Ari Zakarian: “No ice show can compete with the main attraction — Yuzuru Hanyu’s show. When he stepped away from traditional shows to create his own, he took the audience with him.”
Ari Zakarian discusses Yuzuru Hanyu’s influence on the ice show market and the challenges in promoting figure skating worldwide.
original source: podcast “Chistyy Khvost” (“Clean Tail”)
Sports agent Ari Zakarian shared his insights on how Yuzuru Hanyu has reshaped Japan’s ice show market and offered ideas for making figure skating more popular globally. Speaking in the podcast “Chistyy Khvost” (“Clean Tail”), Zakarian highlighted Hanyu’s unparalleled impact and the marketing potential of extraordinary feats in the sport. Here’s a translation.
On Yuzuru Hanyu’s Dominance in Japan’s Ice Show Market
“No ice show can compete with the main attraction — Yuzuru Hanyu’s show. Hanyu is like an iceberg, standing apart from everyone else, and everyone wants him. Whenever Hanyu appears, any show sells out instantly — literally,” Zakarian said.
Explaining the current difficulties faced by other ice shows in Japan, he continued: “The issue is that over the course of his career, Yuzuru Hanyu became so popular in Japan, with such a huge, powerful, and loyal fan base, that when he stepped away from traditional shows to create his own, he essentially took the audience with him. His shows are massively successful and sell out almost immediately.
It turns out that the Japanese audience was primarily focused on Hanyu. As a result, other ice shows are now facing significant challenges.”
On Making Ice Shows More Popular Globally
Zakarian also spoke about the broader issue of promoting figure skating, particularly in markets like North America:
“It’s not like it was in the ‘90s. Figure skating remains one of the most interesting, beautiful sports, but it’s vastly underestimated in terms of marketing — unlike in Russia. The shows went ‘okay,’ but considering there are reigning world champions in three out of the four categories, the results should have been much better.”
Comparing the sport to other industries, Zakarian said: “Look at Michael Jordan, who made basketball globally recognizable. Michael Phelps gave swimming a huge boost. I’m not implying anything specific about Ilia Malinin, but I’m saying that marketing is key.
For example, if you’re living in New Zealand or Scotland and have never heard of figure skating, but then you read that a skater broke some kind of record yesterday — something about a score or an unprecedented accomplishment — your curiosity might naturally kick in. You’d start thinking: ‘Wait, what happened? What was this event?’ That creates an informational ripple effect, which could spark broader interest.”
Zakarian emphasized the importance of capitalizing on extraordinary moments in figure skating to build a larger audience: “If someone lands a quadruple axel, for instance, you need to make a lot of noise about it. Leverage the media landscape to turn it into a great PR opportunity.
If competitions also incorporate record-breaking performances, even by a fraction, that too can become global news. It would help people worldwide realize that something exciting is happening in figure skating.”
Related topics: Ari Zakarian, Yuzuru Hanyu
The thinking is fundamentally wrong. Shows don’t sell out because Yuzuru Hanyu is popular; they sell out because his shows are great. And his popularity is not due to marketing or flashy advertising. His dedication and passion for this sport is unmatched by anyone else. He has all the greatness of figure skating that the competition has devalued as worthless. We pay for what we want to see. And it is never a fancy, acrobatic jumping competition.