This archive report was first published on 12 July 2019.
Published on July 12, 2019, a study by GumGum Sports and Muso revealed that Kenya is among the top five countries illegally streaming English Premier League (EPL) matches.
The study, commissioned by an undisclosed elite EPL club, found that China, Vietnam, Kenya, India, and Nigeria were enjoying the content for free, benefiting advertisers but not the clubs.
According to Muso co-founder and CEO Andy Chatterley, piracy audiences have been disregarded as offering no real value to rights holders and distributors. However, the reality is that these huge audiences still see the same shirt sponsors and commercials as people watching the game via a licensed channel.
Mr. Chatterley stated that sports rights owners now understand that uncaptured audiences help drive value for advertised products. The CEO added that they are embarking on a study to establish the value of uncaptured piracy audiences globally, enabling club managers to understand better before inking future sponsorship deals.
The English Premier League is a major driver of the multi-billion-shilling betting industry in Kenya, which last year raked in Sh204 billion in revenues with a paltry Sh4 billion paid as taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority.
Additionally, telcos benefit from fees earned from paybill transactions conducted by betters placing bets via mobile payment platforms. The government recently withdrew licences for 27 companies affecting 12 million accounts, citing failure to pay taxes.
GumGum and Muso studied eight matches spanning the 2018-19 season, discovering a total of 7.1 million viewers enjoyed illegal streaming. Illegally streamed audiences in the US and the UK stood at position 10 and 11 respectively, with each match generating over Sh129 million in lost sponsorship value.
