Volleyball World, the commercial vehicle of the sport’s FIVB governing body, has struck a four-year, media rights distribution tie-up with the Iris Sport Media agency.
Through a deal unveiled today, Iris becomes the volleyball organization's exclusive distribution partner across Central and South America, except Brazil (one of the markets, globally, in which volleyball is extremely popular).
The agreement covers all media and digital output for both men's and women's competitions and stretches across both men's and women's competitions, such as the Volleyball World Championships, the Volleyball Nations League, the Club World Championships, the Beach World Championships, and the Beach Pro Tour (Elite 16).
In addition, Iris will market rights to both the men's and women's Italian domestic leagues. In the case of the men's Serie A, rights between 2025-26 and 2028-29 will be distributed, while for the women's Femminile Serie A, the deal covers 2025-26.
Volleyball World's VBTV over-the-top streaming platform is already a significant broadcaster of Italian top-tier volleyball action.
Felix von Knorring, Volleyball World's head of media, has said: "We’re delighted to be partnering with Iris to strengthen our presence across Latin America — a region with an incredibly passionate volleyball community and huge growth potential. This collaboration reflects our commitment to bringing the sport closer to fans and building long-term value for our partners across the region.”
In terms of its broadcast rights activity, earlier this month, Volleyball World announced a key tie-up in the US, with Paramount-owned sports network CBS Sports and Fox-owned Big 10 Network.
This deal marks the first time that top-level volleyball competitions will be available nationally on US television.
Coverage of both tournaments will be distributed across CBS Sports and BTN, including every US men’s and women’s national team fixture.
Over the last month, Iris has been working to distribute rights to the revamped edition of soccer's FIFA Club World Cup (taking place in the US currently).
Iris, in particular, has been working on behalf of global rights-holder DAZN in sub-Saharan Africa and Central America.
