Team Ball Sports Knocked Out One After Another... Business Community Faces 'Olympic Special' Emergency

'High Advertising Impact' but Men's Soccer Fails to Qualify for Finals
Companies Likely to Cut TV Ad Spending
Home Appliance Industry's 'Special Demand' Expectations Diminish

With the South Korean men's soccer Olympic team failing to qualify for the Paris Olympics, companies are facing an emergency in their marketing strategies. Concerns are rising that the Olympic-related marketing boom has vanished, making a complete overhaul of TV advertising and other marketing plans inevitable.

On the 26th (Korean time), the AFC U-23 Asian Cup quarterfinal match between Korea and Indonesia was held at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar. As Indonesian players scored, a Korean player lowered his head. Photo by Korea Football Association [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the business community on the 29th, companies have begun reviewing whether to cut advertising expenses while continuing sponsorships for the sports whose association heads they hold. A business insider said, "It is more likely that the conclusion will be to tighten the purse strings."

The decisive factor was the men's soccer team's shocking defeat to Indonesia, which led to their elimination. As a result, South Korea was wiped out in all team ball sports at the Paris Olympics except for women's handball. Baseball was not included as an official sport in this Paris Olympics.

Team ball sports, in particular, have longer game times than individual sports like swimming and athletics and feature many star athletes who attract national attention, resulting in high TV advertising exposure. According to the viewership research company TNMS, four out of the top five most-watched events by South Koreans during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics were team ball sports. The women's volleyball semifinal between South Korea and Brazil ranked first with a nationwide household average viewership rating of 36.8%. The men's soccer preliminary match between South Korea and Romania (32.1%), the baseball match against Japan (26.7%), Yeo Seo-jeong's women's gymnastics individual vault final (25.9%), and the women's volleyball preliminary match against Japan (25.6%) followed.

Except for Samsung, the official Olympic Worldwide Partner, most companies are expected to make similar decisions. Samsung, as a sponsor, has an obligation to invest a certain portion of costs in Olympic sponsorship and advertising. It is reported that Samsung is also not pleased with the situation of South Korean athletes in this Paris Olympics. Samsung had planned to form a ‘Samsung Galaxy Athletes Team’ of 25 active star athletes from various sports to serve as promotional ambassadors, delivering the main Olympic messages and promoting Samsung smartphones such as the ‘Galaxy series.’ However, with many South Korean athletes underperforming in various sports, it has become uncertain whether this synergy effect can be realized.

On the 13th of last month, the 'Neo QLED 8K' was unveiled at 'Unbox & Discover 2024' held at Samsung Electronics Seocho Building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The home appliance industry, which has traditionally enjoyed a boom every time the Olympics approach, is expected to face difficulties this time. Samsung Electronics released the ‘Neo QLED 8K’ equipped with a 3rd generation AI 8K processor, and LG Electronics launched the 2024 models of ‘LG OLED TV’ and ‘QNED TV,’ aiming for the ‘Olympic effect,’ but the outcomes remain uncertain.

An industry insider said, "During the COVID-19 period, many customers replaced their TVs as the time spent watching TV at home increased. The typical replacement cycle for TVs is 5 to 6 years, so customers who replaced their TVs then are unlikely to purchase new ones during this year's Olympic season."