SINGAPORE, Aug. 24 - /Xinhua-PRNewswire-AsiaNet/InfoQuest
Tiger, Toshiba, Toyota and Nokia Seal Sponsorship Agreements for Asia's Most
Popular TV Sport
SINGAPORE, 24 August /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- ESPN STAR Sports, Asia's number
one sports broadcaster has concluded broadcast sponsorship deals with four of
Asia's most recognizable brands - Tiger, Toshiba, Toyota and Nokia - for Asia's
most popular TV sport, the English Premier League (EPL).
The sponsorship agreement will see all four brands enjoying regional
association with the 2004/2005 English Premier League season through a
combination of multi-level integrated benefits. This includes on-air and online
entitlements around all 'live' matches and repeats on ESPN and STAR Sports as
well as marketing and online benefits.
Says Greg Hayes, Senior Vice-President, Advertising Sales and Multi-Media
Ventures, "We are delighted to see the return of Tiger, Toshiba and Nokia and
welcome Toyota on board as broadcast sponsors of the English Premier League. We
have invested a great deal to enhance and strengthen our EPL coverage and
programming. This, along with our creative advertising solutions and extensive
reach across Asia, provides an excellent platform for such brands to take their
marketing strategies further. These broadcast sponsorships with ESPN STAR
Sports signal their confidence in our ability to add value to their brands. Our
sponsors clearly see the benefits of an association with the League and we are
very pleased to offer them an avenue to leverage its enormous potential."
Chris Kidd, Director Group Marketing, Asia Pacific Breweries, "Tiger Beer
is thrilled to be back as the official broadcast sponsor of the English Premier
League. Tiger Beer has a long tradition of supporting football at all levels:
local, national and international. The EPL has a huge following in Asia and for
Tiger Beer, this broadcast sponsorship, as well as our tie-up with Arsenal in
several South East Asian countries, will allow our customers the chance to
watch and experience the number one league in the world."
Akio Ozaka, Managing Director, Toshiba Singapore, "We are excited to be
part of the world's most thrilling soccer tournament for the fourth season
running. As an international brand, we see this as a wonderful opportunity to
enhance our brand further and ESPN STAR Sports gives us the platform to do just
that."
Shigeru Takayanagi, Senior Vice-President, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific, "We
are delighted to take part in delivering one of the most followed sports events
to the many soccer fans in Asia. This sponsorship allows us to explore with
viewers, another exciting and enjoyable aspect of life even as we continue to
deliver vibrancy and exhilaration, through our wide range of vehicles."
Pasi Jarvenpaa, Director, Mobile Phones Marketing, Nokia Asia Pacific, "The
English Premier League is a wonderful platform to strengthen our affinity with
soccer enthusiasts who are also Nokia consumers in Asia. With this
sponsorship-our second year on the EPL-we have the opportunity to communicate
the full benefits of technology beyond SMS TV such as Java and xHTML to
bringing the exciting world of technotainment to diverse audiences to the
region in a fun and interactive say."
The English Premier League season, which kicked off on August 14, is seen
in 210 million homes across Asia live and exclusive on ESPN and STAR Sports.
For the first time, ESPN STAR Sports will double its coverage of the League.
Ten matches will be shown each competition week instead of five, most of them
'live'. The rest are on a quick turnaround and accompanied by a line-up of
programming which covers predictions, highlights, news and information, as well
as pre and post-game analysis. Sports viewers can expect up to 380 matches each
season compared to the previous 165. ESPN STAR Sports' coverage of the League
also includes new programmes that will engage and involve viewer participation,
taking soccer entertainment to a whole new level.
The English Premier League is the most widely distributed sports
programming across Asia. In the 2003/2004 season alone, 8 out of 10 people with
cable in Asia tuned in weekly to watch the drama and excitement of the EPL.
While Asia's sizeable out of home audience remains unmeasured by in-home
Peoplemeter measurements, research indicates that 64% watch the EPL outside
their homes every week. EPL Matches on ESPN STAR Sports continue to be the top
programme on cable, rating 10 times better than the best programme on all other
cable channels. (Peoplemeter)
ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's
leading cable and satellite broadcasters, ESPN Inc. and STAR. We are Asia's
complete sports provider reaching over 128 million households for ESPN and over
54 million households for STAR Sports (as of January 2004). We have 11 networks
- ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN
Singapore, STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports
Singapore and STAR Sports S.E.A. We bring the world's premier live sports and
leading regional events to viewers 24 hours a day. On the ground, the ESPN STAR
Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events
around Asia, including the KL World 5's and the San Miguel Asian 9Ball Tour.
On-line, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw interact with
millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and
competitions. This multilingual, online platform which is closely integrated
with ESPN and STAR Sports on air networks, has established the sites as the
number one on-line sports destination in their respective markets.
For further information, please contact:
Stephenie Vasko
ESPN STAR Sports
Tel: (65) 6488 6126
Email: [email protected]
Cheryl Sim
ESPN STAR Sports
Tel: (65) 6488 6123
Email [email protected]
SOURCE: ESPN STAR Sports
--Distributed by AsiaNet (www.asianetnews.net)--
--InfoQuest (SP)--