Following English Premier League’s model, Spanish La Liga has altered the timings to gain maximum visibility in the Indian subcontinent. As of now, most of the matches were happening during the late nights and hence couldn’t attract as many viewers from India as EPL could. To address this issue, La Liga has planned to change the timings, by keeping a few matches at 4:30 IST every week. However is the change in in La Liga timings worth it? Will it backfire? Here are some initial thoughts.
India’s Market ( Plus)
India has been a cricket crazy country traditionally. Football is the second most watched sport and is slowly trying to overtake cricket. Understanding this, La Liga has decided to step up their efforts of cracking this market. India has multiple regions where people are crazy about football such as West Bengal and Kerala. These pockets should be targeted.
La Liga’s chief Tebas plans to bring in stars like Raul and Puyol to drive up the interests of La Liga among football fans of India.
Three Biggest Names in La Liga (Plus)
The three biggest names in world football currently are Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar. All of them play in La Liga and this is definitely going to be a big factor in increasing the TRP ratings. Even though one can argue that players of only Real Madrid and Barcelona are well known compared to a significant number of EPL teams, these two clubs are quality wise much better than any EPL team (purely my view).
Two or Three horse Race (Minus)
Unlike EPL, where a flurry of clubs compete for the top 3 spots of the table, in La Liga it’s pretty much straight forward. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Madrid are the top 3 clubs and they occupy the top 3 spots in varying order. This makes the games against underdogs a little boring. The upsets are few and rare in La Liga compared to EPL. This is a big turnoff for football fans, except those of the individual clubs. Having said this, Barcelona recently suffered a shock defeat at the hands of, a newly promoted team.
Camera Work and TV Commentary (Minus)
The camera work and TV commentary is a little bit lacking in La Liga compared to EPL. Both of them have to be improved significantly without doubt.
Most selling jersey (Plus)
Of the top 3 club jerseys selling worldwide including India, two of them are of La Liga. The top three clubs in order are Real Madrid, Manchester United and Barcelona. Hence, we can infer that the fans of La Liga are really passionate about their club and will transfer this enthusiasm to fellow viewers.
We feel there are more plusses than minuses and hence this is a good move.
