2024-04-27 21:13:46
Apple reportedly signs 2025 FIFA Club World Cup broadcasting rights deal imminent
Soccer fans around the world can create potential new subscribers
Advertising revenue expected to increase with increased number of subscribers
News has been reported that Apple and the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) are close to signing a contract for exclusive global broadcasting rights for the ‘FIFA Club World Cup’ to be held in the United States next year. Even though it is a short competition held for about a month, the estimated broadcasting rights fees are reportedly worth about 1.37 trillion won. Attention is focused on why Apple spent a large amount of money to purchase the broadcasting rights for soccer matches while adjusting its business in all aspects, including giving up on developing electric vehicles, for which it invested an astronomical amount of money.
According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 27th, Apple plans to sign a contract with FIFA for the broadcasting rights to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup worth $1 billion (about 1.37 trillion won).
The Club World Cup is a competition between representative professional soccer teams from each continent. It was held once a year, but starting with the Club World Cup to be held next year, it will be held once every four years. Previously, a total of 7 teams, including the 6 winners of continental club competitions such as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League and the European Football Confederation (UEFA) Champions League, and the winner of the Club World Cup host country, competed, but starting next year, a 32-team tournament will be held. It goes on as a system.
Apple’s efforts to secure FIFA broadcasting rights appear to be due to an increase in the number of subscribers to its online video service (OTT) ‘Apple TV Plus’. Recently, competition to purchase popular sports broadcasting rights is fierce not only in domestic OTTs such as TVING and Coupang Play, but also in the global OTT market.
Netflix recently signed a 10-year contract worth 6.7 trillion won to broadcast World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programs. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the National Basketball Association (NBA) is reportedly negotiating with Google (YouTube) and Amazon (Prime Video) to sell new streaming packages.
In Korea, TVING has invested 135 billion won over three years into exclusive mobile broadcasting of the Korean Professional Baseball League (KBO) starting this year. Due to the effects of exclusive professional baseball broadcasting, TVING announced that the number of new paid subscribers in the first quarter increased by more than 50% compared to the previous quarter. Coupang Play, which is known to have invested a total of 15 billion won in hosting the MLB Seoul Series and exclusive domestic broadcasting last month, recorded approximately 8.3 million monthly app users (MAU) (estimated by Wise App, Retail, and Goods), narrowing the gap with Netflix (11.25 million). Reduced to 2 million.
Apple has also been exclusively broadcasting MLS since last year, winning a 10-year broadcasting license for Major League Soccer (MLS) in the U.S. worth $250 million per year in 2022. Since Lionel Messi has been playing for the MLS team Inter Miami since last year, Apple TV Plus subscribers have increased significantly. Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the 2023 second quarter earnings presentation in August last year that the number of Apple TV Plus subscribers exceeded the target thanks to Messi’s MLS performance.
The newly reorganized Club World Cup is evaluated as a suitable competition for Apple, which is trying to increase the number of subscribers. The participating teams currently determined are comprised of popular teams from each continent, including Ulsan HD (Korea), Manchester City (England), Real Madrid (Spain), and Bayern Munich (Germany).
While American football (NFL) and baseball (MLB) are only of interest in certain regions, including the United States, the Club World Cup is a competition that not only fans of participating teams from each continent but also fans of soccer fans around the world can enjoy, attracting new subscribers from all over the world. It can be pulled together.
The number of Apple TV Plus subscribers is not officially disclosed, but according to foreign media, it is known to be about 50 million. It is about 20% compared to Netflix (about 269.6 million people), the number one OTT platform. If Apple secures the rights to broadcast the Club World Cup, the number of subscribers is expected to increase and annual advertising revenue, which is around $4 billion, is expected to increase further.
According to NYT, Apple expects to increase advertising revenue to $10 billion per year by expanding its sports content lineup. This is why Apple is investing boldly in expanding sports content while it is known to have laid off more than 600 employees by ending its Apple Car and smartwatch display businesses.
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2024-04-27 21:13:46