Perfect match: sports broadcasting and advertising

Frédéric de Vincelles (Managing Director of Programmes in charge of Platforms and Sport at M6) and Lars-Eric Mann (CMO of Ad Alliance Germany) share their insights into sports broadcasting and advertising.

Frédéric: Sport is extremely popular in France and has had the highest viewing figures for any type of programme every year for the past ten years, except during COVID. Major events primarily air on free-to-air television and commercial TV takes precedence over the public broadcaster in terms of broadcasting sports content. However, the rights for big sporting events are very expensive: we lose money, but we want to invest.

Sport drives new and younger people to our channel and it’s a way to promote all our programmes. It also drives traffic to our streaming platform M6+. The majority of viewers are on linear, but new viewers will sign up to our streaming service to watch a game. It is important for a big commercial channel to have these kind of events as they enhance our brand image and secure top ratings.

Finally, if our competitor, TF1, secures the rights to sporting events, it will dominate the advertising market, putting us at a substantial disadvantage. Despite the potential financial risks, we choose to invest in securing rights to mitigate potential losses.

Lars: Soccer is the number one sport on German TV and RTL is making significant investments in the UEFA Europa League and the European Qualifiers. Our Formula 1 events, the BMW Marathon in Berlin and the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring are also performing well. NFL is a new and exciting initiative – it is a central project for RTL Deutschland and Ad Alliance. We had a terrific first season and the second season is just as exciting. NFL has enormous potential and a desirable target demographic.

Lars: These events are vital for the ad market. While nonlinear TV is growing, linear TV reach is declining. We’re fortunate to be able to play successfully on both fields. Big live events offer incredible reach and advertisers gain attention. Moreover, individual ad specials are very attractive during these events. At the same time, live events increase the attractiveness of our streaming platform RTL+ where we can even swap spots depending on smart data. It’s an unbeatable combination.

Frédéric: We began investing a decade ago. There has been a surge in competition pricing over the past ten years, multiplied by a factor of 20. However, despite the increased costs, investing in women’s sports, still pays off. A game played by a male football team attracts around 5 million viewers on channels such as TF1 or M6, the female game has approximately one million viewers. Viewership for the female team is five times lower than that of the male team but the price for broadcasting rights for the female team is more than 10 times lower.

We need to focus more on promoting women’s sport competitions and appeal to a broader audience. We’ve already seen French women win a lot of medals at the Olympics and gain attention, and now we need French women’s teams to be successful at major sporting events such as Euro 2025. Creating female stars will also play a crucial role in driving interest.

Lars: You aim for a long-term relationship and advertisers need to be sure that their company values align with the values of the chosen sport. Soccer, for example, has always been a safe choice offering a high reach. It still is a safe choice, but since the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022 there have been debates about the location and whether you should be a sponsor for a competition that takes place in a country which does not sufficiently respect human rights.

There also needs to be a good fit between brand and sports content. Recently the German DIY retailer toom advertised within NFL content and its ads reached an unaided brand recall of 26%. Likeability and activation rose by an amazing 13% – an outstanding result due to a perfect match of the right content (NFL), the right audience and toom’s ads.

Frédéric: While linear television focuses on broadcasting major sport events, M6+ enables us to explore niche sports. The primary driving factor behind this idea is the demographic composition of our streaming platform’s audience: approximately 65% of our streaming platforms viewers are women.

We recognise the potential of niche sports to attract more men to our streaming platform. In France, the NFL is still considered a niche sport, however we are investing here, as we see the potential to grow. Additionally, we invest in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), in skateboard competitions and the seven a-side football Kings League World Cup launched by Gerard Pique.

For us – as for other streaming platforms – investing in sport is an investment in enhancing our image as modern and innovative, while also attracting additional audiences.

Lars: One of the strengths of RTL is our ability to transform smaller sports into major attractions. When we started broadcasting Formula 1 in 1984, it was a niche sport in Germany, with a small fanbase. However, we swiftly elevated its popularity, and today it is one of the most-watched sports in the country.

Similarly, with the NFL, our approach entails more than just TV broadcasting: We have an NFL radio station, a kids’ talk show and we do many things on different platforms. If we commit to a sport at RTL, it is all or nothing! 

This comprehensive approach offers advertisers added value, as they can engage across multiple media channels throughout the entire consumer journey. It allows for cross-media advertising and creates opportunities to reach sought-after-audiences through various platforms.