The DAZN platform has just signed a distribution agreement with Bouygues Telecom and was already linked to Canal+. It is also a candidate for the call for tenders for Ligue 1 rights.
Bouygues Telecom customers can subscribe to DAZN from their box today. It costs 14.99 euros per month, with a one-month free trial. For Canal+ customers, DAZN is included in the “sport” offer, which gives it great visibility. And the agreement concluded this summer between the two groups allows the platform to co-broadcast two Ligue 1 matches each weekend.
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DAZN must also try to convince Orange, Free and SFR, but the brand is gradually establishing itself in the audiovisual landscape, three years after its launch in France. It could even, in a few days, become a major player in football by winning the broadcast rights to the French championship for the period 2024-2029. We know that Canal+ did not apply. Response within a week.
A platform already specialized in sport
DAZN is a streaming service which is, for the moment, mainly specialized in combat sports such as boxing or MMA, but it has been diversifying for some time. Its French catalog includes American football, the Women’s Champions League, sailing and triathlon. This is much more significant abroad, where DAZN has won prestigious rights such as the German, Spanish and Italian football championships. It is therefore quite natural that it is positioning itself to become the broadcaster of Ligue 1.
It remains to be seen whether DAZN has the means to achieve its ambitions. Above all, we should not repeat the Mediapro rout, this group which won the rights to French football in 2018 before going bankrupt and not honoring its debt. DAZN has lost six billion euros since its creation seven years ago. A sum which could be explained by massive investments in the digital technology of the platform. Her boss assures that it will be profitable next year.
But should we believe it? Either way, to make money, it will either have to have many more subscribers or raise its prices sharply, as it has done elsewhere in Europe.