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As Champions League semifinals arrive, Turner sees big returns on its big bet

Turner Sports’ big bet on the UEFA Champions League is paying early dividends for the network in its first year of coverage ahead of the competition’s biggest matches yet this week.

Turner is paying more than $180 million as part of a three-year deal that runs through the spring of 2021 for the U.S. English-language rights to the annual tournament, which brings together the world’s best European soccer clubs. This season’s edition has seen AFC Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur advance to the semifinals, which begin this week. The final will be held on June 1.

Tottenham Hotspur is one of four clubs still alive in the annual tournament, which has drawn its highest domestic English-language audience ever.getty images

Thus far, the 2019 tournament is attracting its highest domestic English language audience ever, averaging 246,000 viewers for its midweek afternoon broadcasts on TNT. Live match telecasts are up 57 percent compared to last year’s coverage on Fox Sports, with Turner seeing significant gains across several key demographics including a 102 percent increase in female viewership and a 48 percent increase in viewership of people age 18 to 34. The first knockout round, held across February and March, was the most viewed among English language U.S. viewers, and quarterfinal coverage was up 31 percent year-over-year.

Craig Barry, Turner Sports executive vice president and chief content officer, said the Champions League coverage was the first time the network had carried soccer programing in more than 25 years. It was also the first time Turner truly worked in partnership with Bleacher Report around a property. Champions League matches have been heavily featured on the B/R livestreaming service launched by the two in March 2018.

“When we started this, we talked a lot internally about creating this platform that could create a greater degree of engagement around the Champions League than ever before, something that could be greater than the sum of its parts when it came to linear, mobile and social together,” Barry said. “Early on, it was hard to gauge how it was working and we shifted some things as we learned what type of content people wanted to consume and where, and now we’re seeing growth across the board almost unlike any other sports platform that we have.”

For example, B/R Football’s YouTube channel, which is devoted to Champions League coverage, eclipsed half a million subscribers in less than six months, and Barry said it’s the fastest growing soccer-dedicated rights holder channel in the U.S.

The NBA’s influence has bled into the Champions League studio show as well, with Barry noting that as the tournament has gone on, the network has let the show’s talent drive more of a conversation akin to what occurs on “Inside The NBA.” Viewership for match-day studio telecasts are up 101 percent compared to last year’s pre-match shows.

Barry said that even amid the positive figures, the network still feels the property has a lot of room to grow. While they will wait to fully analyze the coverage after the final, he said he already has some potential tweaks in mind for next season, which could include having every member of the studio show in one place — this year they are split between Los Angeles and Atlanta — as well as further finding ways to speak to both hardcore soccer fans and new ones.

“The passion is just so deeply rooted for soccer fans, and you really have to prove things to them before there is acceptance,” Barry said. “I think we’re really coming into our own.”

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