DAZN’s Joseph Markowski speaks to Radio Sport about the platform being brought to NZ. Audio / Radio Sport
Yet another streaming service is launching here: sports specialist DAZN (pronounced "Dazone") will be available in New Zealand from the start of May - and it's already caught the eye of one of our top boxing figures.
Although the UK-based DAZN was keeping its launch tightly under wraps ahead of this morning's announcement - which is a part of a wider global expansion - Joseph Parker's manager, David Higgins, had an early heads-up on its plans.
And he was effusive. "The New Zealand media has almost missed a sleeping giant coming their way," he said.
"In social networking, Facebook has risen to the top as a hegemonic power."
Google had achieved dominance in search, and Netflix in entertainment, but there was "an arms race still on to become the worldwide streamer of sport".
Higgins saw the Disney-owned ESPN+ as too hampered by corporate constraints, while DAZN's primary backer, multibillionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik, had freedom of operation and gut-instinct on his side.
"He's a gentleman who has a proven track record; a genius who has serious f**k-off money. He doesn't answer to anyone."
How serious. Forbes says the Russian ex-pat industrialist, who now divides his time between the US and UK, is the 27th wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth of US$19.5 billion.
Higgins also praised DAZN's low-cost monthly subscription model, which the service has pushed as an alternative to the pay-per-view model traditionally used for big fights.
"It's a game-changer for us in sport."
He also praised DAZN as masters of stopping online rip-offs (a big sore point recently for the Parker camp).
So what does DAZN's arrival mean for Higgins, and his key client Parker?
"Sky has been a great partner of Joseph Parker [but] more competition entering the market can only be good," Higgins said.
"For sport, and for Joseph Parker and we would welcome a conversation. Sky is the incumbent; they're our friend so we'll speak to them first. But DAZN is there, so it's going to be fascinating."
Initially, DAZN's NZ service will offer boxing only, though in the US, UK (where it's headquartered) and Europe, it offers a variety of sports - including top-tier content, in the form of Champions League football in Germany.
"If I were Cricket NZ or NZ Rugby, I'd be keeping my options open," Higgins said.
"Suddenly there's real, well-funded, smart competition at the table."
The first content available for Kiwi viewers will be Mexican middleweight Canelo Alvarez's fight during Cinco de Mayo Weekend against a soon-to-be-named opponent, which will take place on Saturday, May 2.
Sky comms boss Chris Major said her company kept in touch with DAZN as a rights-holder, and had been aware of its plan to launch directly into the NZ market.
"Boxing rights are usually more short-term than other sports rights, given the nature of individual events. We have many of the key sports rights that matter to New Zealanders locked in for the medium to long-term, particularly rugby and netball, and great relationships with rightsholders."
'Gold standard' - Martin
Pricing and price structure has yet to be confirmed for NZ, but when it launched with boxing content in the US in 2018, DAZN shook up the market by offering a Netflix-style monthly subscription, priced at US$12 per month - a stark contrast to the pay-per-view/pay-per-fight model used by North American incumbents HBO and Showtime (and, here, by Sky).
Earlier, Tim Martin, founder of RugbyPass (bought by Sky in a deal worth up to $62m), told the Herald, "DAZN are the global gold standard of online sports streaming. They've got a business with 2000 employees, they've got 500 developers, they've built a lot of their own tech, they've spent literally billions of dollars acquiring rights and launching into major markets and they're the best at it bar none."
Canelo Alvarez, right, fights Gennady Golovkin during a middleweight title fight. Photo / AP
Martin was building up DAZN in order to use it as an example that streaming problems have hit all sports contenders. But his broader observation that it's a big-money outfit is true.
It's no accident that Alvarez features in the May 2 fight. In late 2018, DAZN signed a $555m, 11-fight deal with the Mexican - one of the largest contracts in sport, ever, full stop.
DAZN holds international rights to a number of fight-promoters in the heavily fragmented world of boxing, including Golden Boy Promotions, Matchroom Boxing USA and GGG Promotions. Fighters such as Alvarez and Gennadiy "GGG" Golovkin are in its stable.
It promotes itself as an affordable, mass-market services, and it offers advertisers "personalised communication" with its subscribers.
Joseph Parker and his manager David Higgins. Photo / PhotoSport
The New Zealand launch will be part of a wider DAZN push into 200 countries and territories.
The streaming outfit has a complicated background
DAZN, which is based in London and says it has 2800 staff, has a complicated corporate history. It was formed as a roll-up of several US media properties in 2016, and in 2018, ex-ESPN president John Skipper became its executive chairman.
The privately held company is majority-owned by Access Industries, a conglomerate that is in turn controlled by Blavatnik.
DAZN has focussed most of its financial firepower on boxing but has also scooped up football, motor racing, basketball and other rights for a number of territories. Photo / file
For streaming incumbents Sky and Spark, the landscape keeps shifting.
The NBA and the NFL have been happy to split rights between the pair, while a coming English Premier League trial, dubbed "Premflix" will circumvent local services altogether to reach sports fans around the globe directly.
Sky shares were recently trading at 52c, close to their all-time low of 50c, which the stock struck last week. It is down 64 per cent over the past year.
