Next in Media talked to Walker Jacobs, Global Chief Revenue Officer and President of the US at DAZN, about the company's ambitious summer launching the FIFA Club World Cup as a global streaming event, lessons learned from managing 90,000+ live events annually, and what YouTube might face with their first NFL broadcast. Jacobs discussed DAZN's role as the world's largest sports streaming service, their partnerships with major leagues like the NFL and NHL for international distribution, and how they successfully executed the most complex live streaming event in the company's history. He also shared insights from his time at Amazon launching Thursday Night Football exclusively on Prime Video, the challenges of entering established sports advertising markets, and DAZN's plans for original programming and US market expansion.
🔖Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction and DAZN Overview
01:12 - DAZN's Global Sports Streaming Scale
03:58 - Creating the FIFA Club World Cup Tournament
07:43 - Managing Complex Global Live Streaming
14:26 - The State of Sports and Streaming Industry
18:40 - Lessons from Amazon's Thursday Night Football Launch
27:30 - DAZN's US Growth Strategy and Original Content
💡Takeaways:
🌍 DAZN operates as the world's largest sports streaming service, handling over 90,000 live events annually across 200+ countries and territories.
⚽ The FIFA Club World Cup represented the most ambitious global streaming project ever attempted, featuring 64 matches in 13 languages across 196 countries with just six months of preparation time.
🤝 Strategic partnerships with linear broadcasters like TNT Sports and Univision helped maximize reach while building the DAZN brand in new markets.
📺 80 of the top 100 broadcasts in 2024 were live sports, highlighting the critical importance of sports content for both traditional and streaming platforms.
🎯 When entering established sports advertising markets, new streaming platforms should focus on "not screwing up" the basics before attempting to revolutionize the experience.
📱 DAZN is integrating its Whistle Sports original content division with its live streaming platform, creating DAZN Originals that will be exclusive initially before going wide.
🏈 The company is expanding its US footprint beyond boxing with Spanish-language soccer rights and new NFL-themed original programming.
🚀 Success in global sports streaming requires massive technical preparation, with CDN capacity planning and platform stability being critical for simultaneous worldwide viewership.
Follow Walker Jacobs: https://linkedin.com/in/walkerjacobs DAZN: https://dazn.com