The English Premier League was a benefactor of sterling’s decline in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union in June 2016, SportBusiness Media can reveal.
A new investigation into the recently-closed 2019-20 to 2021-22 sales cycle confirms the league’s announced results, our market-by-market analysis finding international media-rights revenue of £1.455bn per season for the 2019-2022 cycle, up from £1.079bn per season for the 2016-2019 cycle, an increase of 34.8 per cent.
SportBusiness Media research finds about half of this growth can be explained by the pound’s fall against the dollar and the euro.
Other key takeaways from the sales cycle for 2019-20 to 2021-22 include:
- Five markets – China, sub-Saharan Africa, the US, Mena and France – account for almost half of global revenues
- Europe continues to be a motor for growth. 30 per cent of the league’s international rights are derived from the region and four of the five largest percentage increases were found here.
- China apart, the Asian boom is well and truly over. Four of the five biggest percentage drops anywhere in the world for the 2019-22 cycle came in Asia.
- New OTT players increased competition. The entry of OTT subscription platforms DAZN and Eleven Sports pushed up competition and fees in several markets (even where they did not win the rights) including Germany, Portugal and Spain.
- FAANGs (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) proved toothless. Facebook was the only one to get involved with the Premier League sales process, submitting winning bids in Thailand and Vietnam – but it did not finalise either after signing an initial ‘standstill agreement’.
SportBusiness Media subscribers can read the full story with detailed figures from every market.