The Women’s FA Cup final between Everton and Manchester City will be held at Wembley Stadium this Sunday (early Monday morning in Australia).
UPDATE 23/11: Optus vice-president of product development, television and content Clive Dickens, has shrugged off Nine’s move into the sports-streaming market, forecasting that its own service, Optus Sport, will hit a million subscribers during the European Football Championship in the middle of next year, according to The Australian.
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Optus Sport breaks record audiences
Optus Sport is reaching record subscription and audience numbers across the board on its streaming platform.
The return of English Premier League, Women’s Super League and UEFA Champions League has lifted Optus Sport’s active subscriber base to a record high 868,000 and increased viewer engagement by 37% from the previous year.
Clive Dickens, Optus’ VP of TV, Content and Product Development credits the growth to a number of key contributing factors.
“Since the return of live European Football, we’ve seen record growth in subscriptions, engagement and viewership over the past few months, which can be attributed to an increase in our breadth and depth of live football and significant improvements to our platform and user experience,” said Mr Dickens.
“Optus Sport has broken its own viewership records for a Premier League Match week six times since the start of September 2020, with the more than 280,000 account holders streaming Everton draw with Liverpool, on the 18th October by far our largest ever Premier League match.”
“What’s even more impressive, is our subscriber engagement has increased by +37% this season, which is a testament to the entire team at Optus Sport, who are not only committed to delivering on average over 240 live-streamed exclusive matches, but also must see news and analysis that keeps our passionate football fans engaged.”
“With over half a million Optus Sport subscribers each week streaming on average over 2 hours of live and on-demand premium content each, we are continuing to cement our credentials as the home of must-see premium football.
“We’ve also seen tremendous response to our new health and wellbeing platform, OS Fitness has seen more than 60,000 unique users visit the platform since it was launched in July this year.”
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What is an “active subscriber”, I wonder? I have two Optus Sport subscriptions, one with Optus Fetch and the other as part of my Optus post-paid mobile, but I very rarely watch the sport channels as I have very little interest in soccer. Am I counted as two active subscriptions because I momentarily change to one of the sports channels as I’m browsing the guide?
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“active” subscriptions are ones that are paying money. Same with Kayo, but they call theirs “paid” subscriptions.
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So both of mine would be counted then as I’m paying for them as they are included in my contract.
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Correct
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Optus Sport launches follow-up Football Belongs series: Nine Football Matches that Explain Australia
Optus Sport has begun its release of a new instalment of its Football Belongs title, with a series of special feature articles and podcasts that chart the cultural threads of Australian society through the lens of nine football matches.
The Football Belongs title was launched by Optus Sport in 2020 to tell the often-unheralded stories of Europe’s contribution to Australian football and society.
Over the coming months, in-depth articles written by John Didulica and accompanying podcasts hosted by David Davutovic, will explore how football has played a fundamental role in shaping the nation, whilst examining the game’s contradictory struggles to penetrate the mainstream.
Former National Soccer League player Didulica has had a deep involvement with the game since retiring, having heavily dedicated his time to the project since stepping down as Chief Executive of Professional Footballers Australia earlier this year.
“I always believed that football’s journey and the trajectory of Australia’s success as a modern nation were interdependent; that building and embracing an authentic football culture went hand in hand with our nation emerging with the humble self-assuredness it would need,” said series author Didulica.
“In examining Australia - as I saw it - it’s incredible how influential football has been to both shaping modern Australia but also reflecting the nation that we are. Equally, I was challenged by football’s absence from the stories that are used to define what it means to be Australian.”
The first article The Outsiders will be released on Friday December 4 on the Optus Sport app and sport.optus.com.au, while the podcast will be available via Acast, Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Readers can also access each podcast within each article. In episode one, David and John are joined by renowned football media personalities Andy Harper and Tracey Holmes to set the scene for the discussions to follow.
Other threads of Australian society and culture to be explored include pieces on multiculturalism, the First Nations people, cultural cringe, the march toward gender equality, obsession with borders and the legends of the ANZACs, while David and John will be accompanied by a rotating line-up of guests including Socceroos legends Ray Baartz and John Aloisi, as well as renowned historians and academics.
“Through this series, we hope to share the stories of football’s valuable role in building this nation and demonstrate to the many millions who play, watch and love this game that they should take unconditional pride as Australians in being members of our football community,” said Didulica.
Optus Director of Sport Richard Bayliss said Optus Sport was proud to carry such depth of discussion on the history of the game in Australia.
“The Football community in Australia will only have confidence in a successful and unified path forward – and its own skin - once it can draw inspiration from its own unique place within the nation’s identity,” said Bayliss.
“John’s ability to explain the broader cultural context - at times painful, at others uplifting - illuminates the game’s landmark moments in a stirring way.”
“These chapters contain some of the best writing on the game in Australia I’ve ever read, and the calibre of discussion led by David throughout the podcasts provides a gripping listen.”
I made up this list of current Optus Sport presenters. Am I missing anyone?
Simon Hill (Commentator)
Richard Bayliss (Host)
Mel McLaughlin (Host)
Mark Schwarzer
John Aloisi
Craig Moore
Luke Wilkshire
Scott Mcdonald
Michael Bridges
Heather Garriock
Michelle Escoba (Reporter)
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*Michelle Escobar
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Carl Robinson
Kevin Muscat
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.”
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.
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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!
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.
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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