Dazn Group, a leading global sports media platform, has signed a contract to acquire The ELEVEN Group and Team Whistle. The agreement strengthens DAZN’s live sports streaming capabilities and positions it as a world leader in the rapidly developing industry.
This move comes with three advantages for this sports media.
With the acquisition of Eleven Sports and Team Whistle, the company will achieve its goals of expanding its geographic reach, launching a new social media revenue stream, and securing more football rights.
Advantages of the Sports media acquisition
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New Geographical Reach through Eleven sports media
In particular, this will allow Dazn to supplement its strengths in Italy and Spain by airing top-flight matches in Belgium and Portugal. The agreement also grants Dazn access to Taiwan and other South East Asian countries.
Marc Watson, the CEO of Eleven Group, said, “We believe Dazn to be the future of digital sports broadcasting and to be Eleven’s ideal home. Joining Dazn will revolutionize our ability to access more significant economies of scale and provide our exceptional team with a worldwide platform because sport is a universal form of entertainment.”
2. Expanded audience and increased social media revenue
Dazn will also increase interaction with younger audiences by bringing Team Whistle into the mix to position the firm as the go-to social media agency for football sponsors. Kevin Mayer, the company’s chairman, explained, “Team Whistle is a growing company with a track record of monetizing short-form video. It will be of immeasurable use to Dazn as we strive to maximize the value of our outstanding rights portfolio, developing new content formats to engage new audiences and produce robust supplemental revenue streams.”
3. More Football Rights
With over 90 Fifa member associations, the agreement dramatically expands Dazn’s rights portfolio and annually encompasses fewer than 40,000 live-streamed football matches.
Through a strategic partnership, ELEVEN supports the production, delivery, and distribution of live games from more than 90 FIFA Member Associations through FIFA+, the OTT service provided by FIFA. The businesses will unite to give the world’s most extensive women’s football content portfolio. In addition to the UEFA Women’s Champions League, Liga F in Spain, the English FA Women’s Super League and the Women’s FA Cup, and the Japanese WE League on DAZN, ELEVEN offers women’s content from all six confederations.
The agreement boosts DAZN Group’s income by approximately $300 million annually.
DAZN Group CEO Shay Segev said: “The acquisition increases our company’s scale. In our quest to become the premier sports platform on the planet, it is a significant advancement. I admire what Andrea, Marc, and the team have accomplished greatly and am eager to collaborate with them as we pursue our goals in further detail. Together, we make the most capable and strong management team in the industry. Fans can access the complete spectrum of interactive sports entertainment thanks to the investment that DAZN has made in creating a ground-breaking digital sports platform. In addition to utilizing ELEVEN’s skills in DAZN, we are eager to expand these capabilities into additional areas.”
Eleven Group’s CEO, Marc Watson, stated: “We believe that ELEVEN belongs on DAZN, which is also the future of digital sports broadcasting. Sport is a universal form of entertainment, and our partnership with DAZN will be revolutionary because it will provide us access to larger economies of scale and give our talented team a worldwide platform. We are beyond thrilled about this agreement, and I am forward to collaborate with Shay and the DAZN team.”
The new executive director
Once the acquisition is complete, ELEVEN founder Andrea Radrizzani will become an executive director on the DAZN board and promote the growth of the DAZN Group.
ELEVEN, a sports media platform founded in 2015, broadcasted over 65,000 hours of live programming in the previous year, providing fans with top-notch enjoyment. The best live and non-live material is available to fans around-the-clock from the most significant sporting events in the world to the best local sports and award-winning original programming across the ELEVEN Group.
Sports enthusiasts are quickly making DAZN their daily stop as a global digital platform for sports entertainment. But DAZN’s goals extend beyond broadcasting to becoming a one-stop shop for all of a sports fan’s needs. DAZN’s customers will soon be able to purchase sporting NFTs, tickets, apparel, read, listen to, play sports-related games and watch live and on-demand sports.
The transaction is still undergoing an anti-trust assessment, so the completion date is currently undetermined.
