The All England Lawn Tennis Club is targeting the "young and affluent Chinese audience," according to Ahmed & Hancock of the FINANCIAL TIMES. An estimated 280 million people watched Wimbledon last year on CCTV-5. But AELTC Commercial Dir Mick Desmond "believes the event generates less interest in the Asian country than other Grand Slam tournaments." Desmond: "[China is] one of the territories where our brand hasn't been understood as much as it should be." Most of Wimbledon's "most important broadcast deals are locked up for many years." So "the biggest opportunity for growth comes from new markets," and Wimbledon will be seeking to complete digital and TV rights deals in China from '18. Desmond: "The Chinese culture in particular -- I'm talking about TV and media culture -- is very celebrity-based. While we don't want to over-glorify our royal box, the fact that we have a very global representation in the royal box, where there are Hollywood A-list actors and actresses, the royal family, leading sports stars from around the world -- it's great, there's huge interest." Desmond said that these efforts "were focused on building audiences, rather than driven by commercial interests," but that China also represented one of the tournament's "best chances of short-term revenue growth" (FT, 6/30).
