DAZN, the international sports streaming platform, has today unveiled a long-term strategic partnership with digital sports platform and e-commerce giant Fanatics.
From the third quarter of this year, a substantial range of Fanatics products, such as licensed team merchandise and sports apparel, will be made available for fans and DAZN subscribers to buy from a site on the DAZN streaming platform.
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A second phase of integration will then follow within the next 12 months, through which a store will be opened that will be “more deeply embedded in the DAZN experience.”
This will feature one-click purchasing and a tailored DAZN experience linked to the individual subscriber’s “user profile, favorite teams, and players.”
Fanatics will make sure every DAZN customer "has access to the latest releases and most relevant products,” the media outlet said.
Shay Segev, chief executive at DAZN Group, said: “Fanatics and DAZN share similar long-term goals, and this is a great beginning of a long-term partnership. Having an integrated online store where fans can buy their team’s official merchandise and sportswear is part of the overall fan experience – it's an essential expression of support and fan culture to millions.”
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By GlobalDataGary Gertzog, Fanatics’ president of business affairs, added: "This partnership will enable DAZN to expand its offering and make it even easier for fans to access their favorite team merchandise.
"Finding new, innovative, and improved ways to better serve sports fans is something we are constantly focused on, and enabling DAZN to bring a fully integrated merchandise offering to its platform helps to do this, we can’t wait to get started.”
In May, Fanatics and UK pay-TV giant Sky entered into a similar tie-up, in a move that marked the network’s first breakout into retail.
Through that deal, fans across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy are now able to purchase licensed sports merchandise directly from Sky Sports’ owned and operated channels.
The tie-up gives fans access to Fanatics’ range of licensed products from over 900 sporting organizations such as English soccer’s Premier League, motor racing’s Formula 1, American football’s NFL, basketball’s NBA, and cricket.
Fanatics then struck a deal with Spanish soccer’s top-tier LaLiga in June, its first-ever partnership with a major European league in that sport.
As part of a “wide-ranging” omnichannel retail and manufacturing partnership, the Spanish top-flight is launching its first official online shop. The Official LaLigaStore is being launched globally this summer.
Earlier this month, the platform also gained a foothold in Japan, through a partnership with e-commerce giant Rakuten.
For DAZN, meanwhile, this move comes soon after it launched its premium subscriptions product in Belgium, Portugal, and Taiwan.
The launch brings DAZN’s total core markets to ten after its acquisition of Eleven Sports in February.
July saw the sports streaming service strike a partnership with hospitality package provider Daimani, meanwhile.
