Premier League + ‘could hurt fan acquisition if rolled out globally’
The Premier League is “smart” to be experimenting with showing games on its own dedicated app but may find it harder to attract new fans if it leaves broadcasters and streaming platforms altogether, says a leading figure at Dazn.
Premier League + will launch in Singapore next season and show all 380 matches live as England’s top clubs deviate from the media rights model that has made them the richest and most powerful domestic competition in world football.
Major US sports leagues such the NFL and NBA have similar direct-to-consumer products but they still show games on a variety of other platforms, from free-to-air to pay TV and subscription streamers to YouTube.
Dazn has exclusive rights to England’s top division in Spain and Portugal and the global sports streamer’s SVP of Strategy and Business Development, Zander Berlinski, believes the Premier League would also benefit from a multi-platform strategy.
“It’s smart for leagues to be experimenting on this. They’re doing it in an important market, but it’s not their largest. And so it’ll be interesting to see what learnings they have from that, and how that might affect some of their larger markets,” he told CityAM.
“But it’s complex. Running a live sport, direct-to-consumer service isn’t easy. And so my view, both from a consumer but also a league point of view, is that having those as part of larger ecosystems who live and breathe that day in and day out is the better approach, but that’s just my opinion.”
Dazn: NFL work with us to attract new fans
Dazn has partnered with the NFL and NHL to offer their direct-to-consumer products on its platform, with one of the selling points being that it exposes the leagues to new potential fans. Unlike some other streamers, it also shares customer data, allowing the leagues to “own” their fans without funding and managing their own tech product.
“Operating within an independent single sport ecosystem is difficult, and I think that’s one of the things both the NFL and NHL recognise,” Berlinski added.
“It is easier to be able to find your die-hard fans within that environment, people who are seeking out and know they want to watch EPL [English Premier League]. But if you’re, if you’re interested in continuing to grow that audience and attract new fans, doing that within an individual, independent ecosystem is quite difficult, absent spending significant marketing dollars.
“The EPL is one of the top leagues in the world, and I have no doubt that they could build a scaled direct-to-consumer presence around the world. And if that’s what they want to do, then all power to them, obviously, but I think there are probably ways for leagues to more effectively grow their audiences and get some of the same benefits.”
NFL Game Pass subs up 24 per cent on Dazn
Dazn has hailed the success of its partnership on the NFL Game Pass app, this week announcing a 24 per cent year-on-year increase in subscribers to the product via its platform.
International viewers via Dazn, and the NFL’s global appeal, also benefit from the streamer producing localised Spanish, Portuguese, German, French and Japanese-language content.
“We’re actually seeing higher growth from a localisation perspective, in terms of viewership, than than overall. And so I think that’s a big driving factor,” Berlinski said.
“One of the big benefits of sitting on our platform, and one of the core reasons, I think, the NFL decided to move from being an independent app that they operated themselves historically onto Dazn is the broader scale of our platform and our ability to then introduce new fans to the content and to the league and bring them along that fandom curve.”