Taiwanese broadcaster Elta has secured rights to broadcast the Premier League until 2025 with coverage set to span its broadcast channels and streaming app.
The news follows the league’s recent announcement that Disney-owned Star India renewed its deal to show all 380 matches per season until the end of the 2024/25 season, an extension which will see the tie-up between the league and broadcaster pass the 20 years mark.
Although the Star India deal reportedly saw a fall in value, announcements to date show that the total value of overseas rights deals for the Premier League now exceeds that of its domestic (UK) deals with Sky, BT and Amazon which were recently rolled over until 2025.
As of last month, non-UK broadcast deals were now worth in the region of £5.3bn versus £5bn from the three UK outlets. A significant chunk of the overseas revenue is set to come from NBC which, like Sky in the UK, is owned by Comcast and is set to pay $2.7bn – treble the amount it paid in the previous rights period.
The Premier League’s popularity with international audiences is nothing new, especially in Asia where it holds its biennial pre-season friendly tournament and sites such as Asiabet routinely offer local fans comprehensive guides to the contest while highlighting associated bets and welcome deals at pre-screened licensed casinos and betting sites in order to allow them to share some of their team’s success.
Increasing Importance of Sport To Streaming Services
Sport continues to be a major audience draw for broadcasters around the world and is becoming an increasingly important part of the content mix for video streaming services who have previously been content to rely on a mix of new and back catalogue TV series and movies to attract subscribers.
Amazon has successfully expanded the appeal of its Prime Video service through sports deals including its tennis and rugby coverage which sit alongside its selection of Premier League matches while Nordic streamer Viaplay has been quick to sign up a raft of sports rights ahead of its UK launch.
For its part, Apple recently announced a deal to bring a Friday night Major League Baseball doubleheader to its Apple TV+ streaming service in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and South Korea with an expansion to further as yet unnamed countries expected to follow.
In addition to live coverage, sports documentaries and ‘behind the scenes’ series such as Grand Prix Driver, Prime Video’s All or Nothing franchise and Formula 1: Drive to Survive are an increasingly popular addition to streaming libraries.
Audio services are also getting in on the action with a growing range of podcasts available from most major platforms which take listeners deeper into their favourite sports.
