The J.League's top division has a huge following in Thailand, with more than 10 million viewers likely by the end of this season.
As of the end of the Japan pro soccer league's 11th round of fixtures on Aug. 19, the number of viewers had reached about 3.42 million, already exceeding last season's total of about 2.71 million.
In Thailand, three or four J.League matches are broadcast during every round. This season, Thailand's public broadcaster started airing J.League matches on terrestrial TV channels, giving people in the country more viewing options, in addition to YouTube.
Thai players on J.League clubs are gaining attention in their home country as the Thai professional soccer league has been suspended due to the novel coronavirus crisis, which has contributed to an increase in Thai viewers of J.League matches.
The J.League is trying to boost the number of fans in Asia. In April, it posted live interviews of four Thai soccer players, including the Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo's midfielder Chanathip, via its Facebook account in Thai. The number of followers of this Facebook account is more than 550,000, which is double the number for the J.League's Japanese account.
"The number of followers increased by 100,000 from last year," said Kei Koyama, who engages in the internationalization of the J.League in Asia. "Many comments posted are favorable ones."
Clubs are also eager to attract fans. Thai forward Teerasil Dangda joined Shimizu S-Pulse this season. In the S-Pulse matches against Consadole on Aug. 8 and against the Yokohama F-Marinos on Aug. 19, which both have Thai players, S-Pulse players wore uniforms with their names printed in Thai.
During these matches, supporters were able to send messages through the stadium loudspeaker in Thai via a so-called remote support system app. For the Aug. 19 match, photos of fans from Thailand were displayed on LED signboards in the stadium after they applied via social media for their thumbnail images to be shown.
About 240,000 people in Thailand watched the S-Pulse match versus Consadole, the second highest number this season.
Teerasil said he was grateful that the J.League thinks of the Thai players and believe the Thai people are also pleased with the efforts.
Said Koyama: "Foreign broadcasters currently account for about 5% of total TV licensing fees. We want to grow this to 10% soon and help our clubs earn sponsorship and merchandise revenue from Asia as well."
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
