- Dugout to launch new South-East Asia
business by acquiring ballball from News Corp
- News Corp to become partner and
shareholder in Dugout SE Asia
- ballball delivers near-live highlights
of the leading football leagues to the world’s fastest growing
markets in South-East Asia
- ballball to become part of new entity -
Dugout SE Asia - which will have rights to distribute ballball
content in Asian markets, married with exclusive off pitch content
supplied by Dugout clubs and players
Unique digital football business Dugout and News Corp today
revealed plans for the landmark acquisition by Dugout of News
Corp’s mobile and online platform ballball, which
delivers near-live highlights of the world’s leading football
leagues and other great content to the fastest growing football
markets in South-East Asia.
The move highlights Dugout’s focus on expanding its global
presence and providing football fans around the world with access
to the best content from the biggest football clubs and players in
the world.
Dugout represents the first time the world’s biggest clubs have
joined forces to create a business – with partners
including AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC
Bayern Munich, Juventus, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC, Paris
Saint-Germain, Real Madrid CF, Inter Milan, Roma, Napoli, Tottenham
Hotspur, Atletico Madrid and more.
ballball.com was launched by News Corp in August 2013 and
is now one of the leading football video platforms in South-East
Asia. The platform distributes an unprecedented collection of
short-form highlights from European and other top football leagues
to the region - generating 800 million video views during the
2017-18 football season.
The agreement to acquire ballball will see Dugout showcase the
mobile and online platform’s unique aggregation of football content
in two key territories - Vietnam and Indonesia - through a ballball
section on the Dugout platform, with plans to expand into other
countries in the region. From today, the best of Dugout’s
content will also be showcased on ballball.com.
The acquisition will lead to the creation of a new Dugout entity
– Dugout SE Asia – which will be headquartered in Singapore and
will lead the expansion of Dugout in the region.
While parent company Dugout will be the majority shareholder of
Dugout SE Asia, News Corp will also have a stake in the new
business. This strategic partnership will include senior News Corp
executive Simon Greenberg sitting on the board of Dugout SE
Asia.
Elliot Richardson, Founder and Chairman of Dugout, said:
“We are delighted to have agreed the purchase of ballball, which
has been hugely successful in bringing great football content from
the world’s best leagues to fans in South-East Asia. We’re now
looking forward to complementing that platform with Dugout’s unique
ingredient: embedded partnerships and access to the best players
and clubs in the world.”
“Our aim with Dugout was to make it the digital football
destination of choice by aligning clubs/players with brands and
fans. We have already created over 15,000 hours of exclusive video
content with our partners, and with access to incredible archive
and new content themes, this will unlock more stories for fans to
view of the clubs and players they love. The purchase of ballball
will show the continued momentum behind the business and the chance
to work with News Corp as a partner is so exciting. We know that
South-East Asia is a hugely important territory for football clubs
and the brands we work with, so we look forward to giving football
fans in the region a great experience.”
Simon Greenberg, News Corp’s Global Head of Rights and
future Dugout SE Asia board member, said: “We are very
excited that News Corp is forging this new partnership with Dugout,
a unique business that brings with it incredible connections across
the world of football. In today’s rapidly changing media
environment, it’s essential to work with strong and innovative
partners like Dugout that recognize the value of premium
content.”
“With football the fastest growing sport in the world - and Asia
the fastest growing region - we launched ballball on mobile, the
fastest growing platform, in 2013 and we are very proud of all
that's been achieved since. The team has built an unparalleled
digital expertise and reputation to make it the go-to mobile
destination for football highlights in the region. Dugout
recognizes the value of that work and together we can use this
foundation to create a very compelling mobile offering for the many
millions of football fans in SE Asia.”
All 77 clubs (and a growing number of players) on Dugout have
a dedicated profile to upload content
and interact with fans, meaning that Dugout users get a
totally personalized experience based on the clubs and
players they follow. The business launched in late 2016 and
has already gathered over 67 million unique users and 912
million video views to date. Dugout has a social footprint of 2.1
billion and over 12,500 videos have been posted on the platform by
clubs, players and brands.
Dugout has recently announced a number of other strategic
partnerships to support the business’ objective of expanding its
global presence. For example, in December Dugout launched a
partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS) – boosting the
brand’s global profile and tapping into the growing popularity of
football in North America.
This approach reflects Dugout’s core belief in “localization of
content” – giving partners and brands detailed analytics that
enable them to better understand audience behavior and tastes in
specific markets, in order to boost fan engagement.
The company has also signed deals with innovative
tech companies like VEWD, SPOTX, Rakuten/Viber and Amazon to
reach more users and provide brands advertising on the platform
with better engagement, cutting-edge user consumer targeting and
detailed analytics.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About ballball
ballball.com was launched by News Corp in August 2013 and
is now one of the leading football video platforms in South-East
Asia. It distributes short form highlights from Europe and other
top football leagues in Indonesia and Vietnam and in the 2017-18
season ballball generated 800 million video views for this content,
representing 966% growth FY15-FY17.
ballball is the 4th largest football destination on Facebook in
both Indonesia and Vietnam (combined population 340 million+) and
has developed partnerships and distribution with a number of
regional blue-chip partners from the digital media and telco
sectors to further maximize its reach.
ballball is based in Singapore and has a staff of 5, as well as
freelancers and in-market translation teams. The rights content
agreements are held by ballball.com’s parent company NWS
Digital Asia Pte Ltd, which remains a News Corp owned
subsidiary.
About Dugout
Dugout represents the first time the world’s biggest clubs have
joined forces to support a business. Since launching in December
2016, 77 clubs, one National Football Federation and two
Leagues have all signed partnerships with the platform.
Each club and player has a dedicated Dugout
profile to upload content and interact with fans and
Dugout users get a totally personalized experience based
on the clubs and players they follow.
Dugout works with its partners to create high-quality, original
content, both using unrivalled social reach and on platform which
includes videos from clubs that are exclusive to Dugout,
lifestyle and personal updates from players, and original video
series featuring ball skills and tricks from players that can’t be
seen anywhere else.
For details on b2b offering, please go
to www.dugoutworldwide.com.
About News Corp
News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS)(NASDAQ:NWSA)(ASX:NWS)(ASX:NWSLV) is a
global, diversified media and information services company focused
on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content to
consumers throughout the world. The company comprises businesses
across a range of media, including: news and information services,
book publishing, digital real estate services, and cable network
programming and pay-TV distribution in Australia. Headquartered in
New York, the activities of News Corp are conducted primarily in
the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. More
information: http://www.newscorp.com.
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Communications:Jim Kennedy,
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Relations:Michael Florin, 212-416-3363mflordin@newscorp.com
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