BR Foot Sports Media’s joint venture deal with social video technology company FanHero will lead to the creation of a global OTT service dedicated to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Brazil’s top-tier football league.
The BR Foot Sports Media consortium – formerly known as BR Newsmedia – acquired international media rights and in-stadium static advertising rights in May. The consortium has little to no experience in media or advertising sales.
It has created the joint venture – known as FanFoot – with FanHero to provide it with the technology and expertise necessary to launch a global OTT platform aimed at the Brazilian diaspora. The consortium believes this platform will be especially important in the US.
The consortium has hired ex-MP & Silva chief executive and ex-Traffic Sports executive Jochen Lösch to head up international media-rights sales. In most markets, the OTT service will offer Brazilian-language coverage while local broadcasters – either linear or digital – will offer local-language coverage.
BR Foot Sports Media’s deal for international media rights to Série A is not yet finalised with all 20 Série A clubs. Brazilian clubs sell media and static advertising rights separately, but the majority of clubs agreed to cede these international rights to the Brazilian football confederation so they could be sold collectively.
Flamengo and Corinthians, Brazil’s biggest clubs, were holding out for a larger share of revenue from the deal. It is thought Corinthians has since accepted the terms of the international media rights deal, but has not ceded its static advertising rights – along with Flamengo and Atlético Paranaense. It is also thought that Atlético Paranaense has not yet ceded its international media rights.
Local sources believe Flamengo and Paranasense’s international media rights will eventually be held by FanFoot, and that the deal will be finalised in the coming weeks.