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RANKED: The 10 most-streamed sports events on DAZN in 2019

Jan 7, 2020, 18:36 IST
Photo by Al Bello/Getty ImagesAndy Ruiz Jr. lost his belts in his first defense, when Anthony Joshua scored revenge in Saudi Arabia.
  • One of the UK's few tech unicorns, the market-disrupting OTT platform DAZN, has reportedly grown its subscriber base to 8 million globally since it was founded in 2015.
  • 2019 was a big year for the broadcaster with 507 million combined hours spent on its app, which can be downloaded on mobile, smart TV, and desktop.
  • DAZN also says 107 of its events last year surpassed the one million viewer milestone.
  • In a press release, the platform said that four of its top 10 streamed events were boxing fights, with the other events being prominent soccer matches.
  • Keep scrolling to see the platform's most-streamed event of the year.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Little is known about how well DAZN has been performing since the market-disrupting OTT platform began streaming sports events to US and global audiences in recent years.

But DAZN is already one of the major players in the combat sports industry because of its partnerships with Bellator MMA, Matchroom Boxing, and Golden Boy Promotions (boxing).

It also owns the rights to broadcast UEFA Champions League soccer to audiences in Canada, Japan, Germany, and Austria.

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Described as one of the UK's few tech unicorns by the Evening Standard in 2018, the firm's subscriber base has reportedly grown to 8 million globally with 800,000 subscribers in the US where access costs $19.99 per month or $99 for a year.

DAZN told Business Insider it did not want to comment on specific viewer counts for its top 10 most-streamed events of 2019, but said 107 events that year surpassed the 1 million viewer mark.

It says viewers spent a total of 507 million combined hours on its app, with 314.6 million (62%) of those hours being spent watching soccer. Boxing, meanwhile, was responsible for 22.6 million hours (4.5%).

Of the 10 most-streamed events in 2019, one was Serie A soccer, four were boxing, and five were from the UEFA Champions League.

Keep scrolling to see DAZN's most-streamed event.

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10: The middleweight fight between Saul Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs — boxing.

DAZN invested $365 million to lure Saul "Canelo" Alvarez — boxing's number one pound-for-pound fighter according to this Business Insider list — to its platform in 2018.

The weight-hopping Mexican has since fought thrice on DAZN, knocking out Rocky Fielding with ease in 2018 before beating Daniel Jacobs over 12 rounds in New York on May 4.

9: The UEFA Champions League semifinal between Barcelona and Liverpool — soccer.

On May 1, FC Barcelona thumped Liverpool by three goals to nil at the Camp Nou in Spain thanks to goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi (two).

It gave the La Liga team a commanding lead to take into the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal later in the fortnight.

8: The UEFA Champions League semifinal between Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur — soccer.

Tottenham lost 1-0 to Ajax in the first leg of its UEFA Champions League semifinal on April 30 but the following week, on May 8, launched an astonishing comeback and beat the Dutch team 3-2 on the night, and 3-3 overall (winning on the away goal ruling).

7: The Serie A match between AC Milan and Internazionale — soccer.

The only league-level soccer match in DAZN's top 10 most-streamed events is Inter's 2-0 victory over city rival Milan on September 21.

Goals from Marcelo Brozovic and Romelu Lukaku put the Rossoneri to the sword in this anticipated derby.

6: The UEFA Champions League group game between Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich — soccer.

If you like watching Tottenham Hotspur getting humiliatingly beaten, then this was the match for you.

Bayern Munich ran rampant over the Spurs, beating the Londoners 7-2 with four goals from the former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry, two from Robert Lewandowski, and one from Joshua Kimmich.

5: The YouTube fight between prominent creators KSI and Logan Paul — boxing (sort of).

One of the most polarizing events in DAZN's schedule was a fight between two novice boxers, YouTube creators by trade: KSI and Logan Paul.

Regardless, it was also one of their most popular events and they've got a follow-up, with Paul's brother Jake taking on AnEsonGib on Thursday, January 30 in Miami.

4: The light heavyweight title fight between Sergey Kovalev and Saul Alvarez — boxing.

The light heavyweight title fight between Sergey Kovalev and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez was delayed to accommodate the main event fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz at UFC 244 in November.

Though the delay infuriated boxing Twitter, it proved a shrewd business move as DAZN says it encouraged sign-ups and saw the Canelo bout, another win for the Mexican, gatecrash its top 5 most-streamed events for the year, coming in at no.4.

3: The UEFA Champions League semifinal between Liverpool and Barcelona — soccer.

Though FC Barcelona had beaten Liverpool 3-0 just one week prior, Jurgen Klopp's team bounced back with one of its most inspired performances to beat Lionel Messi et al 4-0 on the night.

The victory saw Liverpool advance into the UEFA Champions League final.

2: UEFA Champions League final between Tottenham vs. Liverpool on June 1 — soccer.

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur had gotten to the UEFA Champions League final thanks to highlight-reel performances in the semifinal stage.

Liverpool beat Spurs 2-0 on the night in a relatively boring match, but the tournament showpiece was still one of DAZN's most successful of the year.

1: The heavyweight world title rematch between Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua — boxing.

Anthony Joshua is one of the jewel's in DAZN's crown, and his story is becoming every bit more compelling as a loss now helps define his journey.

He was supposed to be introduced to American audiences mid-summer last year as this hulking heavyweight colossus, but he was humiliatingly beaten by Andy Ruiz Jr., and sent back to Britain with the first loss of his career, knocked down four times en route to a shock stoppage loss.

The rematch, though, proved to be big business for DAZN. It was the broadcaster's most-streamed event of the year, and saw Joshua win back the world titles he had lost earlier in the year. Joshua became a two-time heavyweight world champion, and will likely make a title defense on DAZN in the coming months.

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