The federal television channel Match TV (part of Gazprom-Media Holding) and the Russian Premier League (RPL) signed a new contract to broadcast Russian Football Championship matches. The new agreement is valid for four years.
“We continue our long-term collaboration with the Russian Premier League and we will work to create a more advanced product in the new season. I am confident that it will be in demand not only among football fans, but also among a broad audience. Viewers will see a new, more entertaining format for offering football broadcasts,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko, CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding.
Match TV and the Russian Premier League extended their collaboration after the end of the 2018 World Cup. The home event proved that there is a high level of spectator interest in football. The TV audience of the Russian Premier League is growing every year. In 2017, the average share of television viewing of RPL matches over the whole 2017/18 season reached 8.2% in the target audience of men aged 14-59, according to Mediascope data. The match between the clubs Spartak and Zenit on November 27 was the most watched RPL broadcast among Match TV viewers. The share of TV viewing came out to 14.4% (among the target audience of men aged 14 to 59), and reached a 3.9% rating.
The first round of the Russian Premier League 2018/19 season starts on July 28. Match TV channel will show the Spartak-Orenburg game at 19:00 on live air, and on July 29 the game between Krasnodar and Kazan’s Rubin, also at 19:00.
The recent World Cup delivered a number of records for Match TV channel. According to Mediascope, the average share of TV viewing of all live broadcasts came out to 22.3% among a target audience of men aged 14 to 59. The most popular broadcast among Match TV viewers was the ⅛ game between England and Colombia: its share reached 40.9% (for the target audience of men aged 14 to 59), and the rating was 10.1%, which is an absolute record over the whole history of the channel’s existence.
The federal channel Match TV is the flagship of Gazprom-Media’s sports broadcasting. It unites 12 special-interest channels, the digital resources sportbox.ru and matchtv.ru, as well as the Match! Club mobile application.
Match TV accounts for 90% of on-air broadcasts of sports events that are held in Russia - overall, more than 1,000 broadcasts per year. The digital platforms sportbox.ru and matchtv.ru reach more than half of the sports audience on the Russian Internet. Match TV uses the most modern equipment and television technology for filming large-scale sporting events. The TV channel offers complex television filming and multimedia support for broadcasts. The production and technical bases of Match TV can be found in Moscow and seven large Russian cities. The company’s park consists of 12 mobile television stations, seven mobile satellite communication stations, 13 mobile power complexes and one mobile central control base.