Facebook Bets On Live Football For Asian Markets

Facebook’s agreement with Spain’s elite football league reportedly covers the four-season cycle from 2018/19 to 2021/22, marking the social media giant’s maiden rights acquisition in India, according to an Inside Sports report.

If reports are confirmed, Facebook will replace the Sony Pictures Networks India media group as the home of La Liga in India after the broadcaster was not prepared to match the social media platform’s raised offer. Inside Sport added that Facebook refused to confirm or deny the rumours when contacted.

Facebook is moving swiftly in Asia having last week snapped up rights for live Premier League matches in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The three-year deal covering 2019 to 2022 will see the social media giant broadcast 380 games per season in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

It is also reportedly in talks over US$10m deal on an exclusive reality show with Portuguese football icon Cristiano Ronaldo, who is likely to move from Real Madrid to Juventus.

Despite failing in its US$600m bid for the Indian Premier League, it’s clear that Facebook is going hard on live sports and has also recently hired Eurosport chief executive Peter Hutton to head up its global live sports programming division.

With sports fans—particularly millennials— moving away from traditional media platforms and consuming sports on multi-screens, Facebook and Google are poised to disrupt the status quo and with brands likely to follow suit with their media spends on these platforms.