DAZN Chief Revenue Officer Walker Jacobs spoke to Awful Announcing via email this week about the FIFA Club World Cup.
“We’re giving football fans a taste of our platform, incredibly reliable technology, innovative product features, and unique content experience. Long-term, this helps us drive new subscribers, supports our advertising ambitions, and builds a larger, more addressable user base.”
Viewers anywhere in the world can watch the tournament’s matches on DAZN by signing up for a free account with their email address. But they’re also providing highlights on their website without even that barrier. Jacobs said that makes it even easier for people to check out what’s going on here, which may lead some of them to opt for watching full matches.
“It’s all about accessibility and engagement. By removing friction, we boost reach and make it easier for people to discover our content organically and get them excited to watch more of the tournament. “
The Club World Cup is an interesting event, as this year’s tournament marks a significant expansion from seven to 32 teams. And FIFA was reportedly expecting a huge amount of media rights bids for the expanded tournament, but many of those didn’t materialize. Jacobs said the newly expanded event was a great fit for DAZN and their global soccer focus, though.
“We like to think of DAZN as the global home of football,” he said. “So much of what we do is built off domestic rights, particularly in Europe, so we have a familiarity with many of the clubs participating in this tournament. The FIFA Club World Cup is a marquee international football event that brings together the best club teams from each continent, and it truly is a global event.”
Jacobs said another appealing element of this tournament for DAZN was the chance to win global rights, given their worldwide focus. That doesn’t mean DAZN is the sole broadcaster of the event, however. They do have the full event to themselves in some countries. But in other places, they’ve struck sublicensing deals, including in the U.S. with TNT Sports and TelevisaUnivision (with those deals also involving production of the match broadcasts). Jacobs said DAZN benefits from winning the global rights and then negotiating the sublicensing deals they want versus a situation of splitting global rights with other companies.
“It carries the most weight to be the global exclusive rights holder,” he said. “Obviously, we have built critically important partnerships with media companies and broadcasters around the world to make the FIFA Club World Cup as big as possible and maximize our opportunity, but from the start we were in full control of how we managed and approached that.
“Global rights allow us to create a unified experience across markets—there’s efficiency in marketing, product design, and distribution. It also enables us to tell a consistent story and build truly global sponsorship opportunities and work with partners across all of their needs. With a global event like this, we are attracting new users while deepening customer engagement in our established markets.”
That discussion of markets is notable, as DAZN’s offerings vary significantly across different markets. The U.K.-based company has a lot of the biggest soccer rights in many European countries (plus other rights, including to the international version of NFL Game Pass), but in the U.S., its key rights to date have primarily revolved around combat sports. They’ve tried to expand beyond that over the years, and have struck some significant deals (including one this year with LIV Golf), but haven’t been as big of a player in soccer rights in the U.S. to date as they have in other countries.
DAZN is now focusing on U.S. soccer, though. They struck a sublicensing deal with TelevisaUnivision this week for Spanish-language UEFA Champions League broadcasts. And Jacobs said U.S. fans can expect more soccer on DAZN in the months and years ahead.
“We have strong relationships with the biggest and most popular leagues in the world. We just announced that we are relaunching FIFA+ on DAZN globally, which will bring a lot more soccer content to DAZN in the USA. We have broader plans as well and will have more to announce in the coming weeks.”
He said the Club World Cup provides an excellent way to diversify their U.S. offerings and connect with American soccer fans.
“Soccer is still growing rapidly in the U.S.—from the grassroots level all the way to professional match viewership. Events like the Club World Cup help us tap into that momentum, especially with U.S.-based teams like Inter Miami, LAFC and the Seattle Sounders participating. It’s a moment to engage fans who follow international clubs, and it shows that DAZN is serious about being a multi-sport streaming service in the U.S.”
In terms of connecting with American soccer fans, Jacobs said that a sublicensing deal with TNT Sports and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is another way to boost this tournament’s exposure and get DAZN on people’s radar.
“Warner Brothers Discovery are a superb partner for us, and we are glad to be working with them. Having prime time matches on TNT clearly helps expand the reach of the tournament. They bring a strong production pedigree, a deep roster of talent both in front of and behind the camera, and they understand American sports fans.”
He said the linearly aired matches are another way to get fans curious about the broader tournament, which may lead to them checking out DAZN-exclusive matches.
“Cable TV exposure lifts the profile of the entire tournament here—including matches exclusive to DAZN—because it raises awareness across platforms. It’s a rising tide that lifts both boats, and we benefit from the increased attention and brand visibility.”
Jacobs said TNT Sports has been a great fit on the production side as well, and the commentator and studio teams the company has brought together stand out.
“I personally believe their studio shows are the gold standard, and we are glad to be working with them on these shows. Our DAZN teams around the world set the standard for live match coverage. Putting our two teams together has proven to be a formidable combination.”
A question many had heading into this event was if some of the high-payroll, high-profile European teams would just walk over sides from other parts of the world. That hasn’t always been the case, though. Jacobs said he personally expected some of the drama we’ve seen.
“From the outset, I predicted surprising story lines from the teams involved, particularly from some of the relatively lower-payroll teams in South America. That is exactly what has happened, especially with the early success of the Brazilian sides. I can’t wait to see what happens between now and July 13th!”
The Club World Cup is a big step for DAZN, and it’s also a big step for Jacobs. He joined the company last January after five years with Twitch and Amazon, most recently as Twitch’s chief revenue officer and the managing director of sports for Amazon Ads. He said DAZN was an appealing place to head to given its sports focus and the global scale of its ambition.
“What appealed to me about joining DAZN is the company’s bold vision and the opportunity to help drive the evolution of how fans watch their favorite sports,” Jacobs said. “Technology unlocks so many new innovations, and we are still scratching the surface of what is possible. We move extremely fast here. DAZN has an incredibly ambitious plan, and that is what makes it such an exciting place.”
Jacobs said DAZN stands out for more than just its live streams of games.
“We have built and continue to refine something unique—a true digital sports destination that goes beyond just streaming to include commerce, betting, community and more. You’ll see us continue to innovate aggressively and expand our offering while doubling down on premium content and technology.”
And he said the DAZN U.S. role is exciting for him given what the company has planned there.
“We want to be opportunistic in the U.S. marketplace, and we expect to continue doing more here, as well as exploring expansion in other regions around the world.”
While DAZN itself has been around since 2015, and it partly grew out of the 2007-founded Perform, Jacobs said it’s still early in the company’s journey. But he thinks this particular tournament may be a watershed moment for the service.
“The Club World Cup is a great example of how DAZN can deliver global, premium experiences to fans in new ways. We’ll continue pushing the boundaries of what a sports platform can be—and this is just the beginning.”