DAZN Secures Sublicense Deal With ITV
Sports entertainment company DAZN has cut a deal with UK terrestrial broadcaster ITV to show the UEFA Women’s Champions League final between Barcelona and Lyon final at Turin’s Juventus Stadium.
The deal will see DAZN sublicense the final on 21st May. DAZN is currently at the end of year one of a four-year deal to broadcast the competition, having shown all matches for free on YouTube in a landmark deal for the sport, marking the first time that UEFA has centralised all Women’s Champions League matches globally.
Despite the final being broadcast on YouTube, DAZN is said to want increased exposure for the competition and views ITV as an ideal partner for this.
DAZN’s deal with YouTube has proved to be a huge success. Across 60 matches, the broadcaster has recorded 55.9m views, while the semi-final between Barcelona and Real Madrid peaked at 1.8m live viewers.
The deals with free-to-air broadcasters are not limited to the UK and Ireland. DAZN has also confirmed agreements with TF1 in France, RTVE and TV3 in Spain, RTBF in Belgium, SVT Sweden, plus NRK Norway, Sport5 Israel and RUV Iceland, with further deals to be closed in the coming days.
DAZN is preparing for multinational interest by producing ten separate language commentary feeds for each of those partner broadcasters. Languages will include including English, French, Spanish, Catalan, German, Portuguese, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic.
Shay Segev, DAZN Chief Executive, said, “Securing major terrestrial TV agreements for this momentous final underlines our commitment to increasing visibility of the competition, this epic clash of two world-leading clubs, and also importantly, growing women’s football overall. We are proud of our long-term commitment to contributing towards its global growth – increasing visibility of and access to women’s sport is critical to driving bigger audiences and creating fans and, ultimately, to eliminating the disparity in investment and coverage of women’s and men’s sports.”
Notable DAZN on-air talent will include pro superstar Lianne Sanderson, Arsenal legend Ian Wright, celebrated commentator Lucy Ward, and PSG midfielder and Olympic gold medalist Ashley Lawrence for the English broadcast; Spain’s all-time leading goalscorer Veronica Boquete for the Spanish feed; and retired footballer and current Secretary General of the French Football Federation Laura Georges and former Lyon star Louisa Necib Cadamuro for the French.
