What is DAZN, the “Netflix of sports” which will broadcast Ligue 1 football until 2026? – Independence

2024-07-15 14:21:31

With beIN Sports, the British sports streaming service DAZN has won the TV rights to the French first division at least for the next two seasons. Almost unknown in France, the platform has been established there for three years.

Black screen is avoided. By pushing for a broadcasting contract in the season 2024-2029 during the meeting of the board of the Professional Football League (LFP) on Sunday July 14, the presidents of Ligue 1 threw themselves into a new awkward crash, by accepting sports beIN and DAZN in benefit from the national television rights to the nine weekly matches of the French first division. The first will benefit from the largest poster of each day, the second should be spread over the other eight matches.

However, if on the one hand the bouquet of sports channels held by Doha has played an important role in French football for more than ten years, on the other hand the London platform is the new kid on the block.

Greater ambitions

To be “locally based”, or “local” in overseas phonetics. A reference to the “flow” state, or “zone”, the feeling of fullness felt by certain athletes at the peak of their performance. DAZN is a subscription streaming platform, born in England in July 2015 in the offices of the sports site Sporting News. The brand is owned by the media group Perform, whose majority shareholder is the American investment company Access Industries (Warner music, Deezer), owned by the American-British multi-billionaire Len Blavatnik. Commonly called the “Netflix of sports”, DAZN offers a variety of live sports and on-demand sports events, for a price from 5 to 15 euros per month.

Since its inception, the platform has also sought to copy its big sister in another niche: to export immediately and widely throughout the world. First launched in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Japan in 2016, its operations then conquered North America (Canada in 2017, the United States in 2018), before expanding to Europe (Italy in 2018, Spain in 2019), in South America (Brazil in 2019), and finally in France (and in 200 other countries) at the end of 2020, or even in Belgium last year.

The decision is clear for the company and its CEO, Shay Segev: to become a single platform that will bring together all the multi-broadcasting rights for the broadcasting of different sports in all the countries of the world. According to the media Guidelinesas of March 2020, DAZN has 8 million paying subscribers.

a billion dollars in entertainment rights per year

The single platform strategy is particularly well suited to the French situation. Indeed, the growth of sports broadcasters has led to the fragmentation of the market. Canal +, beIN Sports, NBA Pass, Eurosport, Channel l’Equipe, Amazon, and even documentaries on Netflix… The opportunity to appear like a big fish swimming above the others is great, even if the competition is tough.

The platform catalog varies depending on the country, but all include the most popular sports: football, boxing, MMA, other combat sports, American football (NFL), etc. In Canada, the offerings include tennis, baseball and rugby , and the Italians have the right to MotoGP. According to BFM TV, DAZN reportedly spends more than $1 billion a year on sports rights. The company plans to continue diversifying its offerings in the future.

In France, the process of small steps

In France, DAZN is launching mine in 2020, first with a handful of tournaments in the offer starting at two euros per month. But a few months after his arrival, in February 2021, the platform took advantage of the Mediapro fiasco and applied to the LFP to get the rights to Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. The project was not successful, Canal + made a bet, but the event as a possible interlocutor for the League.

Also from May 2020, DAZN and YouTube receive from UEFA the broadcast of the Women’s Champions League until 2025, in addition to its world credit. In addition, in August 2023, a “distribution partnership” with Canal + allows for the transmission of two Ligue 1 posters each day. In exchange, DAZN cooperates – Always like that – the supply of “entertainment” from Canal, which has been important in recent years in partnership agreements with streaming companies (Netflix, OCS, Max, Warner, etc.).

As the new candidate after the ambitious call for mandates from the LFP in September 2023, DAZN first struggled to convince the cautious and skeptical French football authorities. Playing on the capital of the Income Companies, he strengthened his proposal and his recommendations, and will have promised to pay 350 million euros to the teams from the next season, instead of 300 million in first promised.

At the end of the contract in 2029, the agreement provides for 500 million euros in national rights, to which we add 160 million in international rights, and 40 million for Ligue 2. A jackpot of 700 million euros annually to be divided between the league and the clubs, enough to put an end to negotiations. The club bosses are also convinced by the possibility to leave the contract after two years thanks to an exit clause that can be activated from 2026.

For French viewers who do not subscribe to Canal + the sun, the price of access to DAZN content can be at least double compared to the current offer – monthly subscription at 14.99 euros or annual subscription at 9.99 euros per month. According to information from RMC Sports, the price includes eight L1 matches “between 30 and 35 euros, or even 40 euros per month”. The team improve subscription 34 euros. The figures of DAZN have not been confirmed, which has to first receive the rights before the end of a new offer.