A Tokyo 2016 Summer Olympic Games would generate the greatest prime time TV audience in Olympic history drawing from the three billion consumers within a three-hour time zone, according to the bid’s Deputy Director General Hidetoshi Maki.
Maki spoke at the ISPO SpoBis global conference in Munich Germany Tuesday and said prime time broadcasts for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games would cover the hundreds of newly emerging affluent Asians over the next decade, pointing out that this would provide the Olympic Movement with unprecedented opportunities to engage with new mass markets for the sport industry – generating economic benefits on a global scale.
Traditionally, it has been considered that an Olympic Games in a North American time zone would have access to the most number of viewers and sponsors – a belief that would favour Chicago. Tokyo is offering another option.
ISPO SpoBis 2009 is Europe’s largest sports business conference attended by key international sports industry players.
During his speech Maki said, “when you look at sponsor brand names, you can see that many Japanese companies support football, athletics and swimming. This reflects how much Japanese people love sports.
“Hosting the Games on the world’s finest stage creates the best environment for inspirational performances and heroic achievements. These accomplishments and the way people all around the world identify with them is, I believe, the basis of the sport business and where opportunities lie”.
In a press release Tokyo 2016 said according to recent intelligence sourced from SponsorMetrix, ZenethOptimedia and ABU, while Tokyo and Japan offer highly attractive markets in themselves, Tokyo’s geographic location provides great opportunity to the IOC to reach Asia’s large and rapidly growing population. With almost three quarters of a billion TV homes and a potential TV audience of three billion in the 57 nations within the Asian Broadcasting Union, a Tokyo Games has the potential to provide to the Olympic Movement its largest prime time audience ever.
Maki said in his speech that Tokyo’s position as a gateway to Asia brings the sports marketing industry access to the fastest-developing continent on earth, and potentially the largest ever TV viewing audience for an Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016.
