Kieran Maguire hails ‘genius’ deal as Arsenal break 12-year record
Arsenal and Man City recorded the most overseas viewers in 12 years because of the Premier League’s growing worldwide appeal.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the record number of viewers that tuned in to the Premier League title battle.
As reported by SportBusiness, the Premier League showdown between Man City and Arsenal in April attracted an audience of 1.1 million viewers to French broadcaster Canal Plus.
The match broadcast had an average audience of 804,000 viewers, with a peak audience of 1.1 million.
It marked the highest audience in France for a Premier League match since a clash between Arsenal and Chelsea in the 2010/11 season.
Maguire hailed the Premier League’s ‘genius’ decision to tap into the overseas market early, with the worldwide appeal of top-flight English football still growing.
“The Premier League is watched in 198 different countries around the world in terms of the deal signed by the organisation,” Maguire told Football Insider.
“The growing appeal of the Premier League comes from the competitive balance which is shown by a team such as Brighton beating Man United despite them having 10 players cost more than Brighton’s most expensive player.
“It is enjoyable in the sense that you don’t end up with a procession – Man City have won it five times in the last six – but remember that two of those were decided in the last match of the season.
“It is certainly still a competitive product and we’ve seen Arsenal throw the title away this year as opposed to City necessarily catch them up.
“Combined with the fact that English is the world’s second language, it is clear to see the appeal of the Premier League.
“The Premier League made a genius decision many years ago to strike a deal and get in first to the overseas markets and that significantly helped grow the appeal worldwide.“
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