Insights on the Sports Industry in Abu Dhabi from Repucom's Middle East Managing Director, Jon Long

1. COMMERCIAL
TRENDSIN SPORTS 2016
& THEIR IMPACT ON ABU DHABI
SPORTS
INDUSTRY FORUM
INSIGHTS PARTNER

2. 2
It has been fascinating to watch the story of sport in
Abu Dhabi unfold. Ten years ago I had the pleasure of walk-
ing the course at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Golf Champion-
ship with Colin Montgomerie, Vijay Singh and Sergio Gar-
cia. There were only a dozen of us following them round.
Nevertheless, it was an important milestone and over
the past decade the Emirate has steadily and strategically
built an impressive and well-aligned portfolio of major
events. The golf was such a turning point because it was
the first truly global calendar event to showcase Abu Dhabi.
Since this time it has been complemented by the Etihad
Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Red Bull Air Race and,
more recently, cycling’s Abu Dhabi Tour and the ITU World
Triathlon Abu Dhabi.
With the FIFA Club World Cup returning in 2017 and
2018, the FINA Short Course World Championship coming
in 2020 and a large part of the AFC Asian Cup scheduled to
take place in the Emirate in 2019, the calendar looks better
than ever.
Alongside these strategic events there are two crucial
areas of growth that will feature prominently in Abu Dhabi’s
COMMERCIALTRENDSINSPORT
ANDTHEIRIMPACTONABUDHABI
‘PARTNERSHIPS’
ARE BECOMING
MORE IMMERSIVE
AND REWARDING
2
THE COMPETITION
TO CAPTURE
NEW AUDIENCES
IS INTENSE
3
BROADCAST MEDIA:
MORE VALUABLE
THAN EVER
BUT UNDER THREAT
4
EMERGENCE
OF FAST-GROWTH
SPORTS AND
EVENTS
5
SPORT UNDER
INTENSE
SCRUTINY AND
GOVERNANCE IS KEY
6
DIGITAL AND SOCIAL:
THE REVENUE
ROADMAP IS STARTING
TO UNLOCK
7
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
TRANSFORMING
THE FAN EXPERIENCE –
AT VENUE AND
AT HOME
8
INCREASED
FOCUS ON BUILDING
STRONG FAN
RELATIONSHIPS IS
PAYING BACK
9
EVERYTHING IS
MEASURABLE AND
ACCOUNTABILITY IS MORE
IMPORTANT THAN EVER
10
next chapter and become increasingly attractive to brands
inside and outside the region – football and fitness.
Al Ain is leading the way in measuring and building its
audience and we expect other clubs in Abu Dhabi and the
GCC in general to follow.
The UAE Jiu Jitsu Federation has started to demon-
strate the benefits to brands of linking major events with
youth engagement and there will be more mass participa-
tion activities across a range of sports launched in the
years ahead.
Of course the sports industry in Abu Dhabi is not im-
mune to the macro-economy so it won’t all be plain sailing
but our long-term outlook for the Emirate is very positive.
THE TOP 10 COMMERCIAL TRENDS IN SPORT IN 2016
THE COMMERCIAL TRENDS MOST PREVALENT IN ABU DHABI IN 2016
Of these 10 global trends, we have identified the following five as being the most relevant to Abu Dhabi in 2016.
1
THE WORLD OF
SPORT IS
GROWING – AND
EXPANDING
JON LONG
Managing Director,
Repucom Middle East

3. 1
Sports fans demonstrate a stronger than average affinity to
the banks and telcos that sponsor the event or team they are
interested in. In the UAE, we know that sports fans are more
interested in technology than their peers.
Global brands are delving deeper and deeper into con-
sumer data before investing in sport and demanding much
more than logo visibility from their sponsorships. A standout
example in Abu Dhabi in 2015 was HSBC’s golf sponsorship
and we are gradually starting to see local brands following
suit.
Notably du – traditionally a sponsor of concerts and fes-
tivals – reached new audiences and enhanced its reputation
through its activation of the du Football Champions events in
2015. The next wave of partnership-orientated investment in
Abu Dhabi is likely to come from the financial, automotive
and technology sectors.
‘PARTNERSHIPS’ ARE BECOMING
MORE IMMERSIVE AND REWARDING
2 /3
It is not just the brands that are looking more closely than
ever at their return on broader objectives (ROO) as well as
their return on investment (ROI). The region’s public sector is
also becoming more demanding and government support in
Abu Dhabi will increasingly flow to those projects that are
most closely aligned to tourism targets and the 2030 Vision.
The Emirate’s leading rights holder – Abu Dhabi Motor-
sport Management – proactively reports to its stakeholders
on the behaviour patterns of local and international visitors to
the Formula 1 race weekend. The most commercially suc-
cessful football club – Al Ain – has invested more than its
peers in understanding its fanbase.
Several of the sports and events that dominate the Abu
Dhabi calendar today will be surpassed by those that are
most popular with the next generation of sports fans if they
fail to understand their market position and audience and
adapt to an evolving landscape.
THE COMPETITION TO CAPTURE
NEW AUDIENCES IS INTENSE
EVERYTHING IS MEASUREABLE
AND ACCOUNTABILITY IS MORE
IMPORTANT THAN EVER
INTEREST IN TECHNOLOGY (IN%)
Source: Repucom Sports DNA
Very interested Interested A little interested
Abu Dhabi
Population
54“I WOULD CHOOSE
A SPONSOR’S PRODUCT
RATHER THAN RIVAL
BRANDS IF PRICE
AND QUALITY WERE
THE SAME.”
58
Abu Dhabi
sports fan
Abu Dhabi Population 31 29 38
Abu Dhabi Sports fan 52 34 13
Source: Repucom Sports DNA
TAILORING TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE MILLENNIAL
AUDIENCE (IN%)
TV
Mobile devices,
including apps
Media used to follow sport
Abu Dhabi Non-Millennials
aged 36+
93
86
87
81
64
44
58
44
Abu Dhabi Millennials
under 36
Internet
Social media
Daily
newspapers
Radio
Email
newsletters
Magazines/ Sports
magazines
93
80
75
73
69
67
60
57

4. 4
Abu Dhabi has long-term staging agreements for events that
feature the top talent in ‘global powerhouse’ sports including
motorsports, cycling, golf and tennis. These four sports have
two things in common. On the positive side they provide good
global media exposure and local spectating opportunities but
on the negative side the average age of their audiences is in-
creasing and their rate of growth is slower than the total sports
market.
It is by no means time to panic – the abovementioned
sports remain in good health - but there are certainly opportu-
nities for the faster-growing sports with youth appeal to in-
crease their profile across the Middle East.
Football, unsurprisingly, leads the way and Abu Dhabi
looks well-placed to benefit from its enduring popularity with
EMERGENCE OF FAST-GROWTH SPORTS AND EVENTS
the FIFA Club World Championship in 2017 and 2018 and the
AFC Asian Cup in 2019.
Three other positive trends are combat sports, basketball
and e-sports. The UAE Jiu Jitsu Federation is making very pos-
itive strides in bringing martial arts to thousands of youngsters
and building an integrated events calendar. We are still waiting
on transformational breakthroughs in the region in both bas-
ketball and e-sports and will be watching both sectors closely
in 2016.
Physical literacy is also climbing up the health and educa-
tion agenda and we expect this year’s Olympic Games to serve
as a catalyst for public policy developments across the region
and greater government involvement in mass participation and
youth events.
TOP FOLLOWED SPORTS IN ABU DHABI (IN %)
2016 will see Abu Dhabi host more mass participation events than ever
before. Events such as the Colour Run, Electric Run and TriYAS are
proving popular with a broad age range of participants and have been
a gateway for new brands to get involved in sponsorship. Although the
growth of this sector has been rapid in recent years and event owners
will need to innovate to retain high participation rates, we expect the
general demand for group physical activity to grow. Building a strong
social media community will be a critical success factor for new en-
trants to the market.
Source: Repucom Sports DNA
64Football / Soccer
Cricket
40
Badminton
37
Motorsport in general
(inc. Formula 1) 32
Cycling
24
Athletics/Track
and Field 23
Basketball
23
Mixed martial arts
(MMA) 22
Source: Repucom Insights
Interested + very interested
ABU DHABI EVENTS ON YOUTH APPEAL POPULARITY
Current Popularity
YouthAppeal
UAE 2017,
Fifa club world CUp
THE COLOR RunTM
Formula 1
Abu Dhabi GP
Red Bull
Air race
XCat
World Series
ITU World
Triathlon
Abu Dhabi
Mubadala
World Tennis
Championship
Abu Dhabi
Abu dhabi
HSBC Golf
Championship
Abu dhabi
Tour
Abu Dhabi
World Professional
Jiu Jitsu championship

5. 5
After a decade of promises we are finally starting to see
sport stakeholders generate returns from their digital and social
media activity. In most cases these relate to broader corporate
objectives of awareness and affinity but – where there is scale
– rights owners such as European football clubs and US major
league franchises are unlocking new sources of income.
Abu Dhabi’s rights owners don’t yet boast big enough so-
cial media audiences to generate revenue but sponsors are
demanding digital assets as part of their inventory and now is
the time to properly integrate social media into sales and mar-
keting plans instead of keeping it at arms’ length.
To retain their share of sponsorship investment from the
UAE airlines, banks and telcos that invest globally as well as
locally, UAE-based rights owners need to develop Fan Stories
DIGITAL AND SOCIAL: THE REVENUE ROADMAP IS STARTING TO UNLOCK
that are tailored to reach the audiences their partner brands are
seeking to influence.
Nissan has been quick to capitalise on this opportunity in
snapping up Manchester City’s Goal of the Month and the ICC
World Twenty20’s Play of the Day properties helping them
make more of the individual sponsorships and build synergies
between different assets.
Last year Repucom developed a Digital Pulse which bench-
marks the buzz relating to major sports events around the world.
In 2016 we are bringing the same methodology to Abu Dhabi to
support our tracking of the local market. Unsurprisingly the F1
stands out from the crowd but the Abu Dhabi Tour has already
overtaken some of the more established events, in spite of rela-
tively low uptake of its own social media platforms.
MONITORING OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL BUZZ AROUND ABU DHABI SPORTING EVENTS
457K 120K 25K 1.5M
706K 30K 70K 39K
18K 1K 1K 73K*
20K 2K 3K 13K
30K 5K 3K NA
45K 7K 28K 23K
30K 113K 142K 98K
ITU ABU DHABI TRIATHLON
RED BULL AIR RACE*
ABU DHABI TOUR
ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
WORLD PROFESSIONAL JIU JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP*
AL AIN FC
YAS MARINA CIRCUIT
LIKES FOLLOWERS TOP VIEWS
Abu dhabi
Tour
Formula 1
Abu Dhabi GP
Mubadala
World Tennis
Championship
Abu Dhabi
Abu dhabi
HSBC Golf
Championship
OCT ‘15 NOV ‘15 DEZ ‘15 JAN ‘16 FEB ‘16 MAR ‘16
Source: Repucom Digital Pulse
Red Bull
Air race
FOLLOWERS
*Relates to global series rather than Abu Dhabi event only
SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIENCES – OWNED PLATFORMS

6. We’ve been working in the region for almost a decade, providing advice and support to major
event owners, rights holders and brands. Our local team of researchers, analysts and consultants
is supported by a global network of 1400 colleagues spread across 20 offices around the world,
all dedicated to providing Connected Solutions to our 1700 sport and entertainment clients.
Let’s get connected.
Get in touch for a free consultation:
E: jlong@repucom.net
T: +971 44432832
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