Optus Sport

Television Subscription and International
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Optus Sport Further Accelerates BVOD Push with Magnite Adoption

Optus Sport has taken its next steps in becoming a leading Broadcaster Video On Demand (BVOD) platform by Supply Side Platform (SSP) Magnite to build out its digital video advertising capabilities. The move allows brands and agencies to programmatically advertise on the Optus Sport platform in line with other leading BVOD products.

Clive Dickens, Optus VP, TV, Content and Product Development said “Digital Video Advertising has always been a focus for Optus Sport and we are now well established with a strong core audience of passionate sports lovers, boasting over 870,000 active subscribers, making us the number one sports streaming platform in Australia.”

The BVOD revenue market continues to grow rapidly, and audiences becoming more familiar and comfortable with over-the-top (OTT) live streaming services and adapting the way they consume video content. According to OzTAM data, over-the-top broadcast-video-on-demand (OTT BVOD) services have grown 331% between 2015 and 2020, providing a focal point for Optus’s strategic growth initiatives.

This market growth and trajectory is something James Young, Managing Director of the Australian market for Magnite has seen firsthand. Speaking of the relationship James said: “We’re excited to partner with Optus Sport as their preferred sell side partner (SSP). Working extensively with Australian broadcasters, we’re well-positioned to provide the Optus Sport’s huge premium audience with a top-notch viewing experience, while providing brands with an excellent branding opportunity alongside premium and engaging programming content.”

Optus has invested in developing the technology, and a specialised team that will bring the platform to life in market, headlined by the appointment of Jimmy Kerr to lead the newly formed Digital Video sales team as National Ad Sales Manager.

Jimmy joins the Optus Sport team after nearly nine years at Seven West Media where he held a number of senior sales leadership roles, most recently as one of Seven’s Digital Group Sales Managers working on AFL, NFL and the Olympics.

Speaking of his appointment, Jimmy said “I’m thrilled to be joining Optus Sport at such an exciting time for the brand. There truly is nothing like live sport - the excitement it drives and the close connection with fans is something that offers huge impact and value to brands.”

“The team at Optus Sport have been doing a sensational job of bringing world-class football to life in Australia and I’m looking forward to helping evolve that coverage further and ensuring we take brands along with us on that journey.”

For Mr Dickens, Optus Sport’s commitment to producing premium content has established the platform as a leading player in the BVOD landscape. With over 1,189 live matches broadcast annually, resulting in over 3.4 billion streamed minutes consumed in 2020, the platform has established a high-value, consistent and engaged audience that brands can now leverage.

“We’re continuing to focus on providing better advertising capabilities for our advertising partners by working with Magnite, who is a proven performer in the live sport OTT environment.”

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UEFA Women’s Euro 2022

Optus Sport has secured the rights to the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, once again reinforcing its commitment to showcasing top-flight women’s football in Australia.

The UEFA Women’s European Championships is regarded as the most prestigious national women’s team competition in the world after the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and will involve some of the best women’s football teams and players.

The UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 will feature five of the six top ranked teams in the world, and will provide Australian fans the opportunity to see the level that the Matildas will need to be at in order to compete at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, which Australia is jointly hosting. Australia is currently ranked 7th in the FIFA rankings.

For Optus Sport’s Head of TV & Content, Corin Dimopoulos, today’s announcement not only solidifies its position as the home of premium football, but also strengthens Optus Sport’s association with women’s football both here in Australia and around the world.

“No matter what the code, every year we are continuing to observe exponential growth in women’s sport across the globe, and we saw this as a terrific opportunity to continue our investment in this market,” said Mr Dimopoulos.

“We had tremendous success streaming the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019, have seen great interest in the Barclays Women’s Super League and are continuing to look into acquiring future women’s football leagues and tournaments.”

The acquisition means that Optus Sport now holds both the men’s and women’s European Championships and will show every match live from both tournaments. The UEFA Euro 2020 was delayed due to COVID-19 and will now be played in June and July 2021 across Europe with all 51 matches live and on-demand on Optus Sport.

‘We are delighted to welcome Optus Sport as our official broadcaster of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 in Australia. This deal now means they will transmit both the UEFA Men’s and Women’s European Championships in the next two years, providing unprecedented coverage of both tournaments in Australia’ said Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Events Marketing Director.

About UEFA Women’s EURO 2022

The UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 will be held from the 6th to 31st July 2022
The tournament will feature the top 16 European teams who qualify, grouped into 4 groups of 4 teams.
All 31 games will be exclusively live on Optus Sport.
The tournament will be held in England with the final played in Wembley
Teams qualified already are Belgium (FIFA rank 17) Denmark (FIFA rank 14, England (hosts and FIFA rank 6), France (FIFA rank 3), Germany (FIFA rank 2), Iceland (FIFA rank 16), Netherlands (holders and FIFA rank 4 ), Norway (FIFA rank 11), Spain (FIFA rank 12), and Sweden (FIFA rank 5)
Six positions still remain to be filled with teams vying for qualification later in 2021.

https://twitter.com/OptusSport/status/1362605577365458944

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Great to see the women’s Euro next year on TV in the lead up to the Women’s World Cup

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Don’t get my hopes up!

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The Socceroos have decided to pull out of Copa America 2021.

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Wow, Optus has lost the broadcast rights to UEFA Champions League and K-League to a little known Sydney-based platform called Sports Flick. Pretty embarrassing.

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It was a blind tender. Disappointing, but not really embarrassing.

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I dunno, if I was at Optus I’d be pretty embarrased that you’ve been outbid by someone who runs a backyard streaming service.

I wonder what the price difference was - did Optus assume they’d get the rights and go low?

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I’d now be worried if I were the A-League and EPL if that’s the way Optus is going to treat their sports.

That said, I can also see Sports Flick dying the arse too if they can’t get this money. How do you go from Indian baseball to UEFA Men’s Champions League?

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LOL yeah that is freaking embarassing that the executives, with UEFA actually awarded the streaming rights to there yearly fixture to the executives of that niche skewing streaming service. over optus executives.Becouse to put it simply that sporting company attracts a very loyal demographic audience and I think they wouldnt have,been asking for a high price for those streaming rights as well.

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But also I agree if I were Optus executives I would be feeling pretty embarassed over this around about now

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Optus Sport has secured the rights to the 2021 and 2024 Copa America. Matches will be in the morning our time.

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Optus Sport secures media rights to Australia and New Zealand’s biggest international football tournament ever - the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™

Optus the only place to watch all 64 matches live!

In what will be a defining tournament in women’s sport in Australia, Optus Sport has been awarded the Australian media rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ - which will be one of the biggest sporting events in Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™, to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, comprises 32 teams, with the first match kicking off at Auckland’s Eden Park on 20 July 2023, and concluding with the final played at Sydney’s Stadium Australia.

Commenting on the tournament, Optus Chief Executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said, “We are delighted to not only support the most exciting women’s sporting event in the world, hosted right here on our home soil, but also to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to growing women’s sport in this country.”

“This is truly a unique opportunity for Australians to stand behind our world leading Matildas and enjoy every action-packed moment of the tournament.”

Optus Sport will stream all 64 World Cup matches live and produce programming, highlights and other digital content to provide Australians with the most comprehensive coverage ever of a FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Ms Bayer Rosmarin said with interest in women’s football and the Matildas growing significantly in Australia, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 would be one of the largest and most unifying events since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

“We are passionate about bringing the Matildas and the other 31 participating teams to as many Australians as possible.”

Optus Vice President TV, Content and Product Development, Clive Dickens, said women’s football is a core element of Optus Sport’s elite football offering, and would result in unprecedented coverage that would draw even more Australian fans to women’s football.

“We have built an unparalleled pedigree in enhancing and supporting women’s football and building unique customer relationships with football fans, from the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France to being amongst the first broadcasters of the Barclay’s FA Women’s Super League, to recently securing the exclusive rights to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 in England.”

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 represents a huge opportunity to help drive growth and visibility of women’s football in Australia and deliver football fans the best-ever coverage.

“We are committed to changing the future children see and the importance of promoting women in sport to drive that change. It is a privilege, and an endorsement of our credentials by FIFA, to be awarded the rights to showcase this monumental event,” Mr Dickens said.

Sarai Bareman, Chief Women’s Football Officer, FIFA said, “FIFA is excited to welcome Optus Sport as our official broadcaster of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ for Australia. Optus has shown a strong commitment to broadcasting women’s football and this deal will provide unprecedented coverage in Australia for the tournament, as well as bringing women’s football to more fans and new audiences. We look forward to working with Optus to promote the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to accelerate the growth of the women’s game in Australia in the lead up to 2023.”

One of Australia’s most capped representative football players and ex-Matilda Heather Garriock said, “The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is not just a football tournament, it’s one of the world’s biggest events and to host it in Australia and New Zealand is a dream come true. Young boys and girls, mums and dads will get the chance to see their role models – the Matildas – who are amongst the best players in the world.”

Optus will provide further details of its broadcast plans, commentary team and other innovations relating to the tournament closer to the event including plans to co-broadcast key matches on free-to-air television – including all Matildas matches.

Optus Sport customers will be able to access:

  • All 64 games of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ live and on demand
  • Preview and review shows produced and delivered live by Optus Sport
  • All games available for streaming to home TVs or on-the-go on devices through the Optus Sport app.

The Optus Sport team is gearing up for a month-long smorgasbord of exclusive international football including the world’s second biggest football tournament, the UEFA EURO 2020™, which starts on Saturday, June 12 and the Copa América 2021, which begins Monday June 14.

Optus Sport continues to connect passionate football fans with the game they love with more than 880,000 active subscribers.

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No games on FTA?

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Yes there will be. Up to one game per matchday will be sublicensed to a FTA provider. All Matildas and Football Ferns matches, along with the Final, are included in this.

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Common due to anti-siphoning. Fox Sports has been forced to do this for years.

The money Optus would want to recoup by on-selling Matildas’ games + Finals would nearly have to cover the entire rights fee as that’s where the value is. I don’t see how Optus can push subscriptions without those games.

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According to the AFR, Optus paid between $8 and $10 million US for the rights.

Have a few thoughts about today’s announcement. It would have been good if a FTA network picked up the rights so that every game of a home WWC could have been accessible to every Australian. Having said that, Optus is probably the ‘best’ place for the rights to have landed considering their investment in women’s football rights and their line-up of women pundits.

The tender for the FTA conponent will be fascinating because if Optus are true to their word, it won’t necessarily go to the highest bidder but who’s willing to significantly promote/push women’s football. As such, it’s anyone’s guess who will get them. Additionally, the tender process happening in the next few months means Seven and whoever ultimately ends up with the NRL FTA rights in 2023 will be participating in the process without knowing how much the WWC will conflict with their coverage since the schedule won’t be locked-in until the draw happens at the end of next year.

One last thought - this announcement has interesting short-term implications because it means Optus really need to retain the Premier League rights when the tender process for those rights happen in the next few months (something which isn’t guaranteed at all in the current soccer rights landscape). If they don’t, their service is going to be pretty bare between the Women’s Euros next year and the 2023 WWC considering they’ve all but lost the Champions/Europa League rights as well.

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Former SBS football presenter Nick Stoll joined Optus Sport this week.

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Optus Sport reveals diverse talent line-up for UEFA EURO 2020 and Copa America 2021 tournaments

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Optus Sport has unveiled its international line-up of on-screen talent, to complement its coverage of the best players on the planet competing in the UEFA EURO 2020 and Copa América 2021 football tournaments.

Starting this weekend, Optus Sport will exclusively broadcast 79 international matches across 31 days, and subscribers can expect a world class standard of coverage and punditry out of live studios in Sydney and London, along with pitch-side analysis across Europe.

Extensive matchday hosting will be led by Richard Bayliss and Niav Owens, with all games given its own live studio programming pre, halftime and post-match.

Match coverage will be complemented by two daily shows – ‘Euro 2020 Warm-Up’ hosted by Claudio Fabiano at 9pm (AEST), and a morning highlights and discussion show ‘Euro Brekky Wrap’ at 7.30am (AEST) with Jules Breach, Mark Schwarzer and rotating guests, overlooking Westminster Abbey in London.

Expert analysis and insight will come from an imposing list of former players, including Socceroos legends Mark Schwarzer, John Aloisi, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Luke Wilkshire, Scott McDonald and Mark Milligan, along with former Matildas Heather Garriock, Alicia Ferguson and Amy Chapman. The all-star cast includes former Denmark captain Thomas Sorensen, ex-England players Michael Bridges, Emile Heskey, Wes Brown, Sue Smith and Karen Carney, and former internationals Carl Robinson of Wales, Spaniard Gaizka Mendieta, and Portugal’s Luis Boa Morte.

Reporters Adriano del Monte, Ollie Geale and Max Merrill will bring viewers access within stadiums and host cities to capture the unique colour and atmosphere of the tournament.

Richard Bayliss, Optus Sport’s Director of Sport, said the team are stepping it up when it comes to providing around-the-clock coverage and insight, from a diverse panel whose experiences, and perspectives will form a unique view across both tournaments.

“We’ve got a huge line-up of hosts, reporters and ex-players to provide real-time coverage and in-depth analysis across both EURO 2020 and Copa América 2021,” said Mr Bayliss.

“We’re always striving to be as representative of our audience as we can, which means having people from diverse backgrounds and from both the men’s and women’s games providing their views on the game.

“The beauty of events such as the Euros is that so many cultures combine to create an incredible experience, and with on-air team members that have backgrounds from Italian or Maltese, to German or Jamaican, we will proudly represent such diversity within our coverage.”

In a digital first for Optus, Optus Sport will partner with TikTok, allowing content creator Claudio Fabiano to be let loose on one of Optus Sport’s fastest growing social platforms using some of the 1,488 hours of tournament content.

Optus’ Head of TV and Content Corin Dimopoulos, said the team are ready to deliver a world-class viewing experience for Optus Sport customers.

“We know 2.2 million Australians were born in the participating nations at EURO and Copa, and by taking into account first- and second-generation Australians, this rises to 11 million,” said Mr Dimopoulous.

“In times of COVID, being able to emotionally connect with ethnic homelands through the excitement of major sporting events is something we feel customers will dearly appreciate.

“The next month will also be the closest thing fans can experience to a FIFA World Cup, with the best players from Europe and South America swapping their club colours to play for the honour of their home nation.

“We’re poised to witness the next chapter of those huge International football rivalries, which is rarely seen in a FIFA World Cup. Think Spain v Portugal, England v Scotland, Germany v Netherlands and of course Brazil against Argentina, which I’m sure will unlock another level of passion.

“The Optus Sport team have been working hard behind scenes to ensure we deliver a world-class viewing experience and will be working around-the-clock for the duration of both tournaments.”

Optus Sport have also delivered a star-studded programming line-up to complement their broadcast, with a variety of hosts both in-studio and overseas to keep fans informed and entertained throughout the tournaments.

UEFA EURO 2020 kicks-off live on Optus Sport on the June 12, with Copa America commencing on June 14.

OPTUS SPORT PROGRAMMING
8pm AEST – Live on TikTok with Claudes
9pm AEST – Euro 2020 Warm-Up
10:30pm AEST onwards – Match Coverage
7:30am AEST – Euro Brekky Wrap

OPTUS SPORT TALENT
Hosts: Richard Bayliss, Niav Owens, Jules Breach and Claudio Fabiano.
Studio and pitchside guests: John Aloisi, Thomas Sorensen, Michael Bridges, Mark Schwarzer, Luke Wilkshire, Heather Garriock, Amy Chapman, Kevin Muscat, Craig Moore, Paul Okon, Ned Zelic, Scott McDonald, Mark Milligan, Carl Robinson, Emile Heskey, Sue Smith, Wes Brown, Gaizka Mendieta, Karen Carney and others.
Reporters: Adriano del Monte, Alicia Ferguson, Max Rushden, Max Merrill and Ollie Geale.

Here’s how you can watch UEFA EURO 2020TM and the Copa America in June and July on Optus Sport - and the full schedule with Australian times.