Sports Illustrated, Dugout partner on OTT football
April 30, 2020
Maven, the publisher of Sports Illustrated, and Dugout have announced a content partnership offering football fans in the US and Canada a new way to view and experience behind-the-scenes premium video content from more than 100 of the world’s leading football clubs, national football federations and leagues.
The partnership is Dugout’s first entry into the US market and will significantly strengthen SI’s soccer coverage, which previously focused on text-based content.
Sports Illustrated will now have access to Dugout’s library of archive and behind-the-scenes video content. Dugout is co-owned by some of the world’s largest football clubs including AC Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, and distributes more than 2,500 brand-safe, professional videos a month with more than 1.84 billion views in 2019 across Dugout.com and its network of more than 85 publishers globally.
“For more than 65 years, Sports Illustrated has delivered best-in-class sports journalism and we are thrilled to partner with such an iconic US publication that is steeped in great history and tradition,” said Elliot Richardson, Co-Founder and Chairman of Dugout. “Our new collaboration means we will work closely to deliver our premium soccer content to their huge online audience. We have seen our monthly video views grow to 400 million so far this year and as we aim to take this towards one billion across all markets, this strategic partnership in one of the most important markets is very complementary as we expand our brand globally.”
“We are thrilled to join forces with Dugout to offer soccer fans across North America compelling and robust video experiences from the biggest Clubs and players in the world,” added Ross Levinsohn, CEO of Sports Illustrated Media. “We continue to strive to offer consumers and marketers unique, premium content in dynamic ways.”
The partnership with Sports Illustrated in the US follows Dugout’s new content agreements with Suning’s PP Sports in China and Onefootball across Europe.