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Chinese companies have taken centre stage at the European football championships through stadium advertising and other marketing deals.
It underlines the global pulling power of football and live sport with domestic and international audiences in the battle to boost sales.
Five of the 13 official tournament sponsors are Chinese companies, according to Uefa, which organised the event and governs the game in Europe.
“The Chinese brands that have developed their base very strongly on the huge market that is China are looking for expansion outside of their domestic boundaries and for opportunities to reach new audiences and markets,” said Uefa marketing director Guy-Laurent Epstein.
Revenue from the Chinese sponsors — Ant Group’s payments app Alipay, Alibaba’s online marketplace AliExpress, smartphone manufacturer Vivo, consumer electronics group Hisense and electric-vehicle maker BYD — is also key to Uefa’s commercial ambitions.
It has helped Euro 2024, which comes to a climax on Sunday with the final between England and Spain in Berlin, generate an expected record €600mn-plus in revenue from commercial rights, according to Epstein.
This is an at least 15 per cent increase on the €520mn at Euro 2020 and an at least 24 per cent jump on the €483mn at Euro 2016.
In total, Uefa expects the tournament to generate more than €2.4bn from broadcast deals, sponsorship, hospitality and ticketing, providing critical funds for reinvestment in the sport.
The five Chinese companies sit alongside global brands such as Coca-Cola and German sportswear maker Adidas as the main sponsors that drive commercial revenues.
Other top sponsors include French IT services group Atos, Greek betting company Betano, Amsterdam-based travel website Booking.com, Visit Qatar, and German groups Lidl and clothing brand Engelbert Strauss.
Organisers say the tournament will attract a live cumulative audience of more than 5bn people across roughly 200 territories. Beyond traditional televised broadcasts, fans are increasingly following sport on social media, where it is common to watch shorter clips.
Although China performs poorly in football, the sport and the Euros are extremely popular in the country.
Ratings of the sports channel of China’s national broadcaster CCTV soared 45 per cent between June 14, when the tournament kicked off, and July 3, according to CSM Media Research.
In China, more than 187mn viewers have watched the matches since the opening game, despite the big time difference with host nation Germany.
Technology has also helped boost advertising by allowing sponsors to tailor billboards on the pitch perimeter for different audiences. It means fans in China see different adverts on their screens to what is visible in stadiums or other broadcast feeds.
As well as domestic audiences, Chinese fans who live abroad or travel to watch Euro 2024 matches are another potential target. Some brands also aim to win over European fans.
“In the past, [the aim of] Chinese brands sponsoring the big international sporting events was predominantly to build credibility with consumers back home,” said Mark Tanner, managing director of Shanghai-based branding agency China Skinny. “But as more brands spread their wings, it is helping build awareness and preference for their brands in broader markets while strengthening them back home.”
He added: “Due to geopolitics and a reputation for lower quality, Chinese brands generally start on the back foot in most western countries so have to work harder than most others to build preference to their brands.”
Germany’s branch of consumer electronics group Hisense saw its first-half revenue rise 53 per cent from a year earlier, Louis Hou, general manager at Hisense & Gorenje Germany, told local media.
AliExpress said sales of football-related goods on its cross-border marketplace increased 80 per cent year on year in May.
Electric-car maker BYD, which became the “official e-mobility partner” of Euro 2024 in January just a few months after it was revealed Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen would stop being a sponsor of the competition despite Germany hosting the tournament, said the partnership with Uefa was key in introducing consumers to its technology.
BYD’s partnership with Uefa is part of its drive to expand in Europe as the EU clamps down on car imports from China. This week, the company agreed a $1bn deal to build an electric-vehicle plant in Turkey, adding to plans to develop a separate production facility in Hungary.