Esports entertainment company BLAST has expanded its global broadcast reach after agreeing a media rights partnership with DAZN Group, the leading global sports entertainment company, for 2022.
The partnership will amplify BLAST Premier, meaning the global Counter-Strike tournament. The series will be available across over 100 of DAZN’s territories, live and on-demand, including United Kingdom, Japan and USA.
Last year DAZN broadcast over 27,000 sporting events across 956 million hours of streamed content to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide and it is the first fully integrated global sports entertainment platform.
As part of the deal, DAZN will broadcast BLAST Premier’s remaining five events of the year including the Spring, Fall and World Finals that are all set to be hosted in major arenas in key locations around the world.
DAZN will broadcast next week’s Spring Final (15-19 June), which will be hosted in Lisbon’s Altice Arena – the biggest indoor arena in Portugal and one of the biggest in Europe.
Alexander Lewin, VP of Distribution and Programming at BLAST, said: “We’re thrilled to team up with one of the world’s biggest and most respected sports streaming services in DAZN. Our overarching aim is always to ensure BLAST Premier is available and accessible in as many regions around the world as possible, this partnership is helping us to achieve that goal with BLAST now broadcast in 154 territories and in 25 languages. Our partnership with DAZN in over 100 markets is testament to the current global demand for BLAST Premier and the high production quality.”
Tom Burrows, DAZN EVP Rights, DAZN Group said, “DAZN is committed to making a broad range of sport more accessible to an ever-increasing number of fans and this is a great opportunity to partner with BLAST Premier and broadcast the Counter-Strike tournament series on our platform. There is a fast-growing market for esports and the series is a great fit for DAZN while we continue to expand our offering and become the ultimate sports destination platform for fans.
BLAST Premier is the world’s leading Counter-Strike tournament series, hosting the best players and teams, offering opportunities to regions across the globe and crowning the world champions of CS:GO. Up to 32 of the world’s best teams take part in the seven BLAST Premier events across the year with a combined prize pool of $2,475,000 on the line.
