Dazn unites OTT, social & VOD football deals to 'rival' club and league offerings
Dazn Media has united the group's football media assets for the first time, meaning that advertisers can make a splash around major football events across OTT, social and VOD.
Dazn Media hopes united football ad package will compete with mainstream sponsorships
This centralised sponsorship package, it claims, can reach as much 400 million fans across Goal, sponsorship of VOD on Dazn and Goal’s YouTube channels, and the Dazn Player video network which also sits on third-party sites like Mail Online, MSN and Kicker.de.
Dazn Media's increasingly courting advertisers across its vast sports empire, increasingly it is positioning as a creative solution with an understanding of social football fandoms to these brands entering its ecosystem. Since its 2018 restructure from Perform Group, it has been looking to unify these products into a single point of purchase.
Kim Parker, vice president of activation at Dazn Media, told The Drum that it has taken some time to unite the products.
"One of the key strengths is our ability to reach a mass audience through our global platforms, but with fan-targeted capabilities." Most recently, this was bolstered with the growth of the Dazn OTT service's ad product. "We can reach fans at every stage of their content journey, including pre, during and post-event."
Brands like New Balance, Nissan and Santander helped inform the group's development of its global football package, "it is an attractive proposition and delivers greater value for brands".
Dazn is positioning the product as an alternative to traditional club or league sponsorships that "are not always available or may not necessarily represent the best value". We've seen recently that Chelsea FC is opening up to shorter-term deals, showing that space at the top teams could be freed up in the coming years without clashing with long-term partners.
Parker is on the hunt for brands keen to align with premium football. He anticipates more spend from food delivery, electric cars, FX Trading and the tech unicorns in the coming years.
"We’re also seeing brands from key growth markets investing more heavily in football, as well as the more traditional brands, who could either see this as a platform to activate their current sponsorships or as an alternative to their sponsorship."
"With the introduction of advertising on Dazn, we’ve seen brands such as Volkswagen are advertising on Dazn in multiple markets and now we can now combine all of our media assets to provide more flexible, creative and contextual ways of integrating a brand into our global media network."
Currently, this package focused only on football but boxing, tennis, and motorsports are next on the slate. Parker concluded: "We are constantly looking to work with brands in more integrated and creative ways."
Stefano D’Anna, executive vice president of media at Dazn Group said: “We feel this is a step-change in how brands can align with premium football and target fans. It’s a package that will rival any mainstream football sponsorship.
“Football content consumption is fragmenting and reaching modern digital audiences is getting harder and harder. By aggregating our assets, we can offer a brand the best global football with localised relevance. All underpinned by digital targeting, delivery and reporting that ensures accountability and limits wastage.”
In select markets, Dazn's rights include more than 95 leagues and competitions, including the Premier League, Uefa Champions League, FA Cup, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1, Copa del Rey, and more.