This is a new research serie on TV broadcasting of sports in China. The serie aims to provide an insight into the broadcasting situations of soccer games in China in 2013,, particularly overseas games’ TV exposure in China, to enable an understanding of the market for any interested parties, from events organizations, clubs, to brands and sponsors.

Report on Soccer Events TV Broadcasting in 2013 includes six sections: (1) an overview of soccer TV broadcasting in 2013, (2) analyses of national team events, (3) of club events, (4) of commercial events, (5) of special soccer columns, (6) and case studies of soccer business development in China.

For this time, we provide an overall view of soccer broadcasting hours on CCTV5 and local sports TV stations.

Soccer was covered extensively in 2013. Local sports TV stations had a higher percentage of soccers than CCTV5: the average soccer broadcasting hours on local sports TV stations were two times more than CCTV5, and soccer events counted for over 30% among events types covered on locals, while this figure was only 13.6% for CCTV5.

Nonetheless, soccer was No. 1 sport covered on CCTV5 in 2013 based on broadcasting hours, aired around 1100 hours yearly, 14% higher than the No.2 sport, basketball. Though this situation could change in 2015, as CCTV5 has scheduled a large amount of time for NBA games.