The new Ultimate Sevens rugby championship – that got underway over the weekend – is being broadcast globally in its inaugural season by sports streaming heavyweight DAZN.
An announcement to that effect was made last week, in advance of the action starting on Saturday.
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DAZN is now covering the series worldwide – with the exceptions of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Spain – and will make the games free-to-view.
In Australia, the rugby sevens competition will be shown by Stan Sport, while Sky has rights in New Zealand, and Fiji TV in its home market.
In addition to these broadcast tie-ups, all the action will be made available live on the Ultimate Sevens YouTube channel.
The match broadcasts are being produced in partnership with OS Studios, a New York-based content production firm.
World Rugby-backed Ultimate Sevens was officially launched as a property in London in May. It is being backed by Bia Sports Group, the investment firm that also owns English Premier League soccer club Sunderland.
The championship involves events in Wales (which held games on the opening weekend), France, and Spain, before a grand final at the Gtech Community Stadium in London (the home of English soccer side Brentford) on September 24.
There are both men's and women's editions, of six teams each (with eventual private investment into each team being the aim), and indeed around 75 of the top sevens players worldwide have already been signed up to contracts.
It has also been unveiled that short-form video platform TikTok has become an Ultimate Sevens partner.
In becoming a key activation partner of the series, TikTok will bring creators to the Ultimate Sevens finals later this month, with the organizers highlighting this as a necessary step to "grow the reach of Sevens rugby [and] introduce the sport to new audiences."
Barney Pascall, Ultimate Sevens' managing director, commented: "We are creating a competition that is designed to take sevens rugby to a much bigger audience, and these partnerships give us the platform and global reach to make that happen.
“This is about more than broadcasting matches. It is about creating a new audience for sevens, showcasing the world’s best players and delivering the sport in a way that feels relevant to today’s sports fan.”
Early August saw Ultimate Sevens disclose a significant commercial agreement with global financial services company Corpay.
The Corpay Cross-Border brand serves as the official and exclusive foreign exchange partner of Ultimate Sevens.
May, meanwhile, saw US sportswear brand Reebok sign up as the series' official kit partner.
