DAZN, the global sports streaming subscription service, is increasing its presence in 2020, with the OTT platform set to expand its offering to more than 200 countries and territories.
This first phase of DAZN’s global expansion will be an English-language service focused on boxing. The first global event on DAZN will be Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez soon-to-be-announced fight during Cinco de Mayo Weekend, which will take place on 2 May.
DAZN currently holds international rights to many of the world’s top promotional companies including Golden Boy Promotions, Matchroom Boxing USA and GGG Promotions, with the news of Alvarez’s fight set to build on the company’s significant investment in boxing over the past two years.
John Skipper, DAZN Group Executive Chairman, stated: “Beginning this spring, most of the world will have access to DAZN and its unmatched schedule of boxing events. Our roster of championship fighters represents some of the world’s most popular athletes and we’ll be working with them to stage spectacular international events for years to come.”
Fighters such as Alvarez and Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin will be part of a robust year-round portfolio of premium fights and original programming on the new service.
Set to be overseen by DAZN EVP Joseph Markowski, the global service is set to offer an ever-growing archive of classic fights, athlete features and vast original programming featuring 40 DAYS, The Making Of and ONE NIGHT. In addition, the platform will continue to offer its live sporting events such as the upcoming Cinco de Mayo clash.
Markowski added: “Since our launch in 2016, we’ve seen an encouraging level of interest around our key events from both international fans and potential partners, which highlighted the opportunity to capitalize on our existing rights portfolio within boxing to fuel our expansion.
“Establishing DAZN as the global home of fight sports is just the first step and we couldn’t think of a better attraction for our inaugural event than Canelo’s traditional Cinco de Mayo Weekend fight.”
At the time of writing DAZN has debuted services in nine countries which includes Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.
