© EuroFootball.com
"Manchester United" football club has made an agreement with the Japanese television "Fuji TV" regarding broadcasting rights.
It is no doubt that the successful completion of the deal was helped by the acquisition of Japanese player Shinji Kagawa from Borussia Dortmund last summer. Over 60 million people around the world watch "Fuji TV" channel, so for the club, which is titled as the most valuable sports club in the world - "United", this will be another step towards popularity in Asia, as reported by "Sports Pro" magazine.
According to a three-year agreement, "Fuji TV" will be able to broadcast all of "Red Devils" TV - MUTV materials: matches, interviews with players, videos about the team's life off the field and in training, archive footage, documentaries, etc.
"MUTV is a necessity for every "United" fan, as it offers new and interesting material about the team's life daily. So we are very pleased to collaborate with "Fuji TV" and bring MUTV to Japan," said the club's Director of Commercialization Richard Arnold.
"Manchester United" and many other European football clubs have been paying great attention to untapped and growing Asian markets in recent years. Clubs organize pre-season tournaments and training camps there, and football fans on the continent often treat European players like gods.
Until this year, the name of the Manchester club in Asia was glorified by South Korean footballer Park Ji-Sung, whom the club sold to Queens Park Rangers this summer.
As the "Daily Mail" wrote in 2010, the Korean was a real cash cow for Manchester United. Over a million South Koreans had credit cards with Park Ji-Sung's image, and part of the income went to the English club.
A TV audit showed that about 40 million South Koreans or an average of a million viewers per match watched United games each year. The club also has a website in Korean, which is visited by about 4 million visitors annually.
In South Korea itself, Park Ji-Sung can compete in popularity with the president: parks, museums, football academies, and even city streets are named after him.
Manchester United has about 300 million fans worldwide, of whom 27 million live in South Korea, although the country has about 49 million residents.
It can be assumed that after the sale of the Korean, the number of fans will decrease, but a step towards Asia has been taken, and now it is time to profit from S. Kagawa. Japan has several times more inhabitants - about 130 million, so the earnings from him will certainly be higher.
The English paid about 16 million euros for the security of "Borussia", so we can almost certainly say that solely because of this deal with the Japanese television, the acquisition of the player paid off. Broadcasting rights in football cost tens of millions, and the sale of Japanese jerseys is just gaining momentum.
Additionally, such a promotional face for Manchester United will attract sponsors who also want to popularize their name in Asia."
