Australia’s commercial broadcaster Nine Network has struck an exclusive rights agreement to air the upcoming 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
The deal will see Nine show every race live and free across its 9Network linear channel and 9Now streaming platform between July 11 and August 3.
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The broadcaster also gains access to every swimming session of the Australian Dolphins team, as well as heats and finals.
Nine’s director of sport Brent Williams said: “As they proved at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Australian Dolphins are without a doubt one of the best and admired sporting teams in the world. We look forward to continuing the journey with them to Singapore, where legends will build on legacies and new champions will emerge.”
The deal was brokered by World Aquatics’ (WA) long-standing agency partner Dentsu, which manages rights sales for events in markets such as Japan and select Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Thailand.
Sports marketing agency Sportfive manages the global media rights sales for WA events in all markets outside of Japan and those APAC countries, meanwhile.
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By GlobalDataOver 2,500 athletes from 210 national federations are competing across six disciplines – water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming, high diving, and swimming.
The championships are being held in Singapore, which replaced the Russian city of Kazan after it was stripped of the event by WA.
Competition venues include the Singapore Sports Hub, a complex that consists of the National Stadium, the Singapore Indoor Stadium, and the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
Kazan lost hosting rights to the championships over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after first being named in 2019. The decision makes Singapore the first Southeast Asian city to host the event.
The 2025 event will be staged in cooperation with the Singapore Swimming Association and Sport Singapore, a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth.
At the time, WA president Husain Al-Musallam said: “Singapore has everything we hope to share with our athletes: world-class facilities, proven experience of hosting events of the highest quality, and a comprehensive approach to aquatic sports that runs from elite level to the community.
“With a back-to-back-to-back trio of World Aquatics Championships in Asia – following Fukuoka this year [2023] and Doha in 2024 – the continent is demonstrating exceptional commitment and ability when it comes to welcoming the world’s best aquatic athletes.”
Rights to the competition across Europe are held by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the continent's major alliance of public service broadcasters, as part of a wider deal encompassing all WA competitions.
Brokered by Sportfive, WA’s global media rights agency, the three-year partnership (2024-26) renewal will cover WA’s biggest global events, including this year’s Championships and next year’s 20226 World Swimming Championships, as well as the World Cup series’ of Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, Open Water Swimming, and High Diving.
The next edition of the World Aquatics Championships in 2027 is being staged in Budapest, Hungary, while Chinese capital Beijing will host the 2029 edition.
