
SVG Sit-Down: DAZN's Zander Berlinski on the Quick International Success of NFL Game Pass The streaming company has helped the NFL grow its presence overseas By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, December 13, 2024 - 2:47 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
A major goal of the NFL this season has been international expansion. That's evident by the increasing number of regular-season games played outside the U.S. This season, the league played five games off U.S. soil: one in Brazil, three in London, and another in Berlin.
With that international reach naturally came a rethinking of the league's overseas live-media rights and distribution. In the second year of a 10-year deal, the NFL relies on DAZN as distributor of live game coverage through add-on streaming product NFL Game Pass. Purchasing NFL Game Pass, DAZN subscribers get full access to every NFL game - regular season, playoffs, and the Super Bowl - making it a linchpin of the league's global ambitions.
SVG sat down with Zander Berlinski, SVP, strategy and business development, DAZN Group, to discuss the product's success since the NFL's international product migrated to its platform, what viewing tendencies he has noticed in international markets, and why this is an exciting trend for sports leagues of all sizes.
What are the highlights for DAZN in regard to the NFL Game Pass project?
It has been really good. We took over the product at the beginning of last season and grew the subscriber base over 30%, which was a great first-year result. We had a bunch of success on attracting new fans to the platform. From that perspective, this year is off to a similar year-over-year growth rate, which is great.
A couple key things have been very exciting from our perspective: innovating from a product perspective and bringing new features and benefits to customers to go beyond the streaming experience.
This year, we launched the Ultimate tier, sort of a second tier of the product. With it, you get certain benefits from a streaming perspective, whether that be UltraHD (when available) or Dolby 5.1 audio, and you also get certain benefits beyond the core streaming experience.
I think both DAZN and the NFL were excited about using the power of our platform and tech to create an experience that moves toward becoming sort of a digital home for an NFL fan internationally in all the various touchpoints that they want to engage with.
We launched NFL Game Pass on Amazon channels in six markets this season, which has helped increase the exposure of the product to reach new fans and allow them to watch it where they want to. Also, holistically, distribution - all the platforms we are on - was one of the main reasons the NFL wanted to come to DAZN, which was a significant increase relative to where they were. We continue to add platforms, and we're quite distribution-agnostic as a company.
How important are the NFL's international games for you and the product?
From a key-moments perspective, international games are a really big moment for us because they become cultural moments and go beyond the avid diehard NFL fan. It starts to engage the broader sports audience in those markets.
The Brazil game being added this year in Week One was a great one. Obviously, London and Germany, as always, were great, and the number of those games will increase in future years. We're excited about that.
The other big moments tend to correlate with the overall NFL calendar. Thanksgiving, granted it is a U.S. holiday, has appeal internationally from an NFL-calendar perspective, given the focus on the matchups and the three games being on Thursday in a good time zone for most of the main European audience.
Have any regions or markets where the NFL hasn't physically visited yet surprised you in their interest in NFL Game Pass?
We've seen good uptake in Mexico. They've had a game there in the past, and the league may try to go back there in the future, but Mexico has been really strong.
To your point, where we've also seen strength - I think this correlates not necessarily to NFL interests but also speaks to some of the broader strategic narratives of why they wanted to come into DAZN - is in our core markets. Those are markets like Japan, Italy, Spain, where we own the core domestic broadcast for a lot of the Tier 1 sports. In Germany, we have Bundesliga and Champions League; in Japan, we have the J League and a good portion of their domestic baseball teams. We promote pretty heavily to those users and give, in certain instances, special promotions through CRM or on platform.
I think the scale of our base internationally was one of the main reasons the NFL wanted to come do this partnership with us. They had done a very good job over eight-10 years building a platform that, on an independent basis, found a lot of the diehard NFL fans who were seeking it out, but, to get to the next level of growth, they felt it would be difficult to grow on a pure standalone basis. Inside a broader sports ecosystem, where we have millions of subscribers on the app each day, we can promote the app. That was a quite appealing part of the partnership.
Speaking broadly, what have you learned about international consumers of the NFL that is different from those who have grown up with the NFL in the U.S.?
It's interesting. I think there are probably a couple different cohorts that you can think about. There is a cohort that is quite similar to the U.S. audience. Those are diehard fans, whether expats who live abroad or people who grew up following the game because of a relative. Those fans were on the product already when we migrated it or are coming in Day 1 of the season. They're getting the product because they want to make sure they don't miss every game or the games of a specific team.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
14/04/2026
ToolsOnAir and Omnistream Bring Mobile SRT Contribution into Professional 24/7 P...
14/04/2026
Haivision has announced the Falkon X4, a 5G mobile video transmitter for live broadcast and remote production. The device will be showcased at NAB Show 2026.
...
14/04/2026
Founded by veterans of the production-truck world, Stripe TV was born out of a d...
14/04/2026
Grass Valley has expanded its partnership with Studio Berlin, supplying 12 LDX 135 UHD/HDR camera systems and 12 LDX 180 Super 35mm cinematic cameras, including...
14/04/2026
LTN has announced two senior appointments ahead of NAB Show 2026: Mark Romano as Vice President, Multichannel Platforms, and Edward Cox as Vice President, Sales...
14/04/2026
Sennheiser and Italian rental company Agor have begun preparations for their Eu...
14/04/2026
DAZN and ADI Predictstreet have announced a partnership to integrate ADI Predict...
14/04/2026
Deltatre has announced the completion of a direct-to-fan website and app for Leg...
14/04/2026
Daktronics, will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 in partnership with Grass Valley at Booth C2408, Las Vegas Convention Center, April 19-22.
Daktronics will showcase a...
14/04/2026
Backblaze will host a series of partner presentations at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N1259, North Hall), open to all exhibition hall badge holders. Showcase partners i...
14/04/2026
BRAHMA AI will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2415, West Hall), demonstrating its Enterprise AI Content Platform for media, entertainment, sports, and technol...
14/04/2026
Bridge Technologies has announced that its VB440 production probe has been integrated into NEP Platform, NEP Group's software orchestration system. The inte...
14/04/2026
Clear-Com will introduce new products and demonstrate its communications ecosystem for broadcast and live production at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5807, April 19-22)...
14/04/2026
EZDRM will use NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2260) to introduce the Revenue Security Prism, a framework for combining multiple security technologies to protect streamin...
14/04/2026
Telos Alliance will introduce the following products at NAB Show 2026:
TV and Media
Telos Infinity MK2 Panels: A new generation of hardware control panels for...
14/04/2026
Panasonic Video and Audio Systems North America will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C3509), demonstrating IP- and IT-based production solutions for sports, bro...
14/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
14/04/2026
Blackmagic Design will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2502). CEO Grant Petty s product announcement livestream is available at youtube.com. The company announ...
14/04/2026
The deal establishes a close strategic alignment' between the iconic cinema...
14/04/2026
BIGSHOT Media, with support from Teradek, produced untamed African mountain-bike race' with daily coverage and highlights show
The 2026 Absa Cape EPIC, an...
14/04/2026
The Sports Video Group (SVG) today announced the launch of the SVG AI Innovation...
14/04/2026
Captures a trio of renowned polysynths
The latest software to join AIR Music Tech's extensive catalogue captures the sound of three sought-after polysyn...
14/04/2026
Free offering includes 10 powerful plug-ins
United Plugins have announced the launch of a new bundle that brings together 10 of their pro-audio plug-ins, an...
14/04/2026
Julian Coryell joins virtual session player line-up
Announced at NAMM 2026, Celemony's Tonalic kits DAW users out with real performances by world-class ...
14/04/2026
WESCAM MX -Series EO/IR Systems Provide Critical Visibility During NASA Re-Entry Operations....
14/04/2026
DiSCO reduces uncertainty during the fog of war in modern threat environments an...
14/04/2026
GOES-19 imagery captured by L3Harris-built Advanced Baseline Imager technology helps forecasters issue life-saving weather warnings. Credit: NOAA/NASA...
14/04/2026
For decades, understanding the physical world from space has required a trade-of...
14/04/2026
Ruiz has helped fuel growth for both client-side and media companies, including, most recently, TelevisaUnivision.
He will spearhead transformation, innovatio...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Shotoku Introduces the World to Aura P2 PTZ Prompter Panner at NAB 2026
New system removes PTZ pan restrictions for teleprompter-based productions
Shotoku US...
14/04/2026
Integration of Vantage, Pulse, and Telestream UP with Grass Valley AMPP Ecosystem enables scalable, interoperable workflows spanning live production and file-ba...
14/04/2026
Enterprise growth leader to scale Dalet's next phase of innovation and global expansion
New York, NY April 14, 2026 Dalet, a leading technology and ser...
14/04/2026
Berklee Celebrates Prince's Legacy in Two-Night Signature Series Event Directed by Tia Fuller, the Prince Project (April 16-17) brings together more than ...
14/04/2026
Arooj Aftab Is Anything but Predictable The singular artist explores the juxtaposition of grief and joy, dark and light, in her distinctive sound.
April 14, ...
14/04/2026
Appear launches include XM estate management and new X Platform processing enhancements to add density for next-generation hybrid & IP workflows, X5 is also now...
14/04/2026
Addressing the needs of a new generation's viewing habits, Synamedia launches GO Shorts. The AI-powered module turns existing catalogues into TikTok-style ...
14/04/2026
Vubiquity, an Amdocs company and global leader in technology-led media services, will be showcasing a new end-to-end streaming solution in collaboration with El...
14/04/2026
LiveU today announced a significant expansion of its collaboration with Sony Corporation, introducing integrated support for Sony's file-based workflow solu...
14/04/2026
Open Broadcast Systems (https://www.obe.tv/) has announced that BBC World Service has selected its decoders for IP Television distribution. The high-quality, lo...
14/04/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 21
Brie Clayton April 14, 2026
0 Comments
Major update adds new Photo page bringing Hollywood's most a...