Goals, touchdowns, and a whole lot of power play

This strategy of systematically growing its sports portfolio by focusing on proprietary content, smart broadcasting across all platforms and innovative marketing products has proven highly successful. “2021 was an exciting year for sports fans, and for us. We spent many enjoyable evenings watching big soccer games on ‘ran SAT.1 Bundesliga.’ We also took the NFL to a whole new level in Germany. And we’ve got off to a great start to the future of motorsport with the first Formula E World Championship,” explains Alexander Rösner, Senior Vice President of Sports at “ran.”

The Bundesliga soccer ball is rolling again on SAT.1: For four seasons, SAT.1 has secured the sole and exclusive rights to broadcast German Bundesliga soccer games live on free TV. “The return of SAT.1 and ‘ran’ to the top echelon of soccer after 18 years was, of course, a special moment – and quite a successful one, too. SAT.1’s live Bundesliga soccer matches regularly attract around 10 million viewers (net reach from age 3),” says Alexander Rösner. The channel’s “ran SAT.1 Bundesliga” sports coverage goes far beyond simply broadcasting nine live matches each season. In the interest of monetizing its licensing rights, Seven.One Entertainment Group increased marketable reach across all platforms last year. Alongside new programming such as “ran Bundesliga Flash,” viewers were able to livestream all matches on Joyn as well as on the “ran” and SAT.1 digital platforms. Additional digital content was also generated, along with weekly webcasts on YouTube and Facebook. The Seven.One Entertainment Group’s return to the scene has also been a resounding success from a marketing perspective. For its new Bundesliga content, the Group has acquired five strong advertising partners and created entirely new ad formats for both digital and linear spaces.

Major showcase for the National Football League: ProSieben broadcast all twelve NFL playoff games live for the first time in 2021, some of them even during prime time. The investment in this sport has been worthwhile: “We’ve been promoting the NFL consistently in recent years, starting with our live broadcast of the Super Bowl megaevent on SAT.1. Today, we broadcast all of the playoff games live on ProSieben. American football has become a well-established sport in Germany. We’ve succeeded in making the NFL even more popular in this country thanks to the wide reach of ProSieben. Though initially small, the NFL fan base has grown into a huge community thanks in part to our digital activities on ran.de and on our social media feeds,” explains Alexander Rösner. The digital content lets fans follow the livestream of all matches on ran.de, on the “ran” app, on prosieben.de and on Joyn.

Sustainable motorsports gets the green light: SAT.1 focuses on a topic of the future by broadcasting the first Formula E World Championship to enthusiastic fans last year. In addition to the live TV and online broadcasts, the ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s Entertainment segment has created a full-service package by putting content on its own platforms to accompany the innovative racing series: background reports and results on ran.de, exciting video content on the “ran racing” YouTube channel and current information on goingreen.de, a mobility and sustainability platform. “Formula E is a perfect example of how we in the world of sports also need to embrace the future in order to keep growing. In our live broadcasts, we don’t just talk about the sports aspect of Formula E, but also touch on socially relevant topics such as sustainability and e-mobility. This makes the Formula E World Championship fun and enticing for viewers and advertisers alike,” explains Alexander Rösner. Even before it got off the ground, Formula E was already generating great interest among advertisers, resulting in Formula E content being launched on all relevant platforms for the respective target audience. For instance, editorial coverage of the e-racing series kicked off with “Formula E Inside – The Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team,” which also covered the trending topic of electromobility. In addition to being broadcast on SAT.1, both the show itself and highlight clips were added to Seven.One Entertainment Group’s digital content offerings on sat1.de, ran.de and to the social media pages of “ran.”

The National Hockey League celebrates its premiere on ProSieben MAXX: “With our NHL coverage, we’re now bringing the next big sport from the US to Germany,” says Alexander Rösner. “Hockey is a favorite not only in the US and Canada. Here in the German-speaking regions, we’ve also got a long tradition and a large, steadily growing fan base.” ProSieben MAXX has been broadcasting the world’s top hockey league live since February 2022 and will be showing up to 18 games per season exclusively on German free TV. Fans can find the complete #ranNHL package including videos, news, match reports, results and standings at ran.de. Even before it began broadcasting the NHL matches, Seven.One Entertainment Group set the mood by showing game highlights during football matches on ProSieben MAXX, ProSieben and ran.de. Alexander Rösner says: “In terms of programming, the NHL is the perfect follow-up to the end of the NFL season and the Super Bowl as the games fit seamlessly into the accustomed Sunday sports slot. Basically, we keep a close eye on the market to identify any additional sports licenses that would make sense for our broadcasting group and our viewers.”

• SAT.1’s live Bundesliga soccer matches regularly attract around 10 million viewers (net reach from age 3).

• The live broadcast of the 2021 Super Bowl on ProSieben attained an outstanding market share of 58.4% (ages 14-49).

• Thanks to #ranNFL, ProSieben MAXX had the most successful day in its broadcasting history with a daily market share of 4.4% (ages 14-49).

• Formula E capped off a strong premier season on SAT.1 with a record 9.1% market share for the finale in Berlin (ages 14-49).