Another Channel: Even with Corinthians and high audience, SBT will make a loss with football for the first time in 2024

For the first time since its resumption in 2020, SBT’s sports sector will not make a profit for the Abravanel family broadcaster at the end of the year. The TV commercial area was unable to find enough advertisers to cover the costs of operating and broadcasting rights for football tournaments in 2024.

According to the column, this was one of the main reasons why the broadcaster decided to change its commercial management. In September, Luciana Valério was fired.

In his place, Marcos Kotait, who already worked in the department, was hired. His first mission has been to look for advertisers for the final of the Copa Sudamericana between Cruzeiro and Racing (ARG), which will take place on the 23rd, in Assunção (PAR).

What bothered SBT the most was the difficulty in finding sponsors for football broadcasts. Even with Corinthians games in Sul-Americana reaching the highest ratings outside of Globo, there were difficulties in convincing the market to buy space.

The main explanation from professionals who work in the SBT sales area, and who were heard by the column, was that the sporting year in 2024 had a profusion of events. All the money would have been concentrated in other tournaments, such as the Brasileirão and the Paris Olympic Games.

Add to this the fact that the market, it seems, has lost confidence in SBT’s sports project. The broadcaster lost to Record the dispute over broadcasting rights for the Brazilian Championship, the main acquisition target for this year.

For 2025, SBT promises changes. Cléber Machado will leave the broadcaster to be Record’s main voice in the Paulistão and Brasileirão games. The broadcaster intends to hire a name to take his place. Milton Leite and Marcelo do Ó were nominated by artists close to Daniela Beyruti, president of SBT.

Internally, there is strong support for Corinthians to qualify for the South American Championship again in 2025, and for reasons that go well beyond clubism: their presence would keep the competition strong in São Paulo, Brazil’s main television market.