Eleven Sports

Market position

Positioned as an insurgent challenger to incumbent sports broadcasters. In its smaller markets it held significant domestic and international rights, but in the saturated UK market dominated by Sky and BT it failed to gain scale: MIDiA Research's Q4 2018 survey put UK weekly active usage at 0.3% and UK subscription penetration at 0.1%, and the UK business began winding down in July 2019 with founder Andrea Radrizzani describing the attempt to compete with the Sky/BT duopoly as a "mistake". Following the DAZN acquisition, Eleven's rights and customer bases in Belgium, Portugal and Taiwan were used to extend DAZN's European and Asian footprint.

Focused on acquiring premium international rights in territories typically underserved by large broadcasters, operating hybrid linear-plus-OTT services, and layering additional verticals (women's sports, local/grassroots sport via Eleven Next, esports) and B2B streaming technology alongside its consumer offering.

Technology

Linear television channels combined with OTT streaming platforms and consumer mobile applications (for example the Eleven Sports PL Android app, with more than 500,000 downloads, giving access to the Eleven Sports 1-4 channels), plus a SaaS livestreaming offering. The company acquired the streaming platform MyCujoo in November 2020 and integrated it in 2021 into a larger consumer streaming business, and in 2022 supported delivery of FIFA's OTT platform FIFA+.

Go-to-market

Growth came primarily through acquisition of sports broadcasting rights market by market, launching branded linear and OTT services locally (Belgium and Luxembourg first in 2015), plus joint ventures and stake sales with local broadcasters such as Telewizja Polsat in Poland, partnerships with local channels in Myanmar (MRTV-4, Channel 7, MRTV, Mizzima TV, Fortune TV) and Mediapro in Belgium, and acquisitions of complementary assets (Sportube, One World Sports distribution assets, MyCujoo, Team Whistle).

Sports fans in the markets where it held rights, reached directly via subscription OTT and linear channels, plus rights holders and leagues seeking distribution or streaming technology; the Polish app carries advertising and in-app purchases for consumers.

Geography

Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with worldwide activity. Services and rights operations included Belgium and Luxembourg (from 2015), Poland, Taiwan, the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Myanmar, Thailand, Portugal and Japan (described as its eleventh market in 2019). The Polish business operated as ELEVEN SPORTS NETWORK SP Z O O, based at 2 Plac Europejski, 00-844 Warszawa, Poland.

History

Founded in 2015 by Andrea Radrizzani, Eleven Sports launched first in Belgium and Luxembourg with linear and OTT services. It acquired Polish Formula One rights in February 2016 and English Premier League rights in Taiwan in July 2016, both properties marketed by Radrizzani's sister company MP & Silva. In March 2017 it bought certain distribution assets of US channel One World Sports, and in May 2017 took a majority stake in Italian provider Sportube, rebranded as Eleven Sports Italy. In 2018 it began televising NBA G League games in the US, won UK/Ireland rights to La Liga, Serie A, the Eredivisie, the Chinese Super League and Allsvenskan, sold a 50% stake in its Polish operations to Telewizja Polsat for about EUR 38 million, and launched MY Sports in Myanmar. In January 2019 it relinquished several UK rights to Premier Sports, renewed Polish F1 rights through 2022 in March 2019, launched in Japan, sold nearly all of its remaining Polish business to Polsat in July 2019, and began winding down the UK operation the same month. In June 2020 it acquired Belgian Pro League, Division B and Women's Super League rights through 2024-25; in August 2020 it announced the "Eleven 2.0" repositioning and rebrand; in November 2020 it acquired MyCujoo; and in March 2021 it acquired US digital media company Team Whistle. In April 2022 it announced support for FIFA's FIFA+ OTT platform. DAZN Group announced its acquisition in September 2022 and completed it on 15 February 2023.

Risks & controversies

The UK and Ireland business, launched in August 2018, failed to secure carriage with television operators including Virgin Media, Sky and BT, and UFC triggered an exit clause on its exclusive UK deal after Eleven missed a December 2018 carriage-deal condition. Subscriber numbers were far too low to cover expensive rights and production costs, prompting price cuts and, per MIDiA Research, mounting losses and possible refunds to paying subscribers with potential consequences for the group. The UK operation began winding down in July 2019, with the founder calling the attempt to compete with Sky and BT a mistake, and Eleven had earlier dropped Serie A, Eredivisie, Chinese Super League and Allsvenskan rights to Premier Sports in January 2019.