DAZN Removes Paywall
Sports and entertainment streaming platform Dazn has removed its paywall from all live women’s football matches as it aims to encourage growth and investment.
A campaign named ‘New Deal’ has been launched to help boost investment, make the women’s game more sustainable, and ‘prompt stakeholders in the women’s game to think big in terms of their commitment to its growth.’
As part of the campaign, Dazn, who own the rights to the UEFA Women’s Champions League, LigaF, Serie A women’s, Saudi Premier League, Frauen Bundesliga, and more, will remove its paywall to allow viewers to access the competitions for free.
Therefore, all remaining Women’s Champions league matches and over 150 league matches will be available free-to-air in the UK.
Hannah Brown, Co-Chief Executive of Women’s Sport at Dazn, said, “The decision marries with the broader commitment to the launch of free. So, we announced this year what we’re going to be doing around ‘freemium’ content, and women’s football sits as part of that strategy. For us as a business it’s the growth of a really important asset and about building a first-party relationship with customers on a global basis.”
Last year, Dazn made the UEFA Women’s Champions league free-to-air on YouTube with a plan to put it back behind a paywall after two years. However, this plan was scrapped in November.
“What we see in women’s football is if you put a paywall up, there is a small proportion of people that are prepared to pay for it. But women’s football fans don’t exhibit those strong pay‑TV characteristics that we’ve seen around premium football in domestic markets, where you see customers make a real pay choice in order to interact with something. Women’s football fans are just not there yet.”
“In terms of assets and capability, this is a once in a generational investment opportunity. I don’t think there’s any other sport asset class that is as exciting as women’s football. And the struggles the game has been through to get to where it is at today means that the bedrock of support it has is going to be very hard for anybody to pull back from.”
Esmeralda Negron, Co-Chief Executive Officer of women’s sport at DAZN, said, “We are committed to fostering and cultivating fandom for women’s football.”
“Women’s football needs investment to realise its potential – developing a first-party relationship with fans across all demographics to scale its audience and become commercially viable”.
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