An all-Manchester final in the Uefa Europa League could generate an extra £10m (€11.7/$15.7m) for UK commercial broadcaster Channel 5, according to the Guardian.
The newspaper cited industry experts who claimed that Channel 5 could attract more than six million viewers for a final between Manchester City and Manchester United. Both teams qualified for this season’s Europa League after being knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage last night.
If the predicted audience for an all-Manchester final was reached, Channel 5’s average audience for the tournament would be around four million, up from 1.4 million last season. Channel 5 airs 15 live Europa League games per year, including a first pick of ties in the group stage, a first pick of the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and exclusive live coverage of the final.
The Guardian said an average of four million viewers for the tournament would lead to agencies, which buy advertising airtime on behalf of clients based on a broadcaster’s performance across the year, spending an extra £10m on advertising with Channel 5. The tournament was reported to be already worth £3m in advertising income for the broadcaster, so the possible total advertising revenue derived from it could be as high as £13m.
Channel 5 did not bid to renew its Europa League rights in a recent tender, according to the Daily Mail. In October, commercial broadcaster ITV acquired free-to-air rights for the Europa League from 2012-13 to 2014-15 for its ITV4 digital channel.