La Liga is targeting a global television audience of three billion people by the end of next season, a senior league official told a football conference in Qatar on Wednesday. That would represent more than double the number of fans who tuned in worldwide for matches in Spain's top league last season, said Vicente Casado, La Liga managing director of international development.
Casado explained that the desire to build up worldwide audiences was behind La Liga changing kick-off times for Real Madrid and Barcelona matches. "This is one of the big reasons," he said. One of the big two Spanish sides plays every week at 4.15pm local time on a Saturday, which by traditional Spanish cultural standards is an unconventional time to stage a football match.