Dazn set to unveil subscription featuring all pay-per-view events
Dazn will next month announce full details of its new premium subscription product which will include all pay-per-view events.
The UK-based global sports streaming platform believes it will offer value for money to viewers who buy many of its PPV boxing shows while increasing viewership across those top-tier events, which number around 15 annually.
“We will be launching a new product in November for pay-per-view,” Dazn’s Pete Oliver told City PM. “We haven’t given all the details yet, but there will be an option for customers to buy a subscription which gives them access to all the pay-per-views included.
“We think it’s important because we’re seeing more and more big fights coming. Obviously, it’s a bit of a barrier for people that they have to buy those fights as a standalone pay-per-view and so we want to give people the option to take it on a different basis.
“We haven’t announced pricing yet, but we’re going to price it at a level that’s very good value for customers. We think that’s good for fans. It’s also good for the boxing promoters, because it will increase the viewership of the fights.”
The move follows pressure on the PPV model after influential Saudi sports promoter Turki Alalshikh declared in July that he had agreed with Dazn that no boxing under his Riyadh Season brand would be on PPV from November onwards.
NHL joins NFL and FIBA bolt-on passes on Dazn
It also comes as Dazn continues to diversify by adding more bolt-on passes to its platform. Last month it announced NHL.TV would be joining NFL Game Pass and Fiba’s Courtside 1891 basketball offering on the app.
“It’s a business model that’s quite different to traditional broadcasting,” says Oliver, CEO of growth markets. “We work with the rights holders, partly on a profit share basis, so we’re real partners. It’s their streaming service but it’s on our platform so it’s a shared service.
“We think it’s a really good model for the leagues and for fans. If you take US sports as an example, you can now get NFL Game Pass on Dazn. You get NHL. You can actually get college football as well. We’ve got more coming.
“So as we move into this more digital world, it’s making it easier for fans to find the content they want. I think Dazn is quite unique, because although people like Amazon are doing some of this, mainly with the NBA, we’re the only platform that’s truly global at the moment with live sports.”
Dazn says it has doubled the NFL Game Pass customer base in the two and a half years since the partnership began, as well as helping to develop new product features, such as a multi-screen option that allows viewers to watch four games simultaneously.
With PPV events set to be wrapped up in a premium subscription and more bolt-ons on the horizon, Oliver confirmed Dazn was “looking at” one mega-pass incorporating access to all content on its platform.
“It’s something we’d like to do for American sports. You’ve obviously got to work out with all the sports rights holders to make sure that they’re getting their share of the money. But I think bundled subscriptions is something you’ll see more about,” he says.
“Whether we’ll get to one mega-pass or not, I don’t know. But of course, in many countries, Dazn does offer a subscription with multiple sports in it. We’re trying to make it as flexible as possible in different ways for customers to buy.”