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Start Date
25-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
25-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
One of the biggest streaming rights deals occurred in the summer of 2021: for the first time in the tournament’s history, UEFA’s Women’s Champions League (UWCL) rights would be centralized instead of fragmented for most of the global regions, and the streaming sports upstart DAZN acquired the rights through 2025. In addition to the unprecedented global reach, the only exceptions being China and the Middle East and North Africa, the new rights holder announced that live streams of games would all be available for free through YouTube through the 2023 season. DANZ created a dedicated YouTube account specifically for the league, which included different live streams for each game in multiple languages, and promoted it heavily through social media. This is not the first time that free streaming access has been used to try to grow a league, but DAZN’s strategy is notable for its global reach and its position at an inflection point for women’s soccer. I argue that DAZN’s strategies of access savvily engage the established fanbase of women’s soccer to promote the sport and specifically the impressive level of play among UWCL teams. Moreover, the strategy of free streaming aligns with the growth of free ad-based streaming options across the streaming landscape as subscription options have exceeded the amount of money viewers are willing to pay. In these ways, DAZN is utilizing an older mode of distribution (free and on YouTube) while simultaneously indicating the long-term value and forward-looking strategies for global women’s soccer.
Free, Multilingual, and Employing Experts: DAZN’s YouTube Distribution of UEFA Women’s Champions League to Meet Women's Soccer Fanbase Expectations
One of the biggest streaming rights deals occurred in the summer of 2021: for the first time in the tournament’s history, UEFA’s Women’s Champions League (UWCL) rights would be centralized instead of fragmented for most of the global regions, and the streaming sports upstart DAZN acquired the rights through 2025. In addition to the unprecedented global reach, the only exceptions being China and the Middle East and North Africa, the new rights holder announced that live streams of games would all be available for free through YouTube through the 2023 season. DANZ created a dedicated YouTube account specifically for the league, which included different live streams for each game in multiple languages, and promoted it heavily through social media. This is not the first time that free streaming access has been used to try to grow a league, but DAZN’s strategy is notable for its global reach and its position at an inflection point for women’s soccer. I argue that DAZN’s strategies of access savvily engage the established fanbase of women’s soccer to promote the sport and specifically the impressive level of play among UWCL teams. Moreover, the strategy of free streaming aligns with the growth of free ad-based streaming options across the streaming landscape as subscription options have exceeded the amount of money viewers are willing to pay. In these ways, DAZN is utilizing an older mode of distribution (free and on YouTube) while simultaneously indicating the long-term value and forward-looking strategies for global women’s soccer.
Bio
Charlotte E. Howell earned her MA and PhD from the department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas-Austin. Her areas of specialization include: television studies, media industry studies, genre studies, and fan studies. Her book, Divine Programming (Oxford, 2020) examines how Christianity is used in prime-time American dramas and their production cultures from 1996-2016. Her current research focuses on media industry framing of soccer for American television.