Football data on TV: here are the aims and fears of the allies Dazn and Mediaset

The chaos on the data collection of Dazn , which from this year broadcasts the Serie A football (7 exclusive matches and 3 shared with Sky ), has mobilized AgCom on the one hand and Upa on the other, or the association of advertising investors, who would like to have certainty about the numbers before buying spaces. But connecting the dots, we at TvZoom realized that, perhaps, there could be an unsuspected operator behind the whole affair, namely Mediaset . Let's see why.

A SINGLE CERTIFICATION BODY

Months ago there was an attempt to create Audicom, a subject that would be born from the union of Audipress and Audiweb, an attempt orchestrated without Upa's knowledge, to create a single body that would censor audiovisual content on the web. This is because AgCom had given provision to create a single reference for the total audience on audiovisual, which implicitly includes linear TV, the web and streaming TV. Audicom had, in fact, to overtake Auditel on the right, removing the TV readings outside the TV. Failed attempt, Audicom is in fact shipwrecked still in port. Also because Upa claims a single subject for everything and Auditel is a long way ahead in the development of the total audience.

At one point, however, Dazn won the Serie A rights for three years, thanks to the economic partnership with Tim (intervened to counter Sky and its advance as a fiber distributor), bypassing satellite pay TV for the first time. . Shortly afterwards Mediaset was awarded the advertising concession of Len Blavatnik's OTT with Digitalia'08 , be careful: not with Publitalia'80 , as if to underline that for that type of product we are talking about digital and not television. In Cologno Monzese they guaranteed about 50 million euros in advertising revenues, based on Sky's performance in previous years, which however valued very well all the editorial products on the sidelines of the matches (pre and post game, a facility that Dazn does not yet have), and with audience performance certified by Auditel. Mediaset, which made the highest bid and for many considered out of the market, seems to be willing to lose even 20 million euros. But why?

THE DETECTIONS OF DAZN

As a new commercial partner of Dazn, Mediaset thus advised to be measured by Auditel obviously for the linear emission in connected TVs, but then convinced them to create a self-produced survey (and then elaborated by Nielsen), for all digital consumption. By sounding the alarms in Upa and AgCom .

Stefano Sala , number one of Publitalia and member of the Bisicone board, told Sole 24 Ore : «Dazn is a“ constructive provocation ”». Why does Mediaset, certified by Auditel of which he is a member, feel the need for a "constructive provocation"? Perhaps because the plan is to create a clear division between traditional players and new players? Yes, as he himself maintains: "The Authority plays a key role in guiding the coordination process of the various detection systems where, it is important to underline it, the plurality and variety of the means of our market would not be reconciled with a sort of Jic unique. The work to be done is a dialogue between the various "Audi", maintaining the distinction of areas. The objective of the measurement is to define the metrics between homogeneous players who compete on the same market with the same rules, without confusing players of different nature. There is a need for a currency for broadcasters, which are subject to 100% compliance with the institutional framework and there is a need for clarity and distinct measurements for the Ott players who produce content, but without a schedule and without the institutional burdens of broadcaster ».

THE FEAR OF MEDIASET

Mediaset's fear would be to also include OTTs in Auditel surveys, with the total audience. If this were to be decided for Dazn, a very dangerous precedent would be created, which might even lead Amazon, Netflix and Disney to be censored by Auditel, upsetting the Italian television market. Roughly speaking, if this were to happen, it would mean that the OTTs would steal an estimated 20% share of the audience, freeing up space for Rai and Mediaset, but above all gnawing on the advertising market in that mythical "high-value audience", so dear to Cologno Monzese. We are talking about giants with purchasing power over rights, especially sports rights, which Italian generalist publishers obviously do not have.