WAVE.tv has announced a content agreement with the Endeavor-owned IMG agency, which will significantly increase the volume of traditional and non-traditional sports programming available on the California-based sports entertainment company’s portfolio of digital media brands.
As part of the agreement, WAVE.tv will gain broad access to distribute content from IMG’s sports rights portfolio, including World’s Strongest Man, Edge Sport and Euroleague Basketball, across Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.
The properties will air on WAVE.tv’s media brands, including WAVE TV, Benchmob, The Pump, Buckets, No Limits, and more. Both parties will share advertising revenues.
In addition to distributing the sports content, WAVE.tv is to take ownership of direct and programmatic sales related to the deal.
SportBusiness understands that the Endeavor-owned Ultimate Fighting Championship and Professional Bull Riders are not part of this initial deal but the properties are being considered as future additions to the content tie-up.
WAVE.tv co-founder and chief executive Brian Verne, said: “Sports is this universal language that connects people from all over the world and creates authentic experiences for fans.
“We continually seek fandoms to bring content and awareness to all genres of sports for today’s fan. Partnering with IMG allows us to continue to celebrate these unique moments and fandoms on a substantial scale and provide fans with an even larger community and sense of belonging. This is just the beginning of a bright and exciting future for us all.”
This new deal expands on an existing relationship between the two companies over the last 18 months, which began with distributing World’s Strongest Man (WSM) across WAVE TV, Highlights WAVE, Greatest Highlights, and WSM-focused Snap show The Pump. In a 12-month period, WSM content generated more than 345 million views.
Rebecca Levin, IMG’s director of media, said: “While working together on World’s Strongest Man, we quickly realised that WAVE.tv and its digital platforms provide a unique opportunity for our brands to engage with today’s sports fans in entertaining new ways. Storytelling and creating memorable experiences are at the core of what we both do, and we’re excited to be providing more content and access for fans than ever before as we extend our partnership to include other IMG properties.”
Generating over 3.2 billion monthly views, WAVE.tv has over 60 million followers and subscribers, reaching over 200 million sports fans each month.