La Liga chases record Asian audience with early Clasico
barcelona — La Liga’s drive to build its audience in Asia and establish itself as the most popular league in the world prompted Saturday’s ‘Clasico’ to be scheduled at 1pm local time, officials said on Thursday.
The showdown between Spain’s two most successful and popular sides usually takes place late in the evening. However, Saturday’s 1200 GMT (4pm UAE Time) kickoff will allow viewers in countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, where the game will start at 7pm local time, to follow the action in prime time. In contrast, last season’s Clasico on 23 April started at 2.45am in the two countries.
“La Liga is... a global entertainment spectacle, last year 2.6 billion people around the world were following La Liga and many of those are in Asia,” the league’s head of global communications Joris Evers said. “We are keen to give them the opportunity to watch the Clasico without needing to stay up until the middle of the night or set an alarm to wake up very early.”
The move has been criticised, however, by Barcelona supporters group Seguiment FCB for ignoring the concerns of match going fans. “It is very clear to us that football is undergoing a process of globalisation which benefits clubs economically but forgets about the loyal supporters who go to stadiums,” the group’s chairman Carles Ordiales said.
“The television market has been prioritised with a kickoff time that favours people in faraway places who want to watch it but harms fans who have to travel 600km (from Barcelona to the Spanish capital) to the game are obliged to wake at the crack of dawn to get there on time.”
La Liga has trailed England’s Premier League in its international audience but there has been a push to attract more consumers worldwide. In the past four years, it has set up offices in Shanghai, Delhi, New York, Johannesburg and Dubai. It now has representatives in over 40 countries. — Reuters
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