Back of the Net: How Erling Braut Haaland’s rich vein of form gave Norwegian newspaper VG an unexpected boost

In association with Sportradar

The rise to prominence of 19-year-old striker Erling Braut Haaland has been one of the standout stories of this season’s European football season.

With 27 goals in all competitions and recurring links with some of Europe’s elite, Haaland’s form has seen him become one of world football’s hottest properties, although it’s not just his club and country who are benefitting.

Norwegian newspaper VG snapped up a media-rights package for the Austrian Bundesliga, where Haaland plies his trade for Red Bull Salzburg, from Sportradar before the start of the season and haven’t looked back since, according to their senior sports editor, Aslân Farshchian.

Q: How long had the idea of buying the Austrian Bundesliga rights been on the table?

Aslân Farshchian: Actually, we discussed these rights in February, way before he was even a consideration for a starting place. At that stage, Haaland did not feature much for RB Salzburg at all, so we decided to put the decision on hold until the summer to see if by that time he would be a regular starter.

Having then watched him play in the pre-season, it looked a lot more likely that he would feature consistently in 2019-20, so I contacted Sportradar and was able to come to a quick and pain-free arrangement, which ensured we had the rights starting from the opening game against Rapid Vienna.

Q: How do you plan for purchases like this when it can depend a lot on goal scoring form and performances?

AF: As I mentioned, we have been showing the entire season so it’s not just been a case of us jumping on the bandwagon. We bought the rights before he had scored a single league goal for the club, we’ve just been fortunate that his goals have meant he’s become one of the most in-demand strikers in Europe.

Obviously, nobody could have foreseen the extent of his form this season and it’s been a real boost for us to have the rights to show Norway’s most promising striker in a long time – or maybe ever.

Q: What kind of results have you seen off the back of the rights purchase?

AF: I’d say the results and benefits can broadly be put into two separate categories. Even though his games are usually played at the same time as the English Premier League or the Norwegian Eliteserien, and therefore face a lot of competition, we’re still getting some really positive viewing figures.

Also, having these rights gives us the opportunity to create clips and content for other channels outside of the time frame for live games, which is a fantastic additional value driver for us. We might not yet be able to compete for the most lucrative rights but we can show the most exciting young striker in Europe, which significantly helps us position ourselves as a live TV destination.

Q: Should he move on from Red Bull Salzburg, would you need to consider buying the rights for that league or club also?

AF: It would be fantastic to carry on doing so but that depends a lot on where he ends up, if those rights are available and also whether they are within financial reach. Obviously should he go to the likes of Manchester United or Real Madrid – that would be great but also very expensive!

It’s something we’d need to assess based on where he goes, if indeed he does move on.

Q: If his form drops or he can’t maintain his current goal scoring run, will that change VG’s plan at all?

AF: It’s an interesting one and it will to some extent. If he is less prominent and his goal scoring drops off a bit, then the coverage and front-page exposure will likely tail off a bit between and during games. However, he would still be a major interest for a lot of our audience so we would obviously continue to show each game.

Find out more about Sportradar’s audiovisual and media rights services.