By Paul Nicholson
August 13 – News Corp has expanded its digital rights deals into Asia having secured the rights to show online digital clips for English Premier League matches in Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. The rights deals mark the extension of a new strategy for the traditional print publisher which has been suffering revenue attrition at its core newspaper, especially in the UK where the group, and its majority shareholder Rupert Murdoch, have been tarnished by various phone hacking and bribery scandals.
News Corp acquired the digital clip rights to the Premier League earlier this year, taking over from ESPN who are exiting the UK market. The clip rights have generally failed to create significant revenue for rightsholders but News Corp are using the rights to drive subscription sales to their core newspaper brands The Sun and The Times.
Where the strategy failed for ESPN, for News Corp it has a greater chance of success because of the added content proposition of the newspapers.
New internet and mobile products are expected to be launched in the Asian markets by News Corp later this week. The mobile app and website will be News Corp’s first product rollouts since it separated its broadcast and TV and movie production businesses in July.
“It is pretty significant for the new News Corp,” said chief executive Robert Thomson (pictured), adding that it is the new company’s first investment outside the US, UK and Australia. “We’re making it mobile oriented, it’s not newspapers,” he said.
“European football is growing exponentially in popularity in Asia, particularly among the younger generation, whose passion for the game is complemented by a rapidly increasing adoption of smartphones,” said Thomson. “We will, exclusively, have every goal from every game in the Premier League and action from the German, French and Italian leagues for audiences in Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan. Given that globalization and digitization are the two most profound and powerful trends of our era, digital delivery of European football in Asia is the sweetest of sweet spots.”
No value has been put on the 3-year agreement.
New Corp also announced two-year deals for rights to the Bundesliga (Germany), Ligue 1 (France), Serie A (Italy), FA Cup (England), Championship (England), Capital One Cup (England), Brazilian Championship and Major League Soccer.
Richard Scudamore, Premier League chief executive, said: “We are extremely pleased that News Corp has chosen to invest in our mobile and internet clip rights in Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. Their expertise in multiplatform news and sport coverage means that fans in all three territories can look forward to comprehensive Barclays Premier League clips being available on their smartphones, tablets and other devices.”
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