March 26 – Copa90, the digital football network, will showcase a new broadcast distribtuion option for rightsholders and sports-sponsor brands at the Stade de France tonight when the Brazil World Tour kicks off.
The channel is broadcasting real-time video from pitchside and throughout the stadium and stands to its 7.5 million-strong subscriber base of football fans, the largest in the digital world. It is the first event in what will be a long-term commercial partnership the network has opened with Pitch International, the Brasil World Tour’s official rights agency.
The development constitutes a new offering for rightsholders and football-facing brands, bringing them directly into contact with a generation of football fans traditional media are finding increasingly difficult to reach.
The partnership, which sees Pitch take up a minority stake in Copa90’s parent, Bigballs Films, takes rightsholder events into a number of online platforms such as YouTube, Viber, Snapchat and GrabYo as well as Copa90’s proprietary channels.
Copa90’s chief executive, Tom Thirlwall, said: “This is recognition of the value intrinsic to our business, which is changing the way sports content is produced, distributed and commercialised with a strong brand, deep fan engagement and, crucially, ownership of our own IP. [The deal] furthers our progress towards building an era-defining sports-media business.
“Among a 16- to 24-year-old audience so highly prized by many brands, Copa90 has become a trusted and fresh voice telling stories our audience want to share on platforms where they live, in formats they love. This gives a unique opportunity to package the new Fan Rights that will directly activate sponsor brands’ engagement with the events they support.”
Copa90 already has strong links with a number of major football-sponsor brands, and it was this background that brought it to the attention of Pitch, whose managing director, Jonathan Rogers, added: “Our interest in Copa90 was initially sparked by the large, engaged audience they have attracted through a mix of fan-focused video and the unique way they worked with brands like Hyundai, HTC and Adidas to unlock the content that fans were looking for. This is what is unique about the Copa90 proposition.
“Pitch’s investment in Copa90 presents a major strategic opportunity for us, our clients, federations and media partners.”
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