The sports and entertainment website Dazn has declared that it is going to remove the barrier from all of its material related to women’s football. It has also started a campaign called “New Deal,” which is aimed at getting women’s football stakeholders to think big about their commitment to the game’s development.
All Women’s Champions League games left to play this season, along with 48 games in Spain’s Liga F, 48 games in the Frauen Bundesliga, 19 games in France’s D1 Arkema, 50 games in Italy’s Serie A Femminile, and 15 games in the Women’s Saudi Premier League, will be guaranteed free to air in the UK following the paywall’s lifting.
The expansion of free-to-air coverage is the company’s “long-term strategy,” according to Hannah Brown, co-chief executive of Dazn’s women’s sports division.
According to Brown, the choice aligns with the larger dedication to the introduction of free. We made our plans for “freemium” programming public this year, and women’s football is a component of that plan. As a company, our priorities are the expansion of a critical asset and the development of worldwide first-party relationships with clients.
In 2021, Dazn partnered with YouTube and acquired the exclusive worldwide broadcast rights for the Women’s Champions League. The group had intended to move select games behind a paywall after two years, but in November, this idea was abandoned. Dazn is now making its coverage of other leagues available as well.
“What we observe in women’s football is that there is a small percentage of people who are willing to pay for it,” Brown stated in reference to paywalls. However, women’s football fans don’t show the same robust pay-TV traits that we’ve observed in domestic premium football markets, where users must actually choose to pay to engage with content. Fans of women’s football are simply not there yet.
Dazn is urging women’s football stakeholders to make audacious long-term investments in addition to the decision to grant access in order to work together to expand the audience.
Dazn’s “New Deal,” named for the 1967 women’s football tournament in Deal, Kent, which broke the Football Association’s 1921 ban on women’s football and was a catalyst for change, calls on clubs, sponsors, media, and broadcast organisations to work together to promote the game’s growth.
“This is a once-in-a-generational investment opportunity in terms of assets and capability,” Brown stated. “Women’s football is, in my opinion, the most interesting sport asset class. Furthermore, it will be extremely difficult for anyone to abandon the game’s foundation of support given the hardships it has endured to reach to this point.