With just under 300 staff based in Leeds, DAZN sports platform reported in its annual review yesterday that it has become the “biggest digital sports broadcaster” in Europe.
Pronounced “Da Zone”, DAZN revealed despite operating losses of $1.3bn, it hit revenues of $2.3bn. With around 15m premium paying subscribers, the platform has added more than 75 rights over the last 12 months.
The sports platform has a significant presence in Leeds with its main broadcast operations centre based at White Rose Office Park, with further locations across London, New York, Japan and Europe. In 2022, the platform said it streamed 1.2bn hours globally across 130 million connected devices.
“It’s a remarkable technological feat because of the concurrency required around live sports – i.e. millions wanting to watch all at the same time. DAZN’s Leeds operation is critical to our ambition to build the ultimate destination for sports fans,” Dan Johnson SVP, Group Communications, told Prolific North.
The Leeds base is where all the feeds for its rights for global sports events such as the Champions League and Bundesliga in Germany, Serie A in Italy, LaLiga and Premier League in Spain, and the J-League in Japan, go to before being streamed out to those markets.
“We also have global rights to some sports, the best example being the UEFA Women’s Champions League, which is streamed across 200+ territories and available on 130m+ connected devices.”
With ambitions to expand its presence further, the company also acquired streaming platform Eleven Sports, founded by Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani.
In late 2022, the platform launched betting in the UK, Spain and Italy and plans to continue adding a broader set of services for its customers through 2023.
For 2023, the company said it has a ambitions to become a “one-stop shop for everything a sports fan wants” through access to live and on-demand content alongside analysis, highlights, merchandise, ticketing, gaming, and betting.
The platform was established in 2015.
