As sports costs rise, especially in India and Southeast Asia, channels and platforms need to attract large and loyal audiences for an enduring return on their sports investments.

Much of that remains a work in progress however, particularly in India and Southeast Asia.

“I don’t think Southeast Asia is doing a great job creating maximum value for sports,” said Joon Lee, MD for Fox International Channels in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and EVP of content and communications in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Fox now controls Asia’s largest regional sports channel, Fox Sports, after parent News Corp bought out Disney in their former joint venture, ESPN Star Sports.

“The viewership for sports is quite low compared to other regions,” Lee added. “We have to work a lot harder.”

Too much time and energy is spent trying to monetize popular but expensive rights through carriage fee negotiations, rather than promoting unsung alternatives, Lee contended. “Local football is loved, but the money coming into those leagues does not match the fan base,” he said.

“Whichever content brings eyeballs is premium content. We want to make our audience feel they are getting premium value out of local content they have never enjoyed, and try to build a healthy ecosystem in the market.”

Rights-holders, distributors and channel owners are all looking to boost consumer demand as well as extend the shelf-life for both popular and emerging properties, through marketing, grassroots development and investment in additional content.

The hard part is evaluating what kind of investment and execution is needed for success.

“One of the unique things about Indonesia is the appetite to consume does not match with the willingness to pay,” mused Handhi Kentjono, vice president director of MNC Sky Vision, the country’s largest pay-TV operator.

“Eventually, we have to look to sustainability, what will bring people over and over to the screen. Sometimes that is proportionate to the price of the property, but it takes time to understand what fits that.”

Handhi spreads his budget to maintain audience interest, sometimes eschewing top-tier properties in favor of less popular events, or material from the library, to secure a steady supply of content. Domestic development could also be beneficial in the long term.

“We know sport is very indigenous,” he said. “If people like soccer, then we want local soccer. If there is a property people have overlooked, we know that if we can manage it well, someday it will have a great dividend for us.”

Visibility Drives Value

Rights-holders are keen to raise the profile of their assets to generate more value too, especially between major tournaments when they can disappear from the popular view.

Sustained content investment underpins the growth strategy for tennis specialist ATP Media, for example. “That is the key to growing the sport because we need to get cut-through,” said ATP Media CEO Steve Plasto.

“Investment in delivery and telling the story is critical. In live sport, you need to be able to tell the story year round, leading to the culmination of the season.”

Meanwhile, mixed martial arts organization UFC, which has already tied up with Fox and MNC in Asia, wants to further bolster visibility with five or six annual events across the region.

This also creates opportunities for Asian fighters to join the competition, potentially attracting a bigger following in their home countries should they become successful.

“Grassroots programs, such as the fighter development effort with MNC in Indonesia and UFC-branded gyms, are ways we work with broadcasters,” said Mark Fischer, EVP and MD of UFC Asia. “We want to cooperate on the ground, not just on the air.”

In India, broadcast major Star sees untapped value in the nation’s most popular sport, cricket, rolling out local-language commentary and increased marketing for less-popular competitions. That’s just the start of a concerted marketing drive, however.

“We must find the right content proposition for India,” remarked Nitin Kukreja, president of sports for Star India. “There is a long road ahead, when it comes to Indian federations making sure the game itself becomes a spectacle,” he continued.

“Indians have varied options, whether it’s going to a multiplex or seeing something else on TV. It has to be a good event in itself, and then we in TV can package and market it.”

As more homes upgrade to digital TV in India, part of a phased state-driven switchover, more money should flow to broadcasters, enabling them to ramp up sports spend, Kukreja added.

“There is an opportunity in digitalization for more sports to grow,” he said. “It will flow through subscription revenues, as we have seen in DTH, which then allows us to further invest in getting more and different sport on the platform.”