Champions Lge: What's stopping marketers?

• ESS draws good ratings from Champs Lge Final
• Advertisers show more interest in FA Cup
• ESS still sees Champs Lge as an attractive proposition

Malaysia - Last week's UEFA Champions League Final programming drew close to one million viewers across Malaysia to ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), according to figures obtained from the cable broadcaster.

The figures, which include live match, post-game presentation, and repeats, also indicate the largest group of viewers were males aged 15 to 29. The Final live match TV Rating was 6.8 among Male PMEBs and Other White Collars - signalling a strong following amongst white collar audience.

Sources say the viewing performance for this year's final eclipsed last year's by about 10% although ESS could not confirm this at press time.

The UEFA Champions League is regarded as club football's greatest prize, and this year's climax was considered to be the glamour final with English champions Manchester United seeking to defend the crown against Spanish champions Barcelona FC.

However, the nature of the competition's strict advertising guidelines and exclusivity clauses saw ESS again fail to sell advertising spots regionally. Local advertisers also did not favour a spot-buy for this year's Final.

In stark contrast to what the cable broadcaster was able to accomplish in this year's FA Cup Final when it signed on Chang Beer and GAC Logistics as regional sponsors, while Caltex was the local sponsor.

However, ESPN STAR Sports senior vice president of advertising sales, Charles Less, said the performances and pull of teams from The Barclays Premier League - the best supported football league in Malaysia -  in the UEFA Champions League is leading to the high viewing numbers witnessed in recent Finals.

"The sheer number of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal fans in the country are definitely going to contribute to the viewing performance," he said.

"The fact that the Final is hardly prime time viewing yet it still drew close to a million eyeballs in Malaysia alone is testament to the strong pull of the UEFA Champions League, especially amongst the male PMEBs and other white collars."

The final between Manchester United and eventual winners Barcelona was played out at 2.45am on 28 May. 

The 2007/08 season Final was an all-English final between Manchester United and Chelsea.