As the top competition in English football kicks off, fans around the world will be glued to their televisions when the games are shown. In the UAE and MENA region, the Abu Dhabi Media Company is broadcasting every match live. But the EPL is not the only global player, writes Ben Flanagan A title battle between Arsenal and Manchester City in the English Premier League (EPL) this season would make for a great spectacle - and mean great exposure for the UAE's two rival airlines.
Both Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways have multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals with EPL teams. But as the tournament kicks off on Saturday, some in the marketing world question whether Middle East viewers will be tuning in to the first game between Tottenham and Manchester City or whether their minds will be focused on the start of Spain's La Liga on August 28. For while the EPL may have Cesc Fabregas, Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney, readers of the popular Arabic sports website Kooora.com said they preferred the Spanish league.
A current poll on the site asks visitors which football league they are most interested in. Of 58,000 responses as of Tuesday morning, 57 per cent said they preferred the Spanish league, compared with just 17 per cent who chose the EPL. This was followed by Italy's Serie A (12 per cent), the voter's local league (6 per cent) and Germany's Bundesliga (5 per cent). Kooora is one of the most popular Arabic websites on the internet. However, the survey results may be skewed towards the Saudi audience: Kooora is the 19th most popular site in the populous kingdom, but only the 22nd most popular site in the UAE, according to figures by Alexa, a web information company.
Bashar Abdulkarim, the managing director at the sports marketing consultancy Relay MENA, said timing, among other things, could be why Spain's La Liga seemed more attractive to both fans and advertisers in the Middle East. "To me, there is no doubt of the excitement level of the English Premier League. But I don't think it will overtake the Spanish league because in the past two years there was a certain drop in [EPL teams'] expenditure on buying in star players," he says.
"And the biggest market in the region is Saudi Arabia. If you look at the EPL games, they are being played on Saturday [a working day in Saudi]. But the Spanish timing is perfect for Saudi - they play at 9pm or 10pm, when people are at home." Mr Abdulkarim previously worked on a consultancy basis with Showtime, now known as the Orbit Showtime Network, which held the regional rights to broadcast the EPL before they were bought by the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), which also owns and publishes The National.
Mr Abdulkarim said the amount of subscribers for Showtime's EPL broadcasts was "not a huge number, as people might think". ADMC has not yet disclosed the number of subscribers for its EPL service. "How many subscribers do [ADMC's] AD Sports channels have? I'm putting myself in the clients' shoes and asking that question," said Mr Abdulkarim. ADMC says it has signed up three primary sponsors for the EPL broadcasts.
Apart from consumer subscriptions, ADMC is also selling EPL packages to corporate clients for mass viewing in venues such as hotels. These deals will give a boost to viewing figures due to the popularity of watching sporting events in social settings. Viewer numbers aside, there is no doubt the UAE's two main airlines see the EPL as a prime sponsorship opportunity. Etihad, which signed its three-year sponsorship deal with Manchester City last year following the acquisition of the club by Abu Dhabi investors, has "seen a fantastic return on the investment", according to Peter Baumgartner, the chief commercial officer at Etihad Airways.
"There are many ways to measure ROI [return on investment], including marketing and media evaluations, which all show a massive response from the public in the UAE and in the UK," he says. Emirates's association with Arsenal goes back further than Etihad's with Manchester City. The 15-year deal, which includes the naming rights for Arsenal's stadium in London, started in 2006 and Emirates says it will look to extend the sponsorship deal after it expires in 2021.
Emirates pays US$8 million (Dh29.3m) a year for the Arsenal sponsorship - which it says represents "a fantastic bargain". By comparison, the airline paid $250m for its eight-year deal with FIFA, which gave it headline sponsorship rights to this year's World Cup and the next one in 2014, as well other FIFA events. Sir Maurice Flanagan, the executive vice chairman of Emirates Airline and Group, says the airline will not be launching any promotional fares, competitions or events tied in with the EPL.
However, the airline has activated its sponsorship of Arsenal in the local market. "Player visits to Dubai … help leverage our sponsorship across the region within the media," he says. Emirates also launched the Arsenal Soccer School in Dubai, which has the capacity to train more than 1,000 children each year. "From the outset our objective has always been about acquiring key sponsorships that will provide maximum reach for our brand," says Sir Maurice. "Each sponsorship is carefully assessed and the ROI is measured to ensure we receive the greatest benefit for our investment."
Etihad also says it is "activating" the Manchester City sponsorship locally. The airline has launched competitions and travel promotions in the local market as well as a soccer school that runs during the winter. The airline also conducted a tour of malls in the UAE with a giant replica of the Manchester City shirt, which was signed by 5,000 fans. Etihad was also involved with the "Our Country versus Our City" football game last year, which saw Manchester City stars take on the UAE national team.
"I'm a strong believer in community programmes," says Mr Baumgartner. "It's about building emotional loyalty within our home market - the most important market for the airline." bflanagan@thenational.ae