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- DAZN’s Peter Parmenter says media company is planning to integrate offerings “all into one service”
- Sports subscriptions to remain DAZN’s “foundation” for the foreseeable future
- Service also expects to make further women’s sports rights acquisitions
Sports streaming subscription specialist DAZN will increase its efforts to build out ancillary revenue streams as part of plans to eventually create an all-in-one service for its subscribers.
Speaking at the SportsPro OTT Summit 2021, Peter Parmenter, DAZN’s senior vice president, business development, said the service would be targeting a number of areas to complement its subscription model.
“We’ve gone out on record and said that we’re going to build ancillary revenue streams,” said Parmenter. “Whether that be advertising, whether that be betting, whether that be ecommerce, but doing it in a really fun and engaging way, where you can integrate these all into one service, I think is an opportunity and I think our fans tell us is what they want to see.”
DAZN effectively signaled its intension to expand its income sources when it announced the appointment of gambling giant Entain’s Shay Segev to sit alongside James Rushton as co-chief executive.
Though DAZN cited Segev’s background in technology and digital transformation as the key reasons for the appointment, his role as chief executive of Entain is particularly significant given the increasing prevalence of sports betting in the US.
According to Ark Invest, the US sports betting market will hit US$37 billion by 2025 – a significant jump from the current US$9.5 billion value. A study from Zion Market Research also showed that the global sports betting industry gathered revenue of about US$131.1 billion during 2020 and is slated to earn approximately US$179.3 billion during 2028.
Despite the broad plans, Parmenter added that DAZN’s sport subscription content will remain the primary focus for the moment, but would serve as one of several pillars for the service’s offering further down the line.
“The subscription part of our business will be the foundation of our business for a long, long time to come,” said Parmenter. “It’s all of these services that we’re building around the live broadcast and the rights that we have on the platform is the strategy moving forward.”
During his session at this year’s SportsPro OTT Summit, Parmenter also discussed DAZN’s four-year global rights deal for the Uefa Women’s Champions League, which includes a distribution arrangement with YouTube for Europe’s elite women’s club soccer competition. It is a contract that could mark further moves into the women’s sports rights space
“We’ve got an opportunity to grow the sport here and the ripple effect that comes from that… more leads to more. More fans, more engagement, more rights, better viewership, more subscribers. All of that sort of thing comes out of that,” Parmenter said. “And, absolutely, it is a huge opportunity and it’s just good business to be in women’s sport.”
He added: “We are open for business in the women’s sport arena, for sure.
“Our ears are open. We are not a football broadcaster. We are a multi-sport broadcaster in multiple markets. If there are opportunities to bring engaging sports to all of our fans around the world, let’s have that conversation.”
