Setanta gives advertisers choice now that Sky must share live football rights

by Alison Donnelly, Marketing 12-Aug-08, 08:45

LONDON - The start of the football season represents more than just a battle for the hearts and minds of fans at the turnstiles. TV advertisers now have more options than ever when it comes to where to run their ads around the games.

Until Setanta entered the market two years ago, Sky had monopolised the television rights to live Premiership football for 14 years. This year, however, Setanta will show 46 live Premiership games, while Sky will show 92. Although Sky has managed to maintain the rights to many of the premium games, it has still taken a hit with the loss of a host of international and FA Cup ties.

Carl Nawagamuwa, broadcast account director at Mediaedge:cia, agrees that the loss of some of the bigger international games will be keenly felt by Sky this year. 'Football has been Sky's shining light on the advertising front and though it has managed to maintain the rights to big club games, the loss of the big event matches, like England internationals, will affect it, as will fixtures such as the Community Shield, which was on Setanta over the weekend,' he says.

While this may be bad news for Sky, it is good news for advertisers, according to most media agencies, because they can now bargain with the broadcasters to secure better prices and demand cross-platform deals.

'From an agency perspective, it's great that the rights are spread out, because we get better choice and value in the market for our clients,' says Paul Rowlinson, investment director at MindShare. 'Different channels have different tones so an advertiser may feel they fit better with a certain broadcaster and this choice

allows them to decide where they should go. For the newer broadcasters on the market it opens up a raft of untapped brands and revenue opportunities so it's a clear win situation for them.'

Setanta has been heavily promoting its live football rights and earlier this month launched a major integrated campaign, which focused on its more extensive content. It is confident that it can secure strong advertising interest from brands that are more accustomed to dealing with Sky.

Timothy Ryan, Setanta's GB marketing director, claims advertisers have reacted positively to the changing landscape. 'There's more choice now and football is good for advertisers because it gives them a very focused male-centric audience,' he says. 'We will have a very strong emphasis on our England fixtures because they generate significant audiences, even more than the biggest Premier League games.'

Sky still holds plenty of strong cards in the ad market, however, most notably its long-running relationship with Ford, which does not appear worried that its partnership will have been diminished by the loss of a package of live games.

Mark Simpson, director of marketing communications, Ford of Europe, says that football remains important to the brand regardless of which broadcasters hold the rights to particular games.

'We don't target individual broadcasters,' he says. 'We have a long-standing relationship with Sky and that has worked extremely well for us, though we are at liberty to buy advertising space with other broadcasters when it's appropriate and we think the audience is there.'

It is likely, too, that ITV is pinning much on its football rights. While next month looks likely to be bleak for the TV ad market, its FA Cup, Champions League and international games will provide a glimmer of hope that it can raise some much-needed funds in a tough advertising climate.

Rights: who has what

BBC

Premier League highlights; 10 live Coca-Cola Championship matches plus highlights (from 2009-10); Carling Cup semi-finals and final (from 2009-10); 2010 World Cup.

ITV

Champions League; FA Cup and England internationals; Championship highlights; UEFA Cup from quarter-final stage onward and some early games, 2010 World Cup.

Five

UEFA Cup matches and pre-season friendlies.

Sky Sports

Premier League; Champions League; Carling Cup; Coca-Cola Champion-ship; League One and League Two; Scottish Cup.

Setanta

Premier League; Scottish Premier League; Blue Square Premier; FA Cup and England internationals; home country away games; England women's internationals.