The document analyzes the performance of the top 5 European football leagues in the Chinese market in the 2014/15 season. It finds that the Premier League had the highest TV ratings and penetration, while La Liga and the Bundesliga also performed well. Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Manchester United had the strongest social media presences of football clubs. The UEFA Champions League final achieved the highest ratings for a sports program. More European clubs are participating in commercial games in China, and Chinese sponsorship of European football is growing.

1. An Analysis of the 2014/15 European
Football Season in the Chinese Market
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2. Introduction
This analysis is about the overall performance of European football (including leagues, clubs and commercial games in China) in
the Chinese market and its business development. This report uses the top 5 European football leagues as the main subjects of the
analysis because they are the representatives of European football in China.
The media referred to in this analysis:
TV: Includes the national sports channel CCTV 5 and over 40 local sports channels based in Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou.
New media: Online coverage and the amount of football-related searches.
Social media: Mostly Sina Weibo
Data comes from third-party sources.
This report has been specially created by Yutang Sports for the Soccerex Global Convention 2015.
Note: This report was kindly proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick.

3. Contents
 Leagues’ performances in the Chinese market
 The UEFA Champions League
 Football clubs
 Commercial games in China
 Chinese sponsors

4. Despite rapid developments in new media, Chinese fans still watch live football matches mainly on TV.
29%
44%
48%
70%
平板电脑
智能手机
PC
电视
Media where Chinese fans watch football matches
Data Source: AdMaster.
High definition
No buffering
problems
Good penetration

5. Satellite
channels
None CCTV-5 CCTV-5 CCTV-5 None
Local
channels
BTV Sports
Great Sports
Guangzhou,
Sports channels of
Shenzhen, Tianjin,
Xinjiang, Shandong,
Fujian, Gansu and
Jilin
Total: 19 channels
BTV Sports
Great Sports
GDTV Sports
sports channels of
Wuhan, Fujian,
Shandong, Liaoning,
Jiangsu and
Xinjiang
Total: 9 channels
GDTV Sports
Great Sports and
sports channels of
Fujian, Shandong
and Liaoning
Total: 5 channels
GDTV Sports and
sports channel of
Xinjiang
Total: 2 channels
None
TV: Premier League matches were only aired on local channels. La Liga and Bundesliga games were shown
on both local channels and CCTV 5. No TV channel covered Ligue 1.

6. 意甲
德甲
西甲
英超
Broadcasting time of 2014/15 season European leagues (hrs)
CCTV 5
Local channels
1,61
5,79
1,557
4,768
Data source: CSM.
TV: The Premier League ranked first in terms of total broadcasting time, although its matches were not
aired on satellite channels. La Liga and Bundesliga came second and third respectively. Serie A found itself
at the bottom.

7. 26.7
23.9
22
9.2
英超 西甲 德甲 意甲
Penetration rates of 2014/15 season European leagues on Chinese TV
channels
Source data: CSM, 4+ age group, 35 cities.
TV: The Premier League had the highest penetration rate of 26.7%, which means it reached 350 million
audience. The penetration rate of Serie A was less than 10%.

8. 0.12
0.11
0.15
0.11
0.006
0.03
0.02
英超
意甲
西甲
德甲
Ratings of live matches of 2014/15 European Leagues Season on Chinese TV
channels
CCTV 5 Local channels
Average ratings: 0.17
Average ratings: 0.14
Average ratings: 0.13
Average ratings: 0.11
TV: Media platforms played a key role in the popularity of football games. CCTV 5 boasts the biggest
influence, contributing to Bundesliga’s top-ranking ratings. Ratings of the Premier League on local channels
were far higher than those of other leagues.
Source data: CSM, 4+ age group, 35 cities.

9. Ranking League Match Date Start Time Ratings
1 La Liga Real Madrid VS Barcelona 2014-10-25 23:53:30 0.84
2 La Liga Real Madrid VS Granada 2015-04-05 17:59:08 0.57
3 Serie A Español VS Barcelona 2015-04-25 21:57:20 0.50
4 Serie A Roma VS Napoli 2015-04-04 18:29:54 0.40
5 Bundesliga Bayern Munich VS Werder Bremen 2014-10-18 21:29:27 0.39
6 Bundesliga Hoffenheim VS Bayern Munich 2015-04-18 21:28:56 0.35
7 Bundesliga Bayern Munich VS Augsburg 2015-05-09 21:45:30 0.33
8 Bundesliga Bayern Munich VS Werder Bremen 2014-10-18 22:32:18 0.31
9 Bundesliga Mönchengladbach VS Dortmund 2015-04-11 21:36:40 0.31
10 Bundesliga Bayern Munich VS Hoffenheim 2014-11-22 22:30:09 0.30
TV: The ten matches with the highest ratings on CCTV 5 were all matches involving top teams in Europe’s
Top 5 leagues. La Liga filled the top 2 spots. The kick-off time had a big influence on matches. Most of the
top ten games kicked off at around 10 pm Beijing Time.
Data source: CSM, 4+ age group, 35 cities.

10. New media: The Premier League has the largest exposure – nearly twice that of La Liga.
Ligue 1 had the lowest exposure leaving it trailing behind the others.
法甲
德甲
意甲
西甲
英超
2014/15 season performance of European football leagues on Baidu Media Index
Data source: Baidu Index – Media Index.

11. Social media: The Premier League account had the highest number of followers, with Germany’s Bundesliga
following behind. Serie A does not have an official league account on Weibo.
101
190,000
1,450,000
2,360,000
意甲
法甲
西甲
德甲
英超
Followers of official European football league accounts on Weibo
Serie A
No account
Data source: Sina Weibo.

12. Social media: the #mentions of Bundesliga and the Premier League had the highest impressions. What is
worth noting is that more than half of the #Bundesliga posts were associated with Zhang Xizhe, the player
whose purchase by Vfl Wolfsburg was considered a marketing trick.
372.61m
200m
82.21m
42.83m 6.45m
250m
Zhang
Xizhe-related
posts
#PremierLeague #Bundesliga #LaLiga #SerieA #Ligue1
Impressions of #mentions of European leagues on Weibo
Data source: Sina Weibo, up until 20/07/2015.

13. Contents
 Leagues’ performances in the Chinese market
 The UEFA Champions League
 Football clubs
 Commercial games in China
 Chinese sponsors

14. 32
Live Telecasts
72 hrs
Live broadcasts
0.09
Average ratings
0.6
Final’s ratings
42.5
Final’s
audience shares
2014/2015 UEFA Champions League Chinese Telecasts:
Only CCTV 5 had live broadcasting rights.
Data source: CSM, CCTV 5, 35 cities, 4+ age group.

15. As the knock-out stages progressed, the ratings got higher and higher as more top teams in Europe played.
As the competition reached the quarter final stages its ratings were 2 times higher than that of the group
stage.
Data source: CSM, 4+ age group, 35 cities.
0.05
Group Stage
0.08
Round of 16
0.12
Quarter Final
0.14
Semifinal
0.60
Final
0.00
0.18
0.35
0.53
0.70
2014-09-17 2014-10-02 2014-11-04 2014-11-06 2014-11-26 2014-11-27 2015-02-18 2015-02-26 2015-03-18 2015-04-16 2015-05-06 2015-05-14
Ratings of live broadcasts of the 2014/2015 UEFA Champions League on CCTV 5

16. Match Versus Date Start time Ratings
Audience
shares
Final Barcelona VS Juventus 2015-6-7 02:28:02 0.60 42.50
Semi Final 2nd
Leg Real Madrid VS Juventus 2015-5-14 02:30:41 0.20 24.48
Quarter Final 2nd
Leg Real Madrid VS Atletico Madrid 2015-4-23 02:31:10 0.17 18.50
Semi Final 1st
Leg Barcelona VS Bayern Munich 2015-5-7 02:30:32 0.14 20.54
Semi Final 2nd
Leg Bayern Munich VS Barcelona 2015-5-13 02:30:41 0.13 16.17
Group stage Barcelona VS PSG 2014-10-1 02:35:02 0.11 10.66
Round of 16 PSG VS Chelsea 2015-2-18 03:30:32 0.11 11.55
Round of 16 Barcelona VS Manchester United 2015-3-19 03:30:31 0.11 13.76
Round of 16 Chelsea VS PSG 2015-3-12 03:30:42 0.10 11.21
Quarter Final 1st
Leg Atletico Madrid VS Real Madrid 2015-4-15 02:40:31 0.10 14.03
The 10 games that ranked the highest in ratings were primarily competitions between the best teams in
European leagues, with Barcelona matches accounting for half. Audience statistics were mostly higher than
10%, i.e. 1 person out of 10 people who had TVs on tuned-in to watch the game.
Data source: CSM, 4+ age group, 35 cities.

17. 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70
CCTV 8 (TV drama)
Hunan TV
CCTV 1
JSTV
CCTV 3
CCTV 4
Shenzhen TV
CCTV 13 (News)
CCTV 6 (Film)
CCTV 5
Ranking of channel ratings on the night when CCTV 5 screened live the
final of 2014/2015 UEFA Champions League
On the night of UEFA Champions League Final, CCTV 5 placed first in terms of ratings compared with other
satellite channels. Its ratings were well above that of CCTV 6 (Movie channel) in 2nd place and was over 10
times higher than other channels.
Data source: CSM, 4+ age group, 35 cities.

18. Regarding digital media, people’s attention on the event was around match periods. While at other times
people’s attention on the match was generally little. The Final drew twice the attention than it has acquired
at other times.
Data source: Baidu Index -- Search Index and Media Index.
Search Index
Media Index

19. Social media: The number of followers on the official Weibo account of UEFA Champions League is more
than 2 million but there have been no updates since Oct. 2014. Reads of these posts which have hash tags
related to Champions League were more than 1 billion and most reads happened around the Final.
82.16m
135.59m
190.58m
289.44m
662.73m
#Playoffgames
#CompetitionofCL
#CLdraw
#CLFinal
#CL
#FightforCL
Reads of popular hash tags related to UEFA Champions
League*
Data source: Sina Weibo. *Note: hash tags are literally translated.

20. Contents
 Leagues’ performances in the Chinese market
 The UEFA Champions League
 Football clubs
 Commercial games in China
 Chinese sponsors

21. TV: Comparisons of the number of games of different teams covered on TV.
La LigaThe Premier League
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Atletico Madrid
Real Sociedad
Villarreal
Bundesliga
Dortmund
Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen
Moenchengladbach
Stuttgart
Serie A
A. S. Roma
Inter Milan
Juventus
AC Milan
Udinese
Data: CSM and all TV channels.
Man City

22. Social media: exposure of Real Madrid, Man Utd. and Barcelona on social media were the highest. Bayern
Munich was the only Bundesliga club in the Top 10.
Real Madrid Man Utd Barcelona Chelsea Arsenal Bayern
Munich
Liverpool AC Milan Juventus Inter Milan
Baidu Media Index of 2014/2015 European football clubs
Data source: Baidu Index -- Media Index

23. Social media: The Premier League clubs occupy most positions which indicates the big influence it has in
the Chinese market.
115
130
137
178
195
240
359
543
829
882
PSG
Real Madrid
Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool
Bayern Munich
Chelsea
Arsenal
Barcelona
Man City
Man Utd
Top 10 clubs that have the largest fan base on Weibo（in10k）
Data source: Sina Weibo, by the end of July 20, 2015.

24. Contents
 Leagues’ performances in the Chinese market
 The UEFA Champions League
 Football clubs
 Commercial games in China
 Chinese sponsors

25. Over the past summer, there were10 pre-season and commercial matches played in China.
Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan all came to China.
7.18@Beijing
7.21@Shanghai
7.23@Guangzhou
7.25@Guangzhou
International Champions Cup
7.27@Guangzhou
International Champions Cup
7.27@Nanjing
7.28@Nanjing
7.30@Shanghai
International Champions Cup
8.4@Shanghai
8.8@Shanghai
Italian Super Cup

26. CCTV 5 Great Sports GDTV Sports
Ratings: Top European clubs against top Chinese clubs attracted the higher ratings.
1.35
0.62
1.14
0.74
1.94
1.01
1.11
0.16
0.49
0.49
Data source: CSM, and 4+ age group.

27. New media: International Champions Cup came to China for the very first time. The combination of Real
Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan contributed to high public attention. Bayern Munich against Guangzhou
Evergrande ranked 2nd .
Bayern Munich VS Inter Milan
Bayern Munich VS Valencia
Italian Super Cup
Bayern Munich VS Guangzhou
Evergrande
International Champions Cup
2015 Performance of Commercial Matches on Baidu Index
Data source: Baidu Search Index.

28. Contents
 Leagues’ performances in the Chinese market
 The UEFA Champions League
 Football clubs
 Commercial games in China
 Chinese sponsors

29. Policy
Government
announced 2015
China football reform.
Economy
The second biggest
market needs more
sports.
Broadcast
China loosens
restrictions on
broadcast rights.
Fans
A giant fan base, and
an
enormous consumer
market.
Brand
More brands
demand sponsorship
opportunities.
A rapid rising market: Football is becoming more and more popular in China.

30. Broadcasting rights holders of the 2015/2016 Top 5 European football leagues in mainland China
Online rights TV rights
英超 Super Sports, Letv, Tencent, Sina CCTV 5, local sports channels
西甲 PPTV, Letv Sports CCTV 5, local sports channels
德甲 PPTV, Letv Sports CCTV 5, local sports channels
意甲 Letv Sports CCTV 5, local sports channels
法甲 Letv Sports None

31. Chinese brands are more enthusiastic about sponsoring European football clubs than ever before.
La Liga clubs have the most Chinese sponsors, with Serie A and Ligue 1 not really popular.
Data source: ongoing sponsorships published in news up until June 2015.

32. Chinese Capitals in European football leagues.
2015-1
Wanda purchased 20% of the
shares of Atletico Madrid with
45 million Euros.
2014-7
Chinese fans crowdfunded for SD
Eibar in La Liga, and became the
second biggest overseas
shareholder of this team.
2015-5
Ledus purchased Sochaux in
French Division with 7 million
Euros.
2015-1
United Vansen purchased
98% of ADO Hague in KNVB
for 8 million Euros.

33. THE END

34. Presented by Yutang Sports and Soccerex

35. Thank You For Your Interest in this Report.
http://en.ytsports.cn
@SportsYutang