AFCON 2023: How Notable Rise in Financial Investment by TV Rights Resulted in Huge Global Viewership
Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering sports business.
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire - The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 ended in February 2024, reaching unprecedented viewership and creating perhaps the best AFCON in living memory.
From the remote areas in Cote d'Ivoire to Europe, and North America, millions of watchers connect to different broadcast services to enjoy the month-long African fiesta.
Source: Getty Images
"We have had close to 2 billion people watching AFCON globally (the most-watched nations cup in history). We should be proud as Africans and the next one will be even better,” a delighted Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), told the world during a press conference at the Palais de la Culture in Abidjan, two days before the AFCON 2023 final.
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As a matter of fact, ascertaining the level of viewership of the 52-match event can be tricky, as figures can vary depending on criteria, methodology and source. However, what was known before the tournament was a significant increase in financial investment by television broadcasting rights holders from across the globe.
CAF embraced extensive global broadcast agreements with TV broadcasting rights holders from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, Europe, South America, and North America.
The global TV-broadcast partners included BBC (United Kingdom), SportTV (Portugal), SportItalia (Italy), LaLiga+ (Spain), Sky (United Kingdom), Sport Digital (Germany and Switzerland), Band TV (Brazil), Viaplay (Nordics), New World TV, CANAL+, beIN Sport, and roughly 44 free-to-air broadcasters.
TV rights partners doubled, according to Lux September, CAF's head of TV and communications. The relationships resulted in AFCON 2023 being broadcast in approximately 180 countries.
Additionally, there was a substantial new media interest in the tourney as not only journalists but accredited photographers and content creators stormed Cote d'Ivoire. These could be pointers to how CAF accomplished the viewership feat.
Supporting factors for AFCON 2023’s immense global viewing
Some sources measure audience in total viewers, while others focus on average following or peak reach.
The rise of online streaming makes it increasingly difficult to track accurate viewership figures for global events. Despite that, based on the number of countries the AFCON matches were broadcast, an estimated viewership could be formed – as CAF has seemingly done.
Global appeal
International interest was far more than ever before.
The US and the United Kingdom (UK) were among the top five biggest sources of AFCON-related Google traffic.
Source: Original
The tournament appealed well to the public with big clashes like the twin Cote d'Ivoire versus Nigeria games, Egypt against Ghana, Senegal - Cameroon, Super Eagles vs Cameroon, Morocco v South Africa, and Nigeria against the Bafana Bafana.
Source: Getty Images
Notably in Nigeria, the outcome of the semi-final clash between the Super Eagles and South Africa highlighted the deep emotional investment citizens have in the beautiful game. Reminiscent of a curfew, virtually all the major streets in Nigeria were deserted.
A similar scenario played out in South Africa, where, per Mr September, "the biggest match in the last four years" was the Bafana Bafana versus Nigeria AFCON fixture.
"It's bigger than the rugby world cup, it's bigger than any other EPL match or anything else. It shows that Africans are interested in themselves, about their stories, and they are able to commercialise this," the proud CAF official disclosed via Newzroom Afrika.
It is not by mistake that these countries are the two largest economies and the most lucrative TV broadcast markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: Getty Images
James Torvaney, the managing director (MD) of Pulse Sports, said these giants making it to the last-four of AFCON 2023 and slugging it out in ‘the Amapiano battle’ was a blessing for international excitement and viewership.
“The tournament was the most successful edition yet and should help African sports to generate unprecedented investment over the next few years,” said Torvaney.
Officiating
The quality of officiating at AFCON 2023 was top-notch: CAF received commendation over the high standard of refereeing at the 34th edition of the biennial continental showpiece, particularly the use of video assistant referee (VAR) technology.
VAR reviews were praised for being used judiciously throughout the tournament.
Football icons like Gary Neville and Jose Mourinho — both non-Africans — were among those who sent their compliments.
Presence of superstars
During the event in Cote d'Ivoire, Africa vibrated to the rhythm of AFCON as an impressive array of the continent’s football talents were displayed.
From arguably Europe’s most sought-after striker, Victor Osimhen, to Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, Saudi Pro League star Sadio Mane, Manchester United’s Andre Onana, and other outstanding Africans, many people watch AFCON to savour the splendid abilities of these sportsmen.
Investments by TV channels boost CAF’s revenue
Legit.ng reports that a fierce bidding battle ensured CAF’s broadcasting revenues rose significantly following AFCON 2023.
Recall that in May 2023, CAF opened an invitation to tender (ITT) for the host broadcast and TV services across selected future events (AFCON 2023 inclusive). The tender process allowed the organisation to select companies it said are best-placed to achieve its objectives of providing world-class coverage of AFCON and offering fans in Africa and internationally a high-quality viewing experience across a range of fields, including host broadcast production, satellite distribution and graphics.
Ultimately, this process was expected to elevate the quality of support for CAF competitions.
MultiChoice (SuperSport), the continent’s largest pay-TV company, trended on social media platforms in January 2024 when it disclosed that it would not broadcast AFCON 2023. Charles Anazodo, a sports broadcaster who has been with the company since 2008, blamed the near-non-engagement on an outbid by New World TV, a little-known Togo-based broadcaster.
He said:
“SS (referring to SuperSport) was outbid by another broadcast outfit known as NewWorld. That is the nature of a bidding process.
“Today they lose the rights, which was not intentional.”
However, on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, MultiChoice provided an update that it had reached a “commercially viable agreement” with New World which would allow it to screen every fixture.
New World reportedly paid $80 million for the rights to AFCON 2023. Massive! If only one television operator could remit that much to CAF, definitely the organisation's earning power regarding its broadcasting revenues from AFCON 2023 was tremendous.
The tournament gave a clear indication of the increasing popularity of African football around the world and showed clearly how AFCON has increased in stature and appeal to become one of the world’s biggest sporting events. It was, without doubt, a success both on and off the field. CAF can take pride in delivering an amazing project in 2024!
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