A recent report from Crux Sports revealed that DAZN’s coverage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League on its YouTube page has grown fan engagement with the tournament by 80%.
The sports streaming platform went on to reveal that this study has realised the potential of the Women’s Champions League, viewing it as a more valuable commodity than in recent years.
The Women’s Champions League Final will be contested between FC Barcelona and VFL Wolfsburg at the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven, Netherlands, which will be available on DAZN’s network.
With the women’s football tournament growing more eyes than ever before, DAZN announced that the 2023-24 Champions League season will become available behind a paywall, owing to the rise in popularity and interest.
This will move away from the platform’s free-to-air model it ran for the tournament via its YouTube page, which the Crux Sports study found to have boosted interest and desire to watch the Women’s Champions League.
With 80% of respondents stating that DAZN’s coverage garnered their interest, 57% also believe it played a role in their increased desire to follow women’s football more in the future.
Furthermore, 40% stated they are more willing to attend live women’s football matches with 18% also revealing that DAZN’s YouTube coverage changed their perception of the women’s game.
“Our partnership with YouTube has been a huge success, as Crux Sports’ Value and Impact Report demonstrated,” stated Veronica Diquattro, Chief Executive of Global Markets at DAZN.
“We expected to see significant growth in viewership, when you combine DAZN’s production values with YouTube’s reach and UEFA’s high-level of competition it’s a winning formula.
“To hear about the increase in commercial and sponsorship interest, matchday attendances and visibility in other media is especially pleasing. We want to help the women’s game realise its potential, by reaching audiences, and by developing its obvious commercial appeal to create a virtuous circle of investment, growth, raising standards and overall interest.
“We, and UEFA, feel the time is right for the competition to start finding its true commercial value. Visibility must lead to viability.”