Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn believes DAZN will only continue to grow.
The streaming service has made a big splash ever since its U.S. launch in September 2018. Playing host to some of the biggest boxing names such as Anthony Joshua and Canelo Alvarez, the platform reportedly closed in on 8 million global subscribers in November — doubling its subscriber base from June.
A further 200,000 subscribers joined in to watch the heavyweight title rematch between Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr. last month with a reported total of 1.8 million viewers across all DAZN markets.
Sources: #RuizJoshua2 pulled in around 1.8 million viewers across DAZN’s nine markets, and approximately 200,000 new subscribers, with most of those sign-ups coming from the U.S.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) December 10, 2019
And Hearn — who promotes Joshua — believes DAZN is now becoming a staple for boxing fans, at least, compared to the early days.
“Joshua-Ruiz was three times what Joshua got on Showtime. Even in America, it’s approaching a million audience [on DAZN],” Eddie Hearn told Chris Mannix recently (via BoxingNews24). “That’s a huge number. One of the problems we had recruiting fighters in the early days was, ‘Oh, no one is watching DAZN.’ They are. More people are watching.
“We’re getting bigger audience numbers than Showtime. [Jermell] Charlo just boxed on Showtime and got 300,000. You got Jacobs-Chavez, and that’s going to do 500-600,000 on DAZN. Joshua did nearly a million on DAZN. I so believe in the product of DAZN for the value for a fight fan.”
DAZN is currently a steep $19.99 per month, though one can get an annual package for a more affordable $99.99.
However, given the numbers DAZN is bringing in, Hearn wants to increase the monthly price to $50 in an attempt to get new users to remain subscribed — seemingly by going for the annual plan instead.
“I’m actually going to say to DAZN, ‘I think you should bump the monthly fee up.’ It’s $19.99 a month. Make it $50 a month,” Hearn added. “We don’t want you to come and go. We want you to stay and be a part of this community, learn more about boxing, digest the fighters, and grow with us.”
In addition to boxing, DAZN also has coverage of Bellator MMA events when it comes to combat sports.
And while $99.99 a year makes more sense — though it is unclear if Hearn wants the annual plan price to remain the same — given the content offerings, it is still a big investment for combat sports fans to make.
Especially when
True Lies The 100
No way Americans paying $50 a month for boxing. The sport is only like the 7th biggest sport in the country. Everyone will just find a link on the internet.
How is far more than doubling the price going to convince people to subscribe and stay as opposed to not signing up at all or dropping a subscription? Eddie Hearn, please explain that logic because I don’t get it. The average consumer is already paying for additional streaming video, TV, music, etc. There’s a limit.
I’m on the annual 100.00 for DAZN and I hardly watch it, usually use YouTube, but because it’s a better deal than 20.00 a month and I like having access to the big fights whenever and wherever. BUT IF THE PRICE GOES UP FOR ANNUAL I WILL CANCEL AND RATHER WAIT FOR IT IN YOUTUBE.