Tough market: France’s Ligue 1 makes play for Asia

SHANGHAI: France’s Ligue 1 will make a belated play for the lucrative Asian market when Paris St Germain take on Nice in a specially scheduled match.

Entering a time slot long occupied by rival European competitions, the game will kick off at 1pm in France, 8pm in China today.

One big problem is the absence of injured Brazilian star Neymar, who is a huge draw for Asian fans but is recuperating after foot surgery.

But Didier Quillot, general man- ager of the French Professional Football League ( LFP) said he hoped the game would attract “several million” viewers in Asia.

“It’s an exceptional coverage. This is part of the international development strategy of Ligue 1, and in order to have a better exposure in China,” Quillot told AFP.

“We chose to do it with a flagship match, with PSG playing.”

Today’s game has strong competition, with Spain’s La Liga, the English FA Cup, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A all having matches at a similar time.

It will be shown live on two paid- for streaming services in China, as well as regional TV networks in Shanghai and Guangzhou, probably only reaching a small fraction of China’s vast viewership.

The game will also be screened in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, Quillot said.

“We are far behind ( other leagues) and need to catch up,” Quillot said. “Our visibility is not good enough right now.”

Philippe Demizieux of Shanghaibased Mailman, a digital marketing company which counts PSG as a client, said it was “inevitable” Neymar’s absence would affect Sunday’s viewing figures.

“Mailman research shows that especially in China, fans follow more an athlete than the team itself,” he said.

“They love Neymar so (support of PSG) is not because of PSG but because of Neymar.”