This past June, Bellator MMA announced a deal with sport streaming service DAZN. The late September 2018 launch in the U.S. of the $9.99 per month service was another challenge on the traditional way we watch sports.
Perhaps bigger than the Bellator deal, and securing another deal with Combates America, it signed Canelo Alvarez to an exclusive deal which began in December. Alvarez pummeled an overmatched Fielding.
Bellator MMA aired several events which were exclusive to DAZN but also some events were also airing on the Paramount Network. But the streaming on the digital platform allowed subscribers to see the Bellator product where the promotion did not have media deals.
DAZN is spending a lot of money for media rights and we’ll see if it pays off in the end. For Bellator, it’s hard to decipher whether the deal will help recruit new fans to its product, but it gets it more exposure in previously untapped markets.
The question for Bellator will be whether it decides to abandon the notion of PPV and air exclusive events on DAZN.
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