The imminent elimination of Ajax in the Champions League also means very bad news for RTL, Valentijn Driessen says in his column. The channel has had the broadcasting rights to the billion-dollar ball since the middle of last year, but will most likely not see any Dutch club active in the largest European club tournament after the winter. A hard laugh, as competitor Talpa gets a crowd puller with Ajax.
Due to the early elimination of PSV – the Eindhoven players stranded in the preliminary round – RTL is largely dependent on Ajax in terms of viewing figures this season. Duels of the Amsterdammers are usually well watched. For example, last week during Ajax – Napoli, 1.5 million viewers tuned in to the channel, while the return in Naples attracted an average of 1.3 million viewers. On the other Champions League evening, on which no Dutch club takes action, the viewing figures remain. More than 500,000 people watched Paris Saint-Germain – Benfica on Tuesday evening.
“It is true that RTL has the best European club football in the first half of 2023, but that the Dutch football fan is hardly waiting for this, witness the moderate viewing figures,” says Driessen. “That’s why the flag went half-mast at RTL after Napoli – Ajax. No Dutch delegation in the Champions League after the winter, which means that the expensive contract that RTL concluded with UEFA again does not pay off. While director Marco Louwerens puts the flag at Talpa in the top He will be thrown into the lap of champion Ajax on Thursday as a Europa League participant at the beginning of 2023.”
Talpa has the broadcasting rights of the Europa League and the Conference League, which means that it currently broadcasts the matches of Feyenoord, PSV and AZ. It is very likely that they will still be active in Europe after the winter. Feyenoord and AZ are the leaders in the Europa League and the Conference League respectively, while PSV as number two in the group also has good papers to continue. There is therefore a chance that Talpa will have four Dutch clubs to offer on its channel after the winter, where RTL will remain empty-handed in that regard. “The championship ball has certainly not brought the station what was expected so far,” says Driessen.