Bayern Munich’s win over Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund on Saturday once again attracted a huge global audience, with the showpiece match in the German league calendar shown in more than 185 territories.

In addition to national media partners covering the game, 60 of the league’s international television partners broadcast the match live from Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park stadium, which Bayern won 3-2. 

These included ESPN+ (USA), BT Sport (UK), PPTV (China), Onefootball (South America), BeIN Sports (France, Australia and New Zealand), Eleven Sports (Poland, Belgium and Portugal), Flow Sports (Caribbean), Match TV (Russia), Viasat (Norway and Sweden), Canal Plus Afrique (sub-Saharan Africa) and SABC (South Africa).

Off the pitch, the DFL, the German league, the clubs and commercial partners collaborated to create more than 130 activations globally to promote the first meeting between the two teams this season.

Despite the global coronavirus pandemic, the league was able to gather fans in all six continents and key target markets by launching initiatives which adhered to local safety measures.

The DFL worked together with the clubs and its broadcast partners and produced activations in territories including China, Vietnam, Thailand, USA, South Africa, Portugal, Belgium, Hong Kong, Thailand and India.

In locations where mass gatherings are prohibited because of Covid-19 restrictions, the DFL worked together with the clubs and broadcast partners to hold digital fan watch parties. 

A virtual watch party hosted by ESPN+ attracted more than 1,200 fans.

In total, ‘Der Klassiker’ content delivered a reach of 11 million and 11.8 million impressions on the DFL’s owned and operated channels and almost 100 million impressions across its network of digital content partners.

In addition, the Bundesliga rolled out advanced technology for its coverage, debuting innovative camera systems such as ‘railcam’ and ‘robotic cam’

Robert Klein, chief executive of Bundesliga International, said: “Together with the clubs and our partners, our goal was to create an innovative viewing experience that lived up to the quality of the match we saw at Signal Iduna Park and with over 150 digital and social activations, I am confident we provided that. 

“We incorporated new ways for fans to enjoy the match together around the world. Our next challenge is to continue to build on that and we are already looking to new ways in which we can achieve this.”

Gary Rathbone, head of sport, SABC, added: "Our broadcast this past Saturday evening on SABC 3 really showed how the relationship between the DFL and SABC is coming together to lift the Bundesliga brand in South Africa."

Bayern are scheduled to host Dortmund in the return fixture in early March.

Sportcal