Is it the time for European football leagues to adopt direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming on a full scale? A burning question being discussed across the boards and powers-to-be across the leagues seem to be moving in that direction. Some steps have already been taken by selected boards, albeit in a couple of cases it has been an ‘out-of-no-choice’ condition.
French football will be forced to take the step given the volatile situation with its existing media rights deals. The Professional Football League (LFP) is set to split from its current partner DAZN and given its sour history with Canal+ who didn’t even pitch for the new rights deal, they are left with no choice but to explore going DTC. If this happens, Ligue 1 could possibly become the first major European soccer league to go all-in on a domestic streaming service.
Across the channel, Premier League has taken the sudden decision to take all international broadcast production in-house from the start of the 2026-27 season. Does this imply a gradual step towards venturing on an own streaming service? A number of PL club owners actually favour the idea.
In this blog, we will discuss about the need which is forcing the leagues to take this route and the various factors that could determine its success.
Current Media Rights Landscape
Before we get into any conclusions, it serves best to have a quick recap of the current media rights situation across the ‘big five’ leagues.
- The current per year value of Premier League’s broadcast rights (includes international and domestic) at €4.53bn has grown by 14% over previous cycle thanks to the 23% growth in international media rights. In fact, international media deal value at €2.08bn is contributing more than the domestic value. This value is expected to continue for at 3 seasons before discussion on new rights begin unless any other developments.
- LaLiga media domestic media rights have been signed at least till 2026/27 season while the international media deal remains in place till 28/29 minimum, reporting a combined growth of about 11% over previous deal.
- German Bundesliga has managed to secure a 2% increase with new €4.48bn domestic broadcast deals, bringing in €1.12bn per year from 2025/26 till 2028/29 season from the current rights deal worth €1.1bn per year.
- The Italian Serie A clubs earn approximately 3% less per year in domestic rights than the previous deal. They opted to the DTC route in the big UK and Ireland market after struggling to secure traditional broadcast coverage in the market.
- The French Professional Football League’s (LFP) signed €445mn domestic deal with DAZN which was already substantially lesser than the targeted €1bn is on the verge of a breakdown. The situation as things stand out is they will be forced to go DTC route in domestic market. However, in international markets, their relation and deal with beIN stands strong with €140mn (up from previous right value of €80mn).
The DTC Route
One can understand the conditions under which French football is looking at adopting the direct-to-consumer route but why would Premier League be looking at it? Especially since its international media value share is 56% and growing with every cycle. The situation might not be as rosy for other leagues as far as international media rights value is concerned, but the answer to adopt the DTC route, in a nutshell, could lie in three key things:
- Unlocking a larger potential value.
- Control of content.
- Native app ensures more data and therefore a strong understanding of fans
Examining a hypothetical situation where a Premier League DTC is announced. Its current broadcast reach is now more than 800mn homes in 188 countries by aligning with more than 90 broadcasters.
A convincing argument on paper could be that with such a broad fanbase and existing reach, a slight push at an attractive price point would make the consumer switch over to a PL DTC willingly. Assuming 10% consumers switch over at say €9.99 pm price point, it would mean a whopping jump to a value of €9.6bn annually, roughly a 360% increase in value leading to a higher payout to each team.
Now that’s all good on paper, the challenges are manifold:
- Technology infrastructure: A significant investment would be required to upgrade the backend infrastructure and skilled resources to manage this, in a manner to become like a Netflix with the capacity of hosting over 100mn or even more viewers from across the globe. For the context, it took Netflix experience of streaming at least 3 live sports events to get it right. This step alone requires significant investment.
- Marketing: Coordinated campaign in multiple countries to make viewers aware. That alone requires a massive bouquet of resources. Add the continuous recall campaigns which needs to be delivered at regular intervals.
- Customer service: Not to mention the after sales customer service, a big effort is required here alone, essentially meaning each country or a group of countries having a dedicated team to address issues.
- Managing costs to distribute at an affordable price point. Possibly the biggest challenge of them all.
Question comes down to – are the leagues ready? It would seem that leagues are partially ready, at least at the production end. Premier League Productions, the backbone of its content has been associated with IMG for over 20 years creating over 6,000 hours of content every season and there is a significant knowhow already inbuilt. Similarly, Italy’s Serie A has a dedicated broadcast centre to manage production and German Bundesliga in Germany has had its own host broadcaster for several years.
Following question – Is this the right time? Maybe not. A lot needs to be done in the backend infrastructure apart from production capabilities. Only then the leagues can be called ready.
In Conclusion
At this point of time, it would seem to be too early for such a widescale adoption for the direct-to-consumer route but eventually it seems to be heading there. The leagues are partially ready on the production parameter, which probably is the easiest amongst all the challenges.
Leagues should consider this route only after getting their ducks in a row.
