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 ...
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 ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
26/03/2026
Extron and Audio-Technica have announced that their Design Solutions devices, Ce...
26/03/2026
SPORTEL Asia took place March 24-25 at the Orchard Hotel Singapore, drawing 370 participants representing more than 220 companies from 35 countries. Approximate...
26/03/2026
LTN will demonstrate satellite-to-IP migration solutions for broadcasters, cable networks, MVPDs, and station groups at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2100).
The C-Ban...
26/03/2026
The Seattle Mariners have partnered with Daktronics to install an upgraded outfi...
26/03/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) has awarded National Team Partner status to organizations and individuals across more than 100 countries and territories for the Esp...
26/03/2026
Telestream has announced expanded integration between its Vantage workflow platf...
26/03/2026
FOR-A Corporation has announced a partnership with Nippon TV and NVIDIA to distr...
26/03/2026
CBS Sports and the WNBA have expanded their partnership through a new long-term, multiplatform rights agreement. CBS Sports will feature up to 20 regular-season...
26/03/2026
Zac Brown Band will star in the Sunday Night Baseball show open on NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports announced. The open was filmed at American Family Field, home of ...
26/03/2026
Major League Baseball opens the 2026 season with nationally televised games across multiple media partners. Fans can visit MLB.com/Watch for a complete schedule...
26/03/2026
DIRECTV has announced an agreement to carry nine new MLB-operated team channels, covering the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers (Detroit SportsNet), Kansas City R...
26/03/2026
Nationals.TV, the Washington Nationals' local broadcast channel, is now avai...
26/03/2026
Starting Thursday, March 26, MLB.TV will be available on the ESPN App, giving fans access to more than 2,000 out-of-market regular season games. Fans can also r...
26/03/2026
Spotify's partnership with NAVER, Korea's leading digital platform, is built around one simple goal: making it easier for listeners in Korea to discover...
26/03/2026
Exclusive to ComposerCloud for first month
Sample library and virtual instrument gurus EastWest have announced the upcoming release of a new virtual drum i...
26/03/2026
Friday 27 March
Friday 27 March will mark Dynamic Range Day 2026, the annual day of online activity that was started in 2010 by mastering engineer Ian Sheph...
26/03/2026
Includes four separate instruments
Max Richter's SRM Sounds venture have just announced their fifth release, ASMR Choir. Captured at the main live room ...
26/03/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), has been tasked with administering the Sixth Presi...
26/03/2026
By Matt Klein
Hello to everyone reading this - whether you're a current YEP, HPA member, or just YEP-curious. I'm Matt Klein, one of the co-chairs of t...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
28 participating companies, from start-ups to blue-chips, lead the UK Group as part of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland presence across all the Halls at N...
26/03/2026
Arkona Unveils BLADE//planner and Major Usability Enhancements at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
New graphical configuration tool and...
26/03/2026
Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
Continuing development drives advances in security, availa...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Nevion introduces powerful new Panel Builder to enhance VideoIPath broadcast con...
26/03/2026
2026 Oscar Nominated Films Powered by Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton March 25, 2026
0 Comments
DaVinci Resolve Studio used on 27 of this year's no...
26/03/2026
Leader to present full suite of advanced Test & Measurement solutions at NAB Sho...
26/03/2026
Boston Conservatory to Present New England and Collegiate Premiere of Groundbrea...
26/03/2026
Thursday 26 March 2026
HBO Max included for Sky and NOW customers from 26 March...
26/03/2026
Thursday 26 March 2026
Sky Sets Iconic Costumes Dancing Together Like Never Before' in Brand CampaignTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy o...
26/03/2026
Wuppertal March 26, 2026
CS live Builds Future-Ready OB Van With Riedel MediorNet and hi Control SystemRiedel Communications today announced that Czech-based ...
26/03/2026
Back to All News
Have a Wish Worth Dying For? Netflix's First Korean YA Hor...
26/03/2026
Back to All News
The Truthers, Starring Jose Coronado and St phanie Magnin, Pre...
26/03/2026
Enhancements to Harmonic's Sports Streaming Solution Introduce Server-Side Multiview, Contextual Metadata-Driven Advertising, Dynamic In-Stream Ads and Robu...
26/03/2026
Open the report
Our 2025 report brings together results from 79 business magazine titles across 22 market sectors, published by 49 media owners. Over the year,...
26/03/2026
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
26/03/2026
RT Commercial today announced Fiat as sponsor of The Louise Duffy Show on RT Radio 1, Weekdays 3pm 4pm.
The Louise Duffy Show is the home of daytime music...
26/03/2026
That gaming backlog won't clear itself - GeForce NOW is here to help. Stream the latest titles straight from the cloud across a variety of devices.
This we...
26/03/2026
Wayne, N.J., March 26, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the latest product li...
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 
