of the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, the fi ve major football leagues of Europe, and assorted other leagues - found an elite group of ‘super clubs’ could be identifi ed using the simple metric of global social media following.

Teams from Europe dominated the upper echelons of the list, with one of the study’s authors, American academic Roger Pielke Jnr, concluding: “Football is the only truly global game, especially European football.”

Five Premier League teams feature among the world’s 10 most popular sports teams, with no other league, from any sport, having more than two.

NBA basketball had the next best claim to being most globally popular league, with three teams in the top 15: the LA Lakers at No9, the Chicago Bulls at No12 and the Miami Heat at No13.

MLB baseball squeezed one team into the top 20: the New York Yankees. The best-placed NFL team was the Dallas Cowboys at No22 while the next best was the New England Patriots at No25, a place below Tottenham Hotspur.

The Premier League’s fi ve top-10

teams are Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. Few would doubt their worldwide appeal. Yet the strength in depth of the Premier League, and its possibility for excitement and upsets every week, was demonstrated repeatedly last season.

Manchester United lost at home to West Bromwich Albion, who also beat Chelsea. Arsenal lost home and away to Swansea City, who a decade earlier were in England’s fourth division but have thrived in a system that allows upward mobility. Liverpool lost at home to Crystal Palace, away at relegated Hull City. Manchester City lost to Crystal Palace and Burnley and home to Stoke City. If uncertainty of outcome is one key ingredient to keep audiences engaged, then the Premier League has it. That uncertainty fi zzles in the 20 ‘global games’ per season between the League’s fi ve top-10 ‘global’ clubs. Those 20 major fi xtures are 10 times as many than any other league offers.

El Clásico in Spain between Barcelona and Real Madrid is rightly seen as global draw, but it’s the only global draw of its kind in La Liga and it happens twice a year.

170PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES EACH

SEASON INVOLVEAT LEAST ONE OF

THE WORLD’S TOP 10 MOST

POPULAR TEAMS


A FAIRER SHARE FOR ALLT

he Premier League’s attraction to such a wide audience inevitably means it is attractive

to broadcasters. EY’s economic impact analysis in May 2015 compared major football league broadcasting revenues in Europe for the 2013/14 season.

The Premier League’s £1.733 billion for that year – a billion pounds of domestic income and the rest from overseas deals – was almost three times as much as Serie A’s broadcast income of £608 million the same season, with La Liga on £543 million, the Bundesliga on £356 million and Ligue 1 on £350 million.

EY highlighted the signifi cance of the Premier League’s foreign TV rights sales in 2013/14, saying: “At around £722 million, the international broadcast revenues alone received by the Premier League were greater than the total (domestic and international) broadcast revenue individually generated by Ligue 1, Serie A, the Bundesliga and La Liga.” The Premier League also leads in equality of distribution of its broadcasting income, with the club that makes the most from central funds, Chelsea in 2014/15, earning just 1.53 times as much as the club making least – Queens Park Rangers last season.

The next ‘fairest’ league in redistributive terms among Europe’s Big Five is the Bundesliga, with a ratio of 2 to 1 between top and bottom, followed by France’s Ligue 1 (at 3.4 to 1), Italy’s Serie A (at 5.3 to 1) and Spain’s

3ENGLAND

(PREMIER LEAGUE)

2SPAIN,

PORTUGAL, RUSSIA,

UKRAINE, BELGIUM,

NETHERLANDS, TURKEY,

CZECH REPUBLIC, AUSTRIA,POLAND, SWEDEN

1GERMANY,

ITALY, FRANCE,

SWITZERLAND, GREECE,

ROMANIA, CROATIA, CYPRUS

DIFFERENT TOP-DIVISION

TITLE WINNERS IN LAST THREE

SEASONS

La Liga (at 7.8 to 1). Over the next three seasons at least £1 billion will be redistributed to help develop the English game outside of the Premier League.

There is a case to be made that as the Premier League’s overseas TV income increases, the fairer the league will become in a competitive sense, because every club shares exactly the same proportion of foreign TV money, regardless of where they fi nish.

There is an argument that the Premier League title race is now more open at the start of the season than in any other major European league. The Premier League was unique among the Big Five leagues as the 2015/16 seasons began in not having a clear odds-on title favourite. Bayern Munich (Germany), Paris St Germain (France), Barcelona (Spain) and Juventus (Italy) all occupied that status in those nations.

The Premier League in 2015/16 kicked off with the possibility that it might end with a fourth different winner for a fourth consecutive season. Bayern Munich began their season looking for a fourth title in a row in Germany, as did PSG in France; Juventus are chasing a fi fth straight title in Italy and Barcelona hope to be Spanish champions for the sixth time in eight years.

The Premier League, uniquely of the top divisions in the 20 leading football nations of Europe (as ranked by UEFA co-effi cient ratings), has had three different winners in the past three years.

13Football nationpremierleague.com


UNITED KINGDOM

Football is by far the most popular sport in Britain, with half of the adult population

interested, and the Premier League by far the most popular sporting competition.

Live attendances in recent seasons have set occupancy records for capacity utilised as well as records for the total number of fans attending any Premier League season. More fans on average attended each Premier League match in 2013/14, for example, than in any season in the top division of England for 64 years.

More than a quarter of the UK population watch Premier League coverage on television at home on a typical match weekend. Live audiences build across the weekend from Saturday lunchtime (1.27 million average, combining viewers

‘captured’ watching at home on TV with others watching live in other ways) to Saturday tea-time (1.74 million) to Sunday lunch-time (1.65 million). The biggest average on most weekends comes on Sundays at 4pm (2.2 million). Live games in ‘midweek’ including on Monday nights and Bank Holidays average 1.65 million viewers. The highlights programme Match of the Day – a British institution for half a century shown on the BBC – draws an average 3.6 million viewers late on Saturday nights and MOTD2 on Sundays adding 2.33 million more on average, with other magazine and preview programming adding more.

Cumulative viewing numbers for live games alone reached 265.5 million people in the UK in 2014/15. That’s the equivalent of every man, woman and child – regardless of age and across the whole of the UK, not just England – watching more than four whole Premier League matches each, live.

The UK has a greater percentage of viewers of live games watching at

POPULATION

62.4M

FOOTBALL FANS

22.7M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

18.1M

HIGHLIGHTS, NEAR-LIVE BROADCASTS

AND REPEATS SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED THE

TOTAL NUMBERS OF VIEWS ACROSS

3,210 HOURS OF PREMIER LEAGUE

BROADCASTS IN THE UK IN 2014/15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY

LIVE IN-HOME TV AUDIENCE

183.7MOTHER LIVE

VIEWERS

81.8MTOTAL LIVE VIEWERS

265.5M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHESIN THE UK, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS

1. Man Utd v Chelsea Sun 16:00

2. Man Utd v Man City Sun 16:00

3. Man Utd v Liverpool Sun 13:30

4. Man Utd v Southampton Sun 16:00

5. Man City v Man Utd Sun 13:30

6. Arsenal v Man Utd Sat 17:30

7. West Ham v Man Utd Sun 16:00

8. Man City v Liverpool Mon 20:00

9. Liverpool v Man Utd Sun 13:30

10. Man Utd v Spurs Sun 16:00

11. Man Utd v QPR Sun 16:00

12. Arsenal v Chelsea Sun 16:00

SOURCE: REPUCOM 2013/14 (BASED ON THE 16- TO

69-YEAR-OLD POPULATION)

SOU

RCE:

REP

UC

OM

201

4/15


home on TV than the eight other key markets. Some 82% watch at home and 85% of those watch on TV, accounting for 69% of total viewing. That still leaves a large absolute number of viewers - almost 82 million across last season - watching in other ways.

Slightly more people watched live games via laptops and other computers including tablets (34.9 million) last season than they did on screens in public places, principally pubs (34.8 million). Almost 7 million viewers watched a live Premier League match on a smartphone.

The most popular clubs in the UK in terms of total viewers were the same fi ve clubs identifi ed within the world’s top 10 most popular sports teams: Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

But every club featured at least once, and most more often, in the top 40 matches ranked by live audience, each of which had between 1.98 million and 4.2 million viewers.

15,078,274 DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS IN THE UK WHO CONSUME TV COVERAGE OF THE PREMIER LEAGUE ON A TYPICAL MATCH WEEKEND, EITHER LIVE OR VIA A HIGHLIGHTS SHOW SUCH AS MATCH OF THE DAY. EQUIVALENT TO 26% OF THE UK TV-VIEWING POPULATION WHO CONSUME COVERAGE OF THE PREMIER LEAGUE ON TV AT HOME ON A TYPICAL MATCH WEEKEND

“The quality of the stadiums, the quality of the support, the passion that is behind every single club and the fact that the best players in the world are concentrated in the Premier League – all that together makes it special. And on top of that you are in the country where football has been created… and you want to be part of it” Arsene Wenger, Arsenal manager

“This is the league where every match is a real match. Every opponent is diffi cult.

Every detail can make a difference. This is the league where you want to be champion and

risk fi nishing fi fth. Where you wanta Europa League spot and risk being relegated. This is the Premier League. This is a real competition” José Mourinho, Chelsea manager

IN HOME

82%

OUT-OF-HOME

18%

DATA DIVE: SHARE OF VIEWING BY DEVICE: PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE MATCHES

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET

85%

71%

12%

16%

3%

13%

+

+

+

+


UNITED STATES

The Premier League’s strong growth continues in the United States, with average

in-home TV match audiences up by 9% between 2013/14 and 2014/15 and signs early in 2015/16 that the current season will be another record year.

The debate over whether America ‘gets’ football is over. It does, and has done for years, and a new six-year broadcasting contract for NBC, one of the world’s most pre-eminent sports broadcasters, from 2016 underlines that. NBC recognises that the fan base for football is cosmopolitan, multilingual and growing, and that the Premier League is premium content that attracts young, engaged viewers.

Some 28.6 million different US citizens - almost a 10th of the

population - watched at least part of one Premier League game live last season. It is perceived as supplying entertaining football, with unpredictable outcomes, intense rivalries and passionate fans packing out atmospheric stadiums.

Focus groups of digitally-engaged Premier League fans in New York found viewers watching the League across a range of devices, platforms and channels. Mobile access is preferred for its convenience. Fans take advantage of club, broadcaster and social media apps to download up-to-date information. There is a strong appetite for news and statistical information. Fans within the digitally-engaged demographic rate NBC’s Premier League coverage very highly, including the ‘NBC Sports Live Extra’ online app. It is typical of how digitally connected young US fans are that they are as likely to watch NBC coverage via an offi cial online stream or mobile app as they are on television.

Social media platforms, such as Twitter, offi cial club apps and

POPULATION

313.1M

FOOTBALL FANS

59.9M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

28.5M




2,003 HOURS OF PREMIER LEAGUE BROADCASTS IN THE

USA IN 2014/15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY


106.1M

OTHER LIVE VIEWERS


214.3M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHESIN THE US, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS

1. Chelsea v Man City Sat 12:30



4. Chelsea v Arsenal Sun 09:05


6. Spurs v Chelsea Thu 8:30*

7. Newcastle v Southampton Sat 12:30


9. Everton v Liverpool Sat 12:30

10. Everton v Arsenal Sat 12:30

11. Crystal Palace v Spurs Sat 12:30

12. QPR v Man City Sat 12:30

*NEW

YEA

R’S

DAY

201

5

SOU

RCE:

REP

UC

OM

201

4/15




broadcasters’ apps are used most often for accessing basic information such as scores and match statistics. Some social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram are used for more in-depth content, behind the scenes videos and photos of players and clubs.

Focus groups found that Premier League fans in the US often plan their weekends around the Premier League match schedule, and many rise early on a Saturday (7.45am EST) in order to watch the fi rst fi xture of the weekend. The most popular kick-off time is 12:30pm EST (5:30pm GMT) on Saturday as it does not confl ict with other sporting events, is not too early and a number of matches shown at this time (over 20 in 2014/15) are available free-to-air.

Using the total live viewing numbers, incorporating both the captured and previously non-captured audiences for live matches last season, the most watched match of 2014/15 in the US was in that 12.30pm EST time slot, featuring Chelsea versus Manchester City in January 2015. The lure of those two teams plus Manchester United and Arsenal meant the next four most-watched games featured a combination of that quartet, all in matches with an early Sunday EST kick-off time.

Yet the popularity of the 12.30 EST Saturday slot was evident across the rest of the top 12 live games last season, with Newcastle versus Southampton drawing more than 2 million viewers in the seventh most-watched match, and Everton, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Tottenham Hotspur and QPR also featuring in the top 12 matches, all of which drew between 1.9 million and

109,318 PAYING FANS AT THE BEST-ATTENDED FOOTBALL MATCH IN HISTORY ON US SOIL.THE PREMIER LEAGUE’S MANCHESTER UNITED V REAL MADRID, MICHIGAN, AUG 2014

“On the fi nal day of the year, we have three laptops and a TV going. We have them all streaming, but that’s really only towards the end of the season where every point matters” Premier League fan, New York

2.9 million viewers.Almost three-quarters of the US

audience (73%) watch live matches at home although only 68% of those at home watch on TV. They numbered 106.1 million last season, with 108.2 million other fans watching live in other ways. Of this ‘non-captured audience’ (NCA), 28.7 million of them, or 26.5% of the NCA, were watching either on a tablet or smartphone. The USA has the largest proportion of such ‘mobile’ audiences for live games, fractionally ahead of Thailand. A quarter of the USA’s NCA watch live matches out of home on public screens and 27% watch at home either on PCs or laptops.


TV

68%

47%

22%

30%

10%

23%

IN HOME

73%

OUT-OF-HOME

27%

+

+

+

+

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET


MEXICO / NO.3 / 20.5M

US / NO.2 / 28.5M BRAZIL / NO.3 / 17.1M

SPAIN / NO.2 / 7.6M

ITALY / NO.2 / 10.6M

NIGERIA / NO.1 / 59.2M

IRELAND / NO.1 / 1.4M

FRANCE / NO.2 / 7.2M

CANADA / NO.1 / 3.3M

NOTES1: *Popularity is defi ned by polling data that asked a representative sample of 16- to 69-year-olds in each country their level of interest in different football leagues. The data show all those ‘interested’ and ‘very interested’. Source: Repucom 2013/14. 2: In every nation where the Premier League is No1, it has greater popularity even than the domestic league. 3:

PREMIER LEAGUEGLOBAL APPEALWhere it ranks within selected nations among all football leagues (COUNTRY / RANK / PREMIER LEAGUE FANS*)

ARGENTINA / NO.3 / 6.1M

19Marketspremierleague.com

681,900,000 PEOPLE IDENTIFYING THEMSELVES AS PREMIER LEAGUE FANS IN THE 32 COUNTRIES DETAILED ON THIS MAP ALONE. THE PREMIER LEAGUE IS THE MOST POPULAR FOOTBALL LEAGUE IN 16 OF THESE COUNTRIES

In every nation where the Premier League is No2, only the principal domestic league is more popular.4: In Poland, Brazil & Mexico, the Premier League is No3 behind the domestic league plus the Bundesliga (in Poland) and La Liga (in the other two). 5: In most countries, the most popular football tournament is the World Cup, a quadrennial

international event to which the Premier League has contributed more players than any other league for every tournament since the 1990s. 6: In most countries the Champions League is among the most popular club tournaments, one where the Premier League has been a major contributor of clubs since both started in the 1992/93 season.

UK / NO.1 / 18.1M

NORWAY / NO.2 / 800,000

SWEDEN / NO.2 / 1.2M

RUSSIA / NO.2 / 23.3M

POLAND / NO.3 / 5M

GERMANY / NO.2 / 8.1M

JAPAN / NO.1 / 17.2M

CHINA/ NO.1 / 174M

SOUTH KOREA / NO.1 /13.2M

HONG KONG / NO.1 / 2.5M

THAILAND / NO.1 / 26.3M

INDONESIA / NO.1 / 92.2M

SINGAPORE / NO.1 / 1.6M

MALAYSIA / NO.1 / 9.4M

AUSTRALIA / NO.1 / 3.1M

NEW ZEALAND / NO.1 / 600,000

SOUTH AFRICA / NO.2 / 13M

EGYPT / NO.2 / 13.7M

INDIA / NO.1 /89.3M

QATAR / NO.1 / 800,000

UAE / NO.5 / 700,000

NETHERLANDS / NO.2 / 2.3M


INDIA

Cricket remains the most popular sport in India but interest in football is growing

rapidly with the Premier League the most popular year-round football competition. Focus groups suggest the growing popularity of the match is at least in part down to football’s condensed, fast-paced and incident-packed play, which fans instinctively compare with slower-paced cricket; and the Premier League is synonymous with these characteristics.

The League’s fans in India, more than 89 million of them, of whom 48 million say they follow a particular club, are especially strongly represented among the emerging middle class and young affl uent males. Matchdays for this demographic, which is a digitally engaged section of the population, are ‘primary social events’.

The local kick-off times, concentrated around prime time on Saturday and Sunday evenings, are ideal for organising nights out or viewing parties at home, and fans try to make an event out of every matchday weekend. Viewing data bears this out, with weekend evenings, local time, the most popular slots for live matches. If supporters cannot organise a group viewing, they will still watch matches at home, often streaming them via laptops.

Focus group fi ndings compiled by Populus say that social media plays a signifi cant role in any matchday weekend. According to the research: “Fans make great use of Facebook and WhatsApp to organise their viewing parties, share views on tactics, exchange friendly banter with fans of rival clubs and review the match action. While the match is on, however, they tend to try to avoid distractions in order to focus on the football itself.”

The new research on ‘non-captured’ audiences for live Premier League matches highlights both the social

POPULATION

1,242M

FOOTBALL FANS

252.4M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

89.3M





BROADCASTS IN INDIA IN 2014/15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY


13.3M

OTHER LIVE VIEWERS


27.9M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHESIN INDIA, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS


2. Everton v Man Utd Sun 18:00

3. Sunderland v Man Utd Sun 20:30

4. Leicester v Arsenal Sun 20:30


6. Man Utd v QPR Sun 20:30

7. Man City v Spurs Sat 17:15


9. Arsenal v Man City Sat 17:15


11. Liverpool v Chelsea Sat 18:15

12. Crystal Palace v Liverpool Sun 19:00

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DATA DIVE: SHARE OF VIEWING BY DEVICE: PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE MATCHESside of watching matches in India, and the technological variation in the way matches are consumed.

Some 36% of the average audience for a live match will be out of home, and 61% of that on screens in public places. That 36% is a larger share than any key market except Nigeria, explained in part by all live coverage being shown on pay-TV broadcaster STAR Sports.

The proportion of Indian viewers watching via PCs, laptops and consoles is also relatively high, with 29% of out-of-home viewers watching that way, and 19% of viewers at home.

The most-watched match of the season was in the Sunday 20:30 time slot, featuring Arsenal and Chelsea and drawing 600,000 viewers. The bigger the ‘occasion’ the higher the likelihood of a big ‘non-captured audience’ (NCA) share as fans gather out of home.

More than 120,000 viewers watched that Arsenal v Chelsea match on screens in public places across India, and a hundred thousand more on PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets away from home.

30,000+ INDIAN FANS ATTENDED THE BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE OPEN-AIR EVENT IN MUMBAI IN DECEMBER 2014, TO WATCH LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES ON A GIANT SCREEN AND MEET LEGENDS INCLUDING ROBBIE FOWLER AND PETER SCHMEICHEL

74%

61%

19%

29%

7%

10%

+

+

+

+

Four of the six most-watched matches were in the 20:30 Sunday slot, with a good variety of teams involved in those matches, from Arsenal and Chelsea to Everton, Manchester United, Sunderland, Leicester City and QPR.

While 64% of the Indian audience watches live matches at home, only 74% of those at home watch on TV. They numbered 13.3 million last season, with 14.6 million other fans watching live in other ways.

IN HOME

64%

OUT-OF-HOME

36%

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET

“Awareness has increased. Previously it was only cricket. You now see people playing soccer, and hear people watching or following soccer on a regular basis” Premier League fan, Mumbai


CHINA

Within China, the world’s biggest country in terms of population, the Premier

League is seen as the pre-eminent national football league and has the largest following, with 174 million fans in the country. Despite a time difference that means most matches kick off late at night, Premier League games attracted more than 106 million live viewers inside China in 2014/15. China had a larger proportion of ‘non-captured audience’ (NCA, or those watching in ways other than via television at home) than any country in the nine key markets.

This NCA share was almost 61%, meaning just over 39% of viewers watching matches live in China did so on TV at home. China had by far the largest proportion of viewers in key markets watching at home via

computers, with 41% of those watching at home doing so on PCs or laptops, and another 11% watching at home on mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. Coverage in the country is very accessible, available on free-to-air television and through a host of online providers.

China was unique among the nine key markets in having a minority of those watching at home doing so on TV (48%). Every other market had at least 60% of in-home live viewers doing so on TV.

Despite the late kick-offs, local time, a signifi cant minority of the Chinese audience stressed in focus groups that matches formed the basis of social occasions. Premier League kick-off times in Beijing (particularly Saturday 22:00 and Sunday 23:00) coincide well with fans’ social lives; many meet up with their friends to watch League matches. Fans surveyed in Beijing are extremely positive towards the Premier League and see it as one of the most competitive, high-quality leagues in the world.

China has the highest proportion of

POPULATION

1,348M

FOOTBALL FANS

307.3M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

174M





BROADCASTS IN CHINA IN 2014/15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY


41.7M

OTHER LIVE VIEWERS

64.4MTOTAL LIVEVIEWERS

106.1M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHESIN CHINA, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS

1. Chelsea v Swansea Sat 22:00

2. Stoke v Arsenal Sat 23:00

3. Man City v Stoke Sat 22:00

4. Man City v Crystal Palace Sat 20:45

5. Newcastle v Man City Sun 23:00

6. Arsenal v Hull Sat 22:00

7. Stoke v Spurs Sat 22:00

8. Aston Villa v Arsenal Sat 22:00

9. Leicester v Arsenal Sun 23:00


11. Chelsea v Leicester Sat 22:00

12. Man Utd v Hull Sat 22:00

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36,198,689THE CUMULATIVE AUDIENCE IN CHINA DURING 2014/15 FOR THOSE WATCHING LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES AT HOME ON A PC, LAPTOP OR GAMES CONSOLE

48%

43%

41%

36%

11%

21%

“I think the Premier League is full of passion, high speed and high level competition. Sometimes I am excited and sometimes I am tense” Premier League fan, Beijing

11pm/12am on Sundays; or, respectively, the 3pm kick-offs on Saturdays in the UK and 4pm Sunday kick-offs. Indeed 29 of the 30 most-watched matches were played at these times, with the top four and nine of the top 12 at 10/11pm on Saturday in China (3pm in the UK).

With the convenience of the time slot apparently important in determining the popularity among viewers, China’s most-watched dozen games in 2014/15 included a broad range of teams. Swansea City, Stoke City (twice), Crystal Palace, Newcastle United and Hull City all featured in the biggest six matches in terms of live audience as 14 of the League’s 20 teams played in a top-12 game in China in audience terms.

fans in the nine key markets watching live matches at home, 83% of them against 17% watching out of home, which is to be expected when most games are screened so late, local time. Of 106.1 million live viewers in 2014/15, this translated to 87.5 million watching at home (83%) and 18.6 million (17%) outside the home.

What is notable in China particularly is the signifi cant share of both in-home and out-of home audiences who watch on computers. Some of China’s biggest online platforms, including LETV and Sina, are licensed to show Premier League coverage. Inside the home, this is a 41% share of viewers, and even away from home it is 36%. Both these fi gures are considerably ahead of any other market for computer viewing of live matches.

The proportion of Chinese viewers watching matches via smartphones and tablets is also relatively high. Of those at home, the 11% watching this way in China is the highest of all markets while away from home (21%) is matched in Thailand and only bettered in the USA.

Two time slots dominated the most popular games in China in 2014/15, at 10/11pm on Saturdays and at

IN HOME

83%

OUT-OF-HOME

17%

+

+

+

+

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET


THAILAND

Football is one of the most popular sports in Thailand and the Premier League is

the most ardently-supported league. Many Thai people have grown up with English football and have strong allegiances to Premier League clubs, in particular those that have been most successful.

Live games can attract huge audiences, both in-home and elsewhere, and in some case matches draw more fans in Thailand late in the evenings than they do back in the UK. The massive audiences in Thailand are partly due to the fact that some matches are broadcast free-to-air.

The new research shows that two slots in particular are especially popular - those on Sunday at 19:30/20:30 local time (1.30pm

kick-offs in the UK on Sundays) and at 21:00/22:00 on Saturdays (3pm in the UK).

Focus groups in Bangkok in 2014/15 found that fans often go to restaurants and bars to watch Premier League live games as part of organised viewing events, often including prize giveaways. During matches, many fans prefer to focus on the game they are watching, but others like to dual screen and stream two matches simultaneously.

Fans in Bangkok own various desktop and mobile devices through which they are able to regularly access the internet. They use both apps and browsers on their mobile devices, mainly using apps when they are on the go.

They prefer to use browsers when possible because of the greater level of detail on offer. The social aspect is a key part of following the Premier League: fans engage with each other online through social media, gaming and betting.

The cumulative live audience for live Premier League matches in

POPULATION

69.5M

FOOTBALL FANS

36.8M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

26.3M





BROADCASTS IN THAILAND IN 2014-15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY


40.6M

OTHER LIVE VIEWERS


68.6M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES IN THAILAND, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS


2. Leicester v Man Utd Sun 19:30


4. Arsenal v Man City Sat 18:45

5. Chelsea v Sunderland Sun 22:00

6. Chelsea v Liverpool Sun 22:00

7. West Ham v Aston Villa Sun 22:00

8. Spurs v Crystal Palace Sat 22:00


10. Everton v Leicester Sun 21:05

11. Swansea v West Ham Sat 22:00

12. Southampton v Everton Sat 22:00

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DATA DIVE: SHARE OF VIEWING BY DEVICE: PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE MATCHES2014/15 in Thailand was 68.6 million people, of which 81% (or 55.8 million) were watching at home and 19% (or 12.7 million) were watching away from home.

In the home, seven in 10 viewers were watching live matches on TV although three in 10 were watching either on PCs or laptops (19% of the IHTV audience) or on smartphones and tables (8%). Away from the home, the share of viewing on screens in public places was 57% and the balance was by viewers watching on PCs and laptops (22%) and on mobile devices (21%).

Seven of the Premier League’s top 10 live match audiences in Thailand in the 2014/15 season were on Sunday evenings, including the top three in the 19.30/20:30 slot, local time. Each of those three drew audiences of more than 5 million people, with the most popular game between Liverpool and Manchester United drawing an audience of 6.4 million people. While Manchester United featured in each of those games they did not feature again in the top dozen, and Liverpool just once more.

4THE FOUR MOST POPULAR FACEBOOK SPORTS PAGES IN THAILAND ARE ALL PREMIER LEAGUE-RELATED: THE PREMIER LEAGUE’S OWN PAGE AND THE OFFICIAL PAGES OF MAN UTD, LIVERPOOL AND CHELSEA

73%

57%

19%

22%

8%

21%

“If it’s not too late then I go and watch with friends. If it’s very late then I watch at home” Football fan, Bangkok

“If I am going out, I use my smartphone. If I am at home, I turn on my computer” Premier League fan, Bangkok

The breadth of representation among other clubs in the most-watched games - from Leicester City at No2 to Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace at No8 to Swansea City, West Ham United, Aston Villa, Everton and Southampton all inside the top dozen matches - is evidence of League-wide appeal in a nation that has some of the biggest live audiences in the world for Premier League football.

+

+

+

+

IN HOME

81%

OUT-OF-HOME

19%

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET


MALAYSIA

Badminton is unoffi cially the national sport of Malaysia, a sport where their players

thrive on the international stage, but football runs it a close second and is on a par as a televised sport.

Malaysians regularly play football and have a keen appetite for watching, with the Premier League the most popular. The League has a strong and sustained presence in the country, with individual clubs inspiring fi erce devotion among more than nine million fans.

New data shows that the audiences for live Premier League matches in 2014/15 totalled almost 40 million, with almost a third of this in out-of-home environments.

Early afternoon kick-offs in the UK can attract large out-of-home audiences as they are broadcast in

prime time in Malaysia. And when Malaysian Premier League fans are not watching matches on TV, many spend hours playing the offi cial Fantasy Premier League game. Nationally, Malaysians are third only behind the UK and Ireland in absolute numbers playing, with almost 200,000 managers in the current season.

A sizeable majority of the audience for live Premier League match coverage in Malaysia watches out of home, or 31% against 69% watching at home. In the 2014/15 season, this translated into 12.2 million viewers out of home and 27.5 million at home in different ways. Watching on television remains by far the most popular way to view live games inside the home, with 83% of those at home doing this. Watching on screens in public places – bars, pubs or cafes – remains the most popular way of watching outside the home, with 73% of the out-of-home audience doing this. Fans watching on PCs and laptops account for more than one in 10 viewers inside the

POPULATION

28.9M

FOOTBALL FANS

13.6M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

9.4M





BROADCASTS IN MALAYSIA IN 2014-15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY


23M

OTHER LIVE VIEWERS

16.7M

TOTAL LIVE VIEWERS

39.7M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES IN MALAYSIA, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS


2. Chelsea v Southampton Sun 20:30



5. Chelsea v Man Utd Sat 00:45


7. Chelsea v West Ham Fri 20:00*



10. Crystal Palace v Man Utd Sat 00:45


12. Chelsea v Aston Villa Sat 22:00

*BO

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DATA DIVE: SHARE OF VIEWING BY DEVICE: PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE MATCHEShome (12%) and almost one in six outside the home (16%). Similarly, watching live games on smartphones and tablets is more popular out of home (with 11% of the out-of-home audience doing this) than at home (5% of the in-home audience).

The Premier League is strongly represented within the most popular Facebook pages in Malaysia that relate to sport. Manchester United have more ‘likes’ (several million) than any team in the world from any sport while Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal’s pages are all in the top 10 with seven-digit numbers of followers, as is the Premier League’s offi cial Facebook page.

These teams were well represented in the most-watched live matches in Malaysia last season, with Liverpool against Manchester United being the single most-watched live match, with almost 1.4 million viewing a game that fi nished at past 11pm local time on a Sunday. Last season champions Chelsea proved popular as they won the title in 2014/15, appearing in six of the seven top games.

87,411THE CAPACITY OF MALAYSIA’S BUKIT JALIL NATIONAL STADIUM, VENUE FOR THE INAUGURAL BARCLAYS ASIA TROPHY IN 2003 AND FOR SOLD-OUT TOUR GAMES BY PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS INCLUDING MANCHESTER UNITED, LIVERPOOL, CHELSEA AND ARSENAL

83%

73%

12%

16%

5%

11%

“When people are playing the game here on makeshift pitches, everyone wears a Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea shirt … And lots of people gather at street-side coffee shops to watch whatever game happens to be on TV”Premier League fan, Malaysia

“The Premier League is incredibly popular, both as the centre of attraction at social gatherings and in terms of people following Premier League teams” Premier League fan, Penang

But big audiences were by no means the preserve of just a few clubs with Southampton, Swansea City, West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa all featuring in the dozen most-watched matches.

+

+

+

+

IN HOME

69%

OUT-OF-HOME

31%

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET


THE GLOBAL GAMEThe Premier League is watched throughout the world partly because players from nations in every corner of the globe have played in it

ANTIGUA & BARBUDA / 3ARGENTINA / 57BARBADOS / 3BERMUDA / 2BOLIVIA / 2BRAZIL / 60CANADA / 10CHILE / 13COLOMBIA / 10COSTA RICA / 6CURAÇAO / 2ECUADOR / 10GRENADA / 2GUADELOUPE / 1HONDURAS / 6JAMAICA / 37MEXICO / 8

MONTSERRAT / 1PARAGUAY / 5PERU / 4ST. KITTS & NEVIS / 4TRINIDAD & TOBAGO / 12URUGUAY / 16USA / 40VENEZUELA / 1

29Global gamepremierleague.com

107 THE NUMBER OF FIFA MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS TO HAVE BEEN REPRESENTED IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE

ALBANIA / 1AUSTRIA / 10BELARUS / 2BELGIUM / 39B O S N I A A N D H E R Z EG OV I N A / 4BULGARIA / 9CROATIA / 22CYPRUS / 2CZECH REPUBLIC / 24

DENMARK / 54ENGLAND / 1389ESTONIA / 1FAROE ISLANDS / 1FINLAND / 16FRANCE / 182GIBRALTAR / 1GEORGIA / 5GERMANY / 42GREECE / 21

HUNGARY / 10ICELAND / 16ITALY / 61LATVIA / 5LITHUANIA / 1MACEDONIA / 5MALTA / 1MONTENEGRO / 4NETHERLANDS / 108NORTHERN IRELAND / 63

NORWAY / 58POLAND / 14PORTUGAL / 47REPUBLIC OF IRELAND / 156ROMANIA / 13RUSSIA / 8SCOTLAND / 190SERBIA / 27SLOVAKIA / 14SLOVENIA / 5

SPAIN / 98SWEDEN / 55SWITZERLAND / 18TURKEY / 13UKRAINE / 5WALES / 100

ALGERIA / 13ANGOLA / 1BENIN / 2CAMEROON / 24CAPE VERDE ISLANDS / 2CONGO / 3CONGO DR / 6CÔTE D’IVOIRE / 20EGYPT / 8GABON / 1

GAMBIA / 1GHANA / 20GUINEA / 4GUINEA-BISSAU / 1GUYANA / 3IRAN / 3ISRAEL / 14KENYA / 1LIBERIA / 2MALI / 10

MOROCCO / 14NIGERIA / 31OMAN / 1SEYCHELLES / 1SENEGAL / 28SIERRA LEONE / 3

AUSTRALIA / 44CHINA / 5JAPAN / 6KOREA REPUBLIC / 12NEW ZEALAND / 6PAKISTAN / 1

SOUTH AFRICA / 13TOGO / 3TUNISIA / 3ZAMBIA / 3ZIMBABWE / 3


NIGERIA

The appetite for football in Nigeria is enormous and the popularity of the

Premier League specifi cally is matched in few other places in the world. This is refl ected in large communal gatherings to watch games at ‘viewing centres’ where it is common to have multiple screens showing more than one match live at the same time as big paying crowds spectate.

The new research that reveals the true picture of audience behaviour for live matches – and where fans are watching, and how – shows Nigeria to be unique in having a majority of viewers watching games away from home, or 53% of viewers in the 2014/15 season, with 47% watching at home.

A huge proportion of Nigerian

adults are interested in football — 83% of them. That’s more than double the number of people who say they are interested in basketball, athletics or tennis. Unlike in many countries, where the World Cup is often cited as the most popular football event, albeit it is only played once every four years for a month as nations compete against each other, the Premier League tops everything else in Nigeria.

Nigerians generally perceive European football to be a superior game, and that is particularly true of Premier League, which is viewed as fast, competitive and glamorous.

Sport in Nigeria is perceived as a force for good, bringing people together and uniting disparate elements of society.

Premier League matches in 2014/15 were watched live in Nigeria by 53.8 million people, with more than half of that total, 53% or 28.4 million people, watching out of home and 47%, or 25.4 million people, watching at home. This split makes Nigeria unique among the nine key

POPULATION

162.5M

FOOTBALL FANS

76M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

59.2M





BROADCASTS IN NIGERIA IN 2014/15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY


21.8M

OTHER LIVE VIEWERS

32.1 MTOTAL LIVE VIEWERS

53.8M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES IN NIGERIA, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS

1. Man City v Chelsea Sun 16:00


3. Hull v Chelsea Sun 17:00

4. Southampton v Chelsea Sun 15:05

5. Spurs v Chelsea Thu 14:30 *

6. Liverpool v Chelsea Sat 13:45


8. Man United v Southampton Sun 17:00


10. Man Utd v Swansea Sat 12:45



*NEW

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DATA DIVE: SHARE OF VIEWING BY DEVICE: PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE MATCHESmarkets featured in the new research to have more people watching games out of home than at home.

The most popular way to watch at home was on television, with 86% of those at home watching live matches in this way – that’s 21.8 million people. The balance of those watching at home was split between those watching on PCs and laptops and those watching on smartphones and tablets.

Of those watching outside the home, the vast majority – 89% or 25.4 million people – watched on screens in public places, with communal viewing centres being popular. Again, the balance of viewers was fairly evenly split between those watching on computers (6%) and those watching on mobiles and tablets (5%).

Nigeria is in the same time zone as the UK and the most-watched matches refl ect that to an extent with the most popular games in 2014/15 tending to be the ‘big’ matches in the 4pm slot on Sundays. Five of the most-watched dozen games in Nigeria fell into this category including the top three, listed left, all

717,000THE MOST FOLLOWED NIGERIAN SPORTSPERSON ON TWITTER IS VICTOR MOSES, WHO PLAYS FOOTBALL IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE FOR CHELSEA (ON LOAN AT WEST HAM UNITED) AND HAD 717,000 FOLLOWERS AS THE 2015/16 SEASON BEGAN

86%

89%

8%

6%

6%

5%

“In a bar they will have just one screen but in viewing centres they will have two screens. Let’s say Arsenal and Chelsea are playing at

the same time, you can watch the two matches together. So that is why most people like to go to viewing centres” Premier League fan, Lagos

of them featuring Chelsea. In fact Chelsea featured in the six

most popular games in Nigeria, against a variety of opponents in various time slots on different days. Their popularity in Nigeria derives not just from their title-winning seasons but Chelsea’s association with popular Nigerian internationals dating back from Celestine Babayaro to contemporary stars such as John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses (currently on loan at West Ham United.

IN HOME

47%

OUT-OF-HOME

53%

+

+

+

+

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET


SOUTH AFRICA

More than two-thirds of the Premier League’s viewers for live matches in South Africa

(68%) watched at home on television last season, a proportion that is matched among key markets only in the UK. But as the new research on ‘non-captured’ audiences shows, that still left almost 32%, or more than 12 million viewers, who were ‘non-captured’, or watching in other ways.

Communal viewing is important to fans in South Africa, just as sport in general has been shown in focus groups to play an important role in bridging cultural divides within a diverse country. The Premier League is seen as an important part of this alongside the other popular sports – cricket and rugby union.

Premier League football is the most popular league in South Africa

aside from the top domestic league and many fans, whether they watched Premier League matches regularly or not, had favourite club sides that they had started following from a young age due to the infl uence of family or the dominance of English football throughout South African media. The Premier League is seen to be viewed as better than other European leagues – with more competition and star players.

Premier League matches in 2014/15 were watched live in South Africa by 39.3 million people, with a majority of that total – 74% or 29.1 million people – watching in their homes and 26% – or 10.2 million people – watching out of home.

The most popular way to watch at home was on television, with 92% of those at home watching live games in this way, equating to 26.9 million people. The balance of those watching at home was split between those watching on PCs and laptops and those watching on smartphones and tablets.

Of those watching outside the

POPULATION

50.5M

FOOTBALL FANS

21.2M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

13M





BROADCASTS IN S AFRICA IN 2014/15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY


26.9M

OTHER LIVE VIEWERS


39.3M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES IN SOUTH.AFRICA, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS






6. Arsenal v Liverpool Sat 13:45



9. Liverpool v Man City Sun 14:00

10. Man Utd v Aston Villa Sat 16:00

11. Leicester v Man Utd Sun 14:30


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8,068,922VIEWERS WHO GATHERED TO WATCH LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES IN THE 2014/15 SEASON ON SCREENS IN PUBLIC PLACES IN SOUTH AFRICA

92%

79%

4%

14%

4%

7%

“Every match is like a family outing and friends, we all go, we get a huge table and it’s just nice to have drinks with your friends and family and watch the game, it’s like a bonding session” Premier League fan, South Africa

“The Premier League has the best entertainment value, definitely. It is fast, it is intense. All games have some sort of say in the league… you get more entertainment value when you are watching ” Football fan, South Africa

IN HOME

74%

OUT-OF-HOME

26%

+

+

+

+

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET

home, the vast majority – 79% or 8 million people – watched on screens in public places. The balance of viewers was unevenly split between those watching on computers (14%) who accounted for twice as many people as those watching on mobiles and tablets (7%).

Manchester United featured strongly in the most-watched games in South Africa in 2014/15, playing in the top five matches by total live audience and in nine of the top dozen games. Their popularity is long-standing and was enhanced when they signed one of South Africa’s most popular internationals, Quinton Fortune, in 1999, and via tours to the country. Live viewing is spread fairly evenly across a variety of time slots, with 19.8m viewers across Saturdays over the season, 14.3 million on Sundays and 5.3 million on midweek days.


NORWAY

More than half a million Norwegians follow the Premier League, which is

sizeable number in a country of fewer than fi ve million people, and accounts for more than half of all football fans. Not content merely to watch their teams on the television, which remains the most popular way to watch live matches, many Norwegian fans have visited the UK to watch their heroes in the fl esh. Live games screened in Norway in 2014/15 have a cumulative live audience of more than eight million viewers.

Football enjoys large support because of its accessibility — it’s played a lot in schools and is cheap to play. While domestic Norwegian football is strongly supported, there is a general perception that the main

European leagues are superior, with the Premier League considered the best of all.

There is a tradition of Norwegians following top-fl ight English football, fed in part by the long list of Norwegian players to grace the English game. These include some of the most decorated players in the League’s history — former Manchester United players Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Ronny Johnson and Henning Berg.

Three Norwegians began the 2015/16 season registered with Premier League clubs: Brede Hangeland, formerly of Fulham, with Crystal Palace; Joshua King, a former Manchester United trainee at AFC Bournemouth, and Alexander Tettey at Norwich City.

Norway has the highest proportion of Premier League live viewers who watch matches at home (85%) and the lowest proportion who watch out-of-home (15%). During the 2014/15 season, this equated to absolute numbers of 6.8 million viewers watching at home and 1.2

POPULATION

4.9M

FOOTBALL FANS

1.5M

PREMIER LEAGUE FANS

800,000





BROADCASTS IN NORWAY IN 2014/15

COUNTRY CASE STUDY


5.3M

OTHER LIVE VIEWERS


8M

TOP 12 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES IN NORWAY, 2014/15, BY TOTAL VIEWERS


2. Aston Villa v Arsenal Sat 16:00

3. Chelsea v Man Utd Sun 18:30



6. Man Utd v Arsenal Sun 17:00

7. Arsenal v Southampton Wed 20:45

8. Chelsea v Man City Sat 18:30

9. Man Utd v Burnley Wed 20:45

10. Man Utd v Stoke Tue 20:45

11. West Ham v Arsenal Sun 14:30


SOU

RCE:

REP

UC

OM

201

4/15




DATA DIVE: SHARE OF VIEWING BY DEVICE: PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE MATCHESmillion watching out of home cumulatively.

The majority of those watching at home (77%) did so on television, with this ‘captured’ share providing an absolute total of 5.3 million viewers. To put that in perspective, that is the equivalent of every man, woman and child in Norway watching more than one Premier League game each last season at home on TV. The balance of in-home viewers in Norway watched on PCs and laptops (1.2 million) or via smartphones and tablets (375,000 viewers).

The majority of out-of-home viewers in Norway for live matches last season (63%) watched on screens in public places, equating to 752,000 people across the season, with 21% or 244,000 viewers, watching out of home on PCs and laptops and 190,000 on smartphones and tablets.

The most-watched live games in Norway last season indicate a breadth of interest in different clubs and a good appetite for matches across the week, not just in ‘big match’ time slots on Saturdays and Sundays. Indeed three of the dozen

93,000OF ALL COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE BRITISH ISLES, MORE FANS TRAVEL TO ENGLAND FROM NORWAY TO WATCH LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE GAMES THAN FROM ANY OTHER FOREIGN NATION. AROUND 80,000 PER SEASON MAKE THE TRIP. SOURCE: VISIT BRITAIN 2015

77%

63%

17%

21%

6%

16%

“When it comes to excitement I would say the Premier League is the best. They surprise you often and it’s a more unpredictable game”Football fan, Oslo

“You haven’t seen a real match before you’ve been in England and experienced it”Premier League fan, Oslo

most-watched games were midweek fi xtures (listed below) and they involved clubs as various as Southampton, Burnley and Stoke City as well as Manchester United and Arsenal.

The two most-watched matches of the season were both 3pm Saturday kick-offs in the UK, screened at 4pm local time in Norway while three of the other most-watched six games were at 4pm on Sundays, UK time, or 5pm in Norway.

IN HOME

85%

OUT-OF-HOME

15%

+

+

+

+

TV

SCREENS

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

COMPUTER/ CONSOLE

MOBILE/TABLET

MOBILE/TABLET

PREMIERLEAGUE.COM

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