Dentsu locks up Olympic gatekeeper rights across much of Asia until 2024

Japanese company Dentsu have been awarded the Olympic broadcasting rights to 22 countries in Asia ©Dentsu

Dentsu, the Japanese advertising and public relations company, is to retain exclusive broadcasting rights to the Olympic Games across a total of 22 Asian countries - including Malaysia - until at least 2024.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that Dentsu has been awarded television rights across this region in all languages and on all media platforms for both the Pyeongchang 2018/Tokyo 2020 Olympic cycle and the subsequent quadrennium including Games in 2022 and 2024.

The host of the 2022 Winter Olympics will be decided here on Friday (July 31) and Kazakhstan, whose biggest city Almaty is up against Beijing in the two-horse race for staging rights, is among the 22 territories covered by the new deal.

The agreement means that Dentsu will remain exclusive gatekeeper of Olympic broadcast rights for a further eight years across a vast swath of territory that includes some of the world’s most populous countries.

The full list comprises: Afghanistan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Dentsu already holds the 2013-2016 rights to these same countries, acquired in two deals, the latter of which was concluded in August 2013.

Thomas Bach, IOC President, said that the deal “ensures Olympic broadcast coverage for fans across the region, including on free-to-air television”.

He went on: “Having begun our broadcast relationship with Dentsu at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, I am pleased we will continue through to 2024.”

The deal with Dentsu is the latest broadcast contract negotiated by IOC President Thomas Bach, who is currently in Kuala Lumpur for the 128th Session ©Getty Images

Kiyoshi Nakamura, Dentsu’s executive officer, said: “Following the acquisition of the broadcast rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, we are delighted to strengthen the ongoing relationship between the IOC and Dentsu through the distribution of the broadcast and exhibition rights for all the Olympic Games until 2024.

“We are dedicated to contributing to the long-term development of the Olympic Movement and to deliver the excitement of the Olympics to the fans in these Asian countries and territories.”

Dentsu was also last year appointed as marketing agency for Tokyo 2020, whose domestic sponsorship programme has been such a spectacular success that it has already hit its ¥150 billion (£769 million/$1.2 billion/€1.1 billion) target five years in advance of the Games.

Today’s announcement takes the IOC closer to the final total of around $4.5 billion (£2.9 billion/€4.1 billion) it is understood to be projecting from worldwide broadcasting rights for the Pyeongchang 2018/Tokyo 2020 cycle.

This would represent cycle-on-cycle growth of some 10 per cent.

insidethegames revealed this month that the IOC had now generated as much from the sale of broadcasting rights for the 2017-2020 cycle, as the $4.1 billion (£2.6 billion/€3.7 billion) sum it will receive from this, the Movement’s largest revenue source during the present Olympic cycle culminating with Rio 2016.