“Before the Asian Games, no sporting event could compete with the World Cup in Indonesia,” said Nielsen Indonesia media research executive director Hellen Katherina recently.

The study — which gathered data from 15 national TV stations and 8,000 viewers from 11 major cities — shows that the Games garnered Rp 747.8 billion (US$ 49.6 million) in commercial advertising revenue, 42 percent higher than the Rp 527.7 billion of the World Cup.

The Games contributed to 0.65 percent of the total Rp 114 trillion in television ad spending this year, whereas the World Cup contributed 0.46 percent.

The most watched World Cup match, the France versus Croatia final, had 9 million viewers whereas the most watched Asian Games match, the Indonesia versus Hong Kong soccer match, had 15.4 million viewers.

The match with the highest share, the Indonesia versus United Arab Emirates (UAE) soccer match, was watched on 40 percent of all TVs turned on at match time, whereas the World Cup’s Germany versus Mexico match was watched on 28 percent of all TVs turned on at match time.

“We haven’t seen an audience share as high as 40 percent in, at least, the last five years,” Hellen said.

She attributed the Games’ popularity to a combination of its much larger scale and greater TV exposure compared to the World Cup.

Hellen pointed out that the Games was a multisport event with hundreds of events, which often ran simultaneously, whereas the World Cup was a single sport event with fewer matches and has, at the most, two simultaneously running matches.

Furthermore, the World Cup was only broadcasted on two national TV channels (Trans TV and Trans 7) whereas the Games was aired on seven channels (SCTV, Indosiar, O Channel, Metro TV, TV One and state-owned broadcaster TVRI).

The government had set aside up to Rp 8.1 trillion for organizing the event. A significant portion of the budget was allocated to promoting the event in Indonesia such as by holding a torch relay, setting up live music performances, releasing a Games music album and extensive media promotion campaigns.

The government’s effort had a visible response from Jakarta and Palembang, the host cities, whereby hundreds of office buildings and neighborhoods voluntarily hung up “We support the Asian Games” banners.

The man behind the games, business tycoon Erick Thohir, said the Games’ popularity had even drawn in up to Rp 800 billion from domestic and international sponsors, including from homegrown online retailer Bukalapak.

Nielsen’s study found that Bukalapak, which had purchased over 4,800 advertising slots, was the Games’ biggest TV ad buyer.

The study also noted that Bukalapak had been broadcast TV’s second most profitable customer — after the Health Ministry — in this year’s third quarter after having spent over Rp 368.5 billion on commercial breaks.

Bukalapak declined to comment.

However, its commitment to the Games is confirmed by research firm Adstensity, which estimated that the retailer had spent up to Rp 77.11 billion on commercial breaks throughout the event — the most by a company. (nor)

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