Three things to know about the British platform DAZN, the “Netflix of sport” which will broadcast 8 out of 9 championship matches

Qatari channel beIN Sports and DAZN will broadcast Ligue 1 matches until 2029. Viewers will therefore discover the British platform, which has won its first major rights in France.

We finally know the broadcasters of Ligue 1. Meeting on Sunday, July 14, the club presidents decided to award the TV rights to the DAZN and beIN Sports channels for the next five seasons. The Qatari channel, which will broadcast one match per day, has been known to the French public for more than ten years. It will be accompanied by the British platform DAZN, which paid nearly 400 million euros to broadcast 8 matches out of 9 on each day of the championship. Football fans will therefore discover this digital giant, which presents itself as the only global sports streaming platform. Ligue 1 will thus recover 500 million euros per season, until 2029.

A platform well established in Italy, Spain or Germany

DAZN is a pure product of the sports streaming sector. Launched in London only nine years ago, the platform calls itself “the Netflix of sports”. Access Industries, its parent company, has invested in Snapchat, Spotify and Deezer. DAZN broadcasts sports in more than 200 countries, including Serie A in Italy, La Liga in Spain and the Bundesliga in Germany. This international presence is reassuring. Especially since to overcome the reluctance of Italian clubs, the platform did not hesitate tocommit to paying them 50% of its revenues when they exceed 750 million euros per season. DAZN wants to be a global platform, with a bonline illiteracy, the sale of derivative products or sports betting.

Almost unknown but present in France, a subscription price to be defined

The British broadcaster is little known in France, yet it already broadcast French sports: D1 Arkéma and the Women’s Football Champions League, or the PFL, an MMA (mixed martial arts) league competing with the UFC. DAZN also acquired, at the beginning of July, the rights to broadcast the Betclic Elite, the first division of men’s basketball, until 2029.

The challenge for the British platform will now be to recruit a significant number of subscribers to recoup the 400 million euros invested in Ligue 1. Contacted, DAZN did not communicate the amount of its subscription. Several media outlets, including The Teamare talking about an amount between 30 and 40 euros per month per subscriber, which has not been confirmed at this time.

The “security” solution for clubs, with “guaranteed liquidity”

While a good number of clubs such as Lille, Monaco, Lens and Lyon were still in favour of launching a 100% Ligue 1 channel a few days ago, the presidents finally unanimously supported the offer presented by beIN Sports and DAZN. “We were conservative, we played it safe”This is what a major French football executive told franceinfo about the beIN Sports and DAZN ticket. “The advantage of this option is to have guaranteed and assured liquidity, if we respect the contract, until 2029analyzes Pierre Rondeau, sports economist. We have certainties: 500 million euros agreed by contract.”

DAZN’s success in France is however uncertain: will the platform succeed in attracting enough subscribers? Is there a risk of a new “crash” similar to that of Mediapro, which threw in the towel after only a few months? Faced with these questions, the League is negotiating with the British platform an exit clause in two years, in 2026, if the experiment proves unsuccessful.