Premier League+ Direct Streaming Model Could Impede Global Fan Growth, Warns Dazn Strategy Chief
The Premier League's decision to launch its own dedicated streaming service, Premier League+, in Singapore next season represents a bold experiment in direct-to-consumer broadcasting. However, a senior executive at global sports streamer Dazn has cautioned that this approach could potentially hinder the acquisition of new fans if implemented on a worldwide scale.
Singapore Launch Marks Strategic Testing Ground
Premier League+ is scheduled to debut in Singapore for the upcoming football season, offering all 380 matches live through a dedicated application. This move represents a significant departure from the traditional media rights model that has established England's top football division as the wealthiest and most powerful domestic competition globally.
Zander Berlinski, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Dazn, acknowledged the strategic wisdom behind this experimentation. "It's smart for leagues to be experimenting on this," Berlinski told City AM. "They're doing it in an important market, but it's not their largest. And so it'll be interesting to see what learnings they have from that, and how that might affect some of their larger markets."
Multi-Platform Approach Recommended for Audience Expansion
Berlinski emphasized the complexity of operating a live sport, direct-to-consumer service and advocated for a multi-platform strategy similar to that employed by major American sports organizations. The National Football League and National Basketball Association maintain their own direct-to-consumer products while simultaneously distributing content across various platforms including free-to-air television, pay TV, subscription streaming services, and YouTube.
"My view, both from a consumer but also a league point of view, is that having those as part of larger ecosystems who live and breathe that day in and day out is the better approach," Berlinski explained. "Operating within an independent single sport ecosystem is difficult."
Partnership Benefits for Fan Discovery and Data Ownership
Dazn has established successful partnerships with both the NFL and National Hockey League, hosting their direct-to-consumer products on its platform. These collaborations provide significant advantages for fan discovery, as Dazn exposes these leagues to potential new audiences who might not otherwise seek out their content.
Unlike some competing streaming services, Dazn shares valuable customer data with its partner leagues, enabling them to effectively "own" their fan relationships without the substantial financial and technical burdens of developing and maintaining proprietary streaming technology.
"If you're interested in continuing to grow that audience and attract new fans, doing that within an individual, independent ecosystem is quite difficult, absent spending significant marketing dollars," Berlinski noted.
Localization and Platform Scale Drive International Growth
The success of Dazn's partnership model is evident in the 24 percent year-over-year subscriber growth for NFL Game Pass on its platform. This expansion is partly attributed to Dazn's production of localized content in Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, and Japanese languages, catering to international audiences.
"We're actually seeing higher growth from a localization perspective, in terms of viewership, than overall," Berlinski revealed. "One of the big benefits of sitting on our platform, and one of the core reasons the NFL decided to move from being an independent app that they operated themselves historically onto Dazn is the broader scale of our platform and our ability to then introduce new fans to the content and to the league."
While acknowledging the Premier League's capability to establish a scaled direct-to-consumer presence worldwide, Berlinski suggested that alternative approaches might offer more effective audience growth strategies while delivering similar benefits to the league.
