New York—Mirroring the color of the pitch on its myriad soccer telecasts and its hopes to gain more advertising green, beIN Sports' selection of the 620 Loft & Garden was an appropriate venue for its initial upfront presentation here Monday afternoon.
The international sports programmer, whose key properties include the rights to Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1, touted an array of numbers, telling media buyers that since its launch in August 2012, it has grown its subscriber base to 22 million, with 7 million for its Spanish-language service and 15 million for its English-language network. It has deals with nine of the top 10 U.S distributors and expects to add Charter to its roster before the 2014-15 European seasons kick off late this summer.
With a lineup that also includes rugby, tennis, boxing, motorcycle racing and more, beIN Sports and beIN Sports en Espanol will present 1,000 live events and 3,000 live hours in 2014, numbers that will grow to 1,200 and 4,000, respectively, in 2015.
Next year’s lineup is highlighted by the Copa America tournament (BeIN also has the rights to the 2019 quadrennial), which features 10 South American nations and will expand to include Mexico and one other nation. beIN Sports will bring its studio shows The Express and The Locker Room down to Chile for the event.
News and match coverage aside, beIN will flank Copa America with a “Superfans” show for which it will select a fan from each participating nation and arm them with tickets and a camera. In turn, they will provide viewers with vistas in and around the event as they travel with their side to the different venues, according to Antonio Briceño, deputy managing director, beIN Sports North America.
Encouraged by its delivery in various dayparts and coverage of El Clasico match between Spain’s famed Barcelona and Real Madrid clubs on March 23, which drew nearly 2 million viewers to the two networks, beIN Sports is now officially rated by Nielsen. To that end, network officials talked up the networks’ strength on weekends (that’s when most of the live soccer matches air), daytime and early fringe, as well as the relative youth of the nets’ respective median age viewers – 35 for the Spanish-language service, 39 for its English counterpart.
They also noted the company’s digital strength, including its authenticated beIN Play service, which counts up to seven streams, that serve up an array of exclusive online matches that are not available on the linear networks. The company, which has TV Everywhere deals with all of its leading affiliates save for Comcast, said it has delivered 42.7 million digital minutes thus far in 2014, underling its ability to present clients with 360-degree marketing solutions. beIN Sports has retained IMS to serve as its advertising rep firm here in the States.
