Blog: endeavor

DAZN, the anointed ‘Netflix of Sport’, has announced plans to resume launching its services globally via a beta service covering boxing bouts In July and August, for users who have registered their interest, free of charge, ahead of DAZN’s revamped imminent global rollout.

Just a couple of months ago Endeavor was on its journey of building a true cross-entertainment conglomerate. Endeavor recognised a long time ago the synergies which can be achieved from cross-entertainment partnerships and bet heavily on this for its future evolution.

The NBA is the third highest grossing league globally, generating $7.4 billion in 2017, behind domestic rivals MLB and NFL. Whereas the MLB and NFL have largely struggled to entice a truly global following, the NBA have become synonymous with Chinese sports fans, and offers a template for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to grow its international fanbase.

Disney announced in its Q1 earnings call on Tuesday that its sports-centric streaming service ESPN+ had surpassed two million subscribers, doubling its subscriber base in less than five months. Launched in April 2018 , Disney revealed in September 2018 that it had taken less than five months to surpass one million subscribers .

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debuted on ESPN+ this past weekend, featuring the highly touted championship fight, which saw Henry Cejudo knockout current Bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw in just 32 seconds to retain his Flyweight title.

Eleven Sports, the insurgent subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, is considering closing its operations in the UK and Ireland after failing to secure distribution via traditional TV operators. Failure to attract enough subscribers onto its platform since its launch has only increased doubts over the financial viability of the service.

Last week, Disney-owned ESPN acquired the exclusive rights to show the UFC tournament in the US for $1.5 billion over five years. The deal will see the UFC earn $184 million more each year than the previous deal with Fox, which begs the question; is the UFC mimicking Fox’s strategy and cashing in on its content? While Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG), which purchased the UFC for $4 billion in 2016, was seeking in the region of $450 million per year, UFC president Dana White is ecstatic with the new deal, telling MMAJunkie: “Our last deal was $116 million a year.