After sports streamer DAZN announced a multi-year rights deal with boxing promoter Top Rank, execs from the outlet financed by billionaire Len Blavatnik offered an update of their strategy in the U.S.
DAZN’s Pete Oliver, CEO of growth markets, and Walker Jacobs, global chief revenue officer, were joined by Top Rank President Todd duBoef at a press briefing Wednesday at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Following the briefing, they convened a press conference featuring a number of Top Rank fighters.
The streaming deal gives Top Rank a media platform in the U.S. for the first time since last summer, when its deal with ESPN elapsed. In previous periods of its six-decade history, the Bob Arum-led promotion has been closely associated with premium cable networks like HBO and Showtime.
Exact programming plans are not yet set, but the partners said they hope it will enable them to schedule bouts at a regular cadence on DAZN’s basic subscription tier, ideally on Saturday nights. Soccer has also been a mainstay for DAZN, which has rights to Italian league Serie A and carried last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup in the U.S. In certain global territories, it has rights to the NFL, Major League Baseball and other top-tier leagues.
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Oliver said DAZN has “made great progress here in the U.S. in the last couple of years.” The privately held, UK-based company, which executives say is now profitable, has been niche player in the U.S. but also a wild card when rights become available given Blavatnik’s war chest.
John Skipper took the helm of the service after ending his long tenure as president of ESPN in 2017, serving as executive chairman from 2018 to 2022 and generating considerable speculation about its Stateside potential. Former top Disney exec Kevin Mayer succeeded Skipper, serving as chairman from 2021 to 2023, with his media bona fides also adding to the intrigue.
Since then, things have been more subdued, though Jacobs was a significant hire in the U.S., given his background at Amazon, where he oversaw the Twitch business and also helped with Prime Video’s sports push. He also worked at Turner Sports in various exec roles and helped engineer the acquisition of Bleacher Report.
After launching originally with the tagline declaring the pay-per-view business to be “dead” (something that the recent Paramount-UFC deal signaled), DAZN has moved somewhat back toward that traditional model. Last year, it rolled out the Ultimate tier, a stepped-up subscription plan that includes more than 12 pay-per-view events a year as part of its higher flat rate.
In 2024, the last full year for which the company has reported financials, revenue climbed 11% from 2023, putting it at $3.2 billion. Oliver told reporters the Ultimate tier is gaining traction and will help accelerate the revenue momentum. Also in 2024, the company said it was “rapidly approaching 20 million subscribers” around the world, though it has not provided a more recent update.
Competition in live sports is intensifying, however. Prime Video, Amazon and YouTube have an increasing appetite for sports, enlarging the already daunting set of bidders for U.S. rights, along with traditional media players. On the sports front, the past couple have years have seen regional sports networks, ESPN and Fox all launch sports-centric streamers.
Despite that crowded field, Oliver said, “We want to do more here. We’re investing more in rights.”
A recent partnership with FIFA yielded a stake in streaming outlet FIFA+ and Italian rights to 2026 World Cup matches. Jacobs noted a simulcast deal with TelevisaUnivision for FIFA Club World Cup matches gave DAZN select Spanish-language rights to UEFA Champions League. “We like to be opportunistic,” he said.
Boxing, a core sport for DAZN since the beginning, is “really, really important to us,” Jacobs said. “It’s been the basis of our U.S. business, and it’s the thing we’ve been doing, I think, the best and the longest. We have huge ambitions here. I think you’re gonna be hearing more from us in the future of some of our other plans.”
The Top Rank deal signals that DAZN is looking to deliver officially sanctioned fights between currently active, contemporary fighters as opposed to what duBoef called “exhibitions.” While he didn’t name Netflix specifically, he was asked about the contests the streaming giant has gotten behind. The list has included Jake Paul’s 2024 bout with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson and an upcoming one between long-retired rivals Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquaio.
“Don’t get lazy and cheap and go backwards and start talking about guys that don’t exist in today’s world, but they existed 15 years ago,” duBoef said.
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