NEW YORK and LONDON, Jan. 8,
2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery, Inc., the global leader in
real life entertainment, today announced the purchase of a 71%
controlling stake in Play Sports Group – the digital sports media
company behind market-leading cycling brands Global Cycling
Network, Global Mountain Bike Network and Global Triathlon
Network.
The deal underpins Discovery's ambition to build the number one
cycling media ecosystem worldwide, leveraging its position as the
global leader in live sports and a premiere rights holder for
cycling events in Europe - through
its principal sports brand Eurosport. In partnership with Play
Sports Group, the world's leading cycling community and the digital
destination of choice for cycling technology, training, tutorials,
behind the scenes content and more, Discovery will create the first
global ecosystem combining the best of community, content,
lifestyle and events for the large and growing number of cycling
enthusiasts – a $50bn global
market.
Discovery originally took a 20% stake in Play Sports Group in
February 2017. This additional
investment increases Discovery's ownership of Play Sports Group,
which will become a subsidiary of Discovery. Play Sports Group
Founder and CEO, Simon Wear, and his
team of 140 world class cycling experts across content, creative,
digital, marketing and sales services, will join Discovery, forming
a new global cycling-focused division in the company.
Founded in 2012, Play Sports Group owns and operates eight
cycling video channels generating over 45 million video views every
month, with 5.7 million social followers and 3.1 million
subscribers. During 2018, Play Sports Group launched five new
international channels, a consumer retail division and fan club,
and broadcasts live racing on its YouTube channels and via Facebook
Watch.
Discovery's investment in the Play Sports Group
strengthens the company's strategy of powering people's
passions by developing brands and products that super serve global
communities of fans and enthusiasts. The new proposition
creates opportunities to develop a significant direct-to-consumer
offering for cycling fans around the world. Discovery has
recently announced a pioneering strategic alliance with the PGA
TOUR to create a new international multi-platform home for golf.
The company has since launched GOLFTV and expanded its rights
portfolio as it moves towards becoming the established digital home
of golf for fans around the world.
Eurosport, part of the Discovery Sports family, is the number
one sport destination in Europe
and the leading TV rights holder for key cycling events,
establishing an unrivalled portfolio which includes all three Grand
Tours, more than 35 UCI World Tour races, including all five
Monuments, and the UCI World Championships. In 2019, cycling fans
will enjoy over 200 days and 2,500 hours of live cycling on
Eurosport and its all-access, live and on-demand, streaming
service, the Eurosport Player.
Commenting on the deal, JB Perrette, President and CEO at
Discovery Networks International, said:
"This is another important step in Discovery's strategy of being
the global leader in brands and products that power people's
passions. I couldn't be more excited to partner with Simon, a
fantastic entrepreneur, and his terrific team to help turbo charge
the expansion and globalisation of the Play Sports
Group."
Peter Faricy, CEO, Global
Direct to Consumer at Discovery Inc., added:
"Our partnership with Play Sports Group accelerates our global
direct-to-consumer sports strategy and gives us an unprecedented
opportunity to create a single global cycling destination for fans
around the world. Discovery and Play Sports Group share a
consumer-obsessed philosophy centered on a deep understanding of
super-fans and creating content that inspires, informs and
entertains, taking them closer to the sports they love.
"We know the value Play Sports Group bring to our portfolio and
we're excited by the possibility of building a 360-degree
proposition that combines the strength of their digital-first,
fan-centric content, alongside Eurosport's premium live
broadcasting rights and existing direct-to-consumer platforms."
Founder and CEO of Play Sports Group, Simon Wear, said:
"I am tremendously proud and excited for Play Sports Group to
join the Discovery family. As a fan and community-focused business,
we could not be more perfectly aligned with Discovery's deep-rooted
history in serving passionate, specialist audiences with super
high-quality content.
"Since Discovery's initial investment in PSG, we have worked
closely with JB Perrette and his team and it has become
increasingly clear that, as innovative direct-to-consumer
businesses, we have a shared vision of how to super-serve fans'
ever-evolving needs. The combination of Discovery and Eurosport's
leading package of cycling rights, its resources, infrastructure
and company philosophy, combined with Play Sports Group's massive
community of cycling fans means we have a phenomenal package. The
opportunity to build a world class digital destination, in multiple
languages, for cycling fans the world over is one that's just too
good to miss."
Discovery Sports is the global leader in live sports with
extensive brands and exclusive partnerships with premium sports and
events including: Eurosport and the Eurosport Player, the Olympic
Games, the Tour de France, the
Giro d'Italia, La Vuelta a España, The Championships – Wimbledon,
US Open, Roland Garros, Australian Open, ATP Tour, Bundesliga,
English Premier League, UEFA Europa League, Eliteserien, PGA TOUR,
Six Nations Rugby, FIS Ski World Championships, Moto GP and Formula
E to name only a few.
For more information about Play Sports Group – please visit
www.playsportsnetwork.com.
About Play Sports Group
Play Sports Group (PSG) is the world's leading digital sports
media company focused solely on cycling and tri-sports. Combining a
deep love of the sport with peerless expertise in video and digital
distribution, PSG has built a leadership position in the market,
with 45m monthly video views to
3.1m subscribers amongst the
5.7m social followers of its eight
channels that include Global Cycling Network (GCN), Global Mountain
Bike Network (GMBN) and Global Triathlon Network (GTN), along with
the first two of a growing number of non-English language channels,
GCN en Español and GCN Italia. PSG channel presenters are engaging,
knowledgeable former professional riders from the very highest
levels who connect with the fans, and with world class athletes,
teams and races, bringing their audiences to the heart of the
professional sport with unmatched authenticity. Headquartered in
Bath, England, PSG also includes
the award-winning cycling media agency, SHIFT Active Media who work
alongside some of the biggest, most high-profile brands in the
cycling world, and is backed by an investor group led by Discovery
Inc.
About Discovery
Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the global
leader in real life entertainment, serving a passionate audience of
superfans around the world with content that inspires, informs and
entertains. Discovery delivers over 8,000 hours of original
programming each year and has category leadership across deeply
loved content genres around the world. Available in 220 countries
and territories and 50 languages, Discovery is a platform
innovator, reaching viewers on all screens, including TV Everywhere
products such as the GO portfolio of apps and Discovery Kids Play;
direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Eurosport Player and
Motor Trend OnDemand; and digital-first and social content from
Group Nine Media. Discovery's portfolio of premium brands includes
Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation
Discovery, Travel Channel, Turbo/Velocity, Animal Planet, and
Science Channel, as well as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the U.S.,
Discovery Kids in Latin America,
and Eurosport, the leading provider of locally relevant, premium
sports and Home of the Olympic Games across Europe. For more information, please
visit corporate.discovery.com and follow @DiscoveryIncTV
across social platforms.
About Eurosport
Eurosport is the number one sport destination in Europe, fuelling the passion of fans and
connecting them with the greatest sports events in the world. As
the Home of the Olympic Games in Europe, Eurosport delivered the ultimate Games
experience for PyeongChang 2018 reaching both record linear and
digital viewership across localized Eurosport services. Firmly
established as the Home of Cycling, Grand Slam Tennis and
Winter Sport, Eurosport channels –
Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 – reach 246 million cumulative subscribers
across 75 countries in Europe,
Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East. Eurosport.com is Europe's No 1 online sports news website with
an average of 42 million unique users per month and, along with the
Eurosport app (available on iOS and Android), the only place to
watch Eurosport anytime online, on mobile and on tablet devices.
Eurosport Events specializes in the management and promotion of
international sporting events. More information is available by
visiting corporate.eurosport.com.
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SOURCE Discovery, Inc.