TrueVisions sees Thai soccer striking new heights
In the LIGHT of increasing popularity of local soccer leagues, the value of the broadcasting rights of those competitions is evidently following suit. TrueVisions Group, which recently spent Bt4.2 billion to acquire media rights to three Thai football lea
"The value of the audio-video broadcasting rights of Toyota Thai Premier League, Chang FA Cup and Toyota League Cup has jumped drastically, from Bt200 million per season five years ago to Bt1.05 billion last year. This showed that this content had a vital role and impact in the sports and entertainment businesses," said Birathon Kasemsri na Ayudhaya, head of commercial and business development at TrueVisions.
Owned and managed by the Football Association of Thailand, these media rights have been measured and accredited by David Gerald Richards, chairman of UK-based management consultancy Kynsman Ltd and former chairman of the FA Premier League, to make sure that the actual value of the broadcasting rights is in accordance with the standards of the English Premier League.
Although the value of these rights continues to rise, Birathon stressed that it was crucial to the Thai soccer industry itself, as the more money it can earn from broadcasting rights, the more capacity it has to improve talent as well as develop supporting facilities, equipment and training programmes.
He believes that the diversification of media outlets under TrueVisions Group will add more value to this broadcasting right in the future.
"Data speak for themselves," he added.
In 2014, the Toyota Premier League gleaned ratings of around 1.8-1.9 points at the most. Last year, during live telecasts, the soccer league hit its highest point at 3.
"We expect to see more growth in terms of TV ratings in the near future because TrueVisions Group is now able to provide this sport content both via pay-TV channels by TrueVisions and free-to-air TV stations like True4U and TNN 24."
TrueVisions also expects higher viewership for this local sports content. The new "Sanan Ball Thai" package, which was recently launched, is an example of how it plans to accomplish this.
"I want to see the penetration rate of Toyota Thai Premier League viewers grow to at least 50 per cent of [the country’s] 22.3 million households by 2020," Birathon said.
According to a NIDA Poll, the penetration rate of Toyota Premier League viewers increased significantly to 29.13 per cent of households last year, from 26.72 per cent in 2013.
