Sports streaming subscription service, DAZN, has announced plans to launch its platform globally for prospective consumers next week.
This was disclosed by Joe Markowski, Executive Vice President DAZN Global, in an exclusive interview with Completesports.com via zoom.
Markowski who expressed his delight about the launch, explained what DAZN is about and how long they’ve been around.
“I’m very excited to be announcing our global platform launch next week and this gives me the opportunity to introduce what we’ve been building for the last five years to a global audience.
“DAZN is a sport streaming subscription service. We operate on a monthly subscription model and we broadcast content around the world in different countries and all different types of sports.
“When we entered the United States we made a major investment in boxing. We are launching our global platform leveraging in existing investment, we see a huge opportunity to accelerate our growth by launching a global platform.
“We have boxing content we own globally and we are ready with our platform on Tuesday next week ahead of a major schedule. So our strategy is to offer no pay barrier for sport fans going in and consuming sport contents.”
Markowski also pointed out that for now DAZN is not focusing on any country for the launch rather they plan to see where their services will be well accepted before eventually investing there.
He added: “We are not launching in any specific country right now, but we are launching an architectural platform globally which will allow us to quickly grow the market that spike our interest in the future.
“We see a long list of countries with enormous potential that include several African countries, several European and Asian markets too.
“Companies like Amazon, Sportify, Netflix have established healthy business here and a lot of hard work have been done by these companies who have come before us, so what we will do is launch an initial offer of content globally next week.
“One of the benefit of us doing that is to learn about individual countries, about consumer behaviour, how easy it is for us to interact, which market embraces our service more than others and that will allow us to shape our future investment strategy and entry.
“I hope for several opportunities for Nigeria, and if we are successful in this initial launch, we see an interest and spike from Nigerian consumers particularly the Anthony Joshua fight on December 12, that would allow us to say it make sense to invest in Nigeria because I look at the population the passion the population have for sport which are two major indicators we will be successful investing in Nigeria long term.”
And on the impact of coronavirus pandemic and how it could affect plans in the long term, Markowski said:” Like many industries and for those of us that rely on live sporting event to make our business, it has been really a hard year. It has been a significant challenge for our industry. But what I would say is Covid-19 has accelerated trends that were already happening and has brought about change quicker than otherwise.
“We are emerging in a far stronger position and we have made tough decisions, we have to work very hard and we have worked with partners with open minds and creative approach and that has allowed us to make some changes.
“Three things standout with me, we have increased our focus on customer experience, we’ve agreed a strategy to launch our global platform and super-charge our growth longer term. We’ve used the time wisely and we’ve cone through it and I can say we are back in a healthy position and back in growth mode so we will be in a good place at the end of the year.”
DAZN also aptly introduced itself on their official website thus: “DAZN is a ground-breaking live and on demand sports streaming service, giving sports fans the control and flexibility to watch their sports, their way. You don’t need a cable or satellite dish to watch it, so the setup is quick and simple. You can download the DAZN app and watch on multiple devices at home or on the go, all for an affordable price. It’s about putting sports fans first.”
By James Agberebi
