Eurosport reported record-breaking linear and digital viewership for the French Open, making it the most successful edition on the channel for 13 years. The broadcaster reached 56.9 million fans across the continent with its linear coverage, an 11% increase compared to the '17 tournament. On digital platforms, Eurosport recorded more than 29 million video views during the event -- an increase of 23%. Rafael Nadal's 11th title win was watched by 4.5 million (on average) across Europe, making it the most-watched men's final since '05. Eurosport also reported its most-watched women's final since '05 (Eurosport).
Global sports radio station talkSPORT won the rights to broadcast all Premier League matches for three years. The deal will commence in '19-20 season and last through '21-22. TalkSPORT will provide on-demand audio coverage for all 380 EPL matches around the world (THE SUN, 6/14).
Swedish media company MTG's Nordic Entertainment Group retained the exclusive rights in Sweden, Denmark and Finland to the Premier League. The new three-year deal covers the '19-20 through '21-22 seasons and gives the broadcaster coverage of 232 live games each year, a 13% increase on the previous agreement. The rights package includes matches on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, along with midweek games and the "popular festive fixtures." The deal also encompasses eight games with a new kickoff time of 8:45pm on Saturdays (SOCCEREX, 6/14).
Cricket Australia is close to finalizing a new radio media rights deal and dismissed speculation that the ABC "could be excluded from the agreement." Sources said that a new deal is "on track to be concluded before the end of the month and could be announced next week." A CA spokesperson rejected a report that the body is "set to split" with the ABC, whose relationship with the sport began in 1934 (HERALD SUN, 6/14).
Eleven Sports secured the live and exclusive Portuguese rights to Ligue 1. The three-year partnership includes rights to Coupe de la Ligue and Trophee des Champions (Eleven Sports).
Cloud9 announced a streaming content partnership with Mammoth Media for the organization’s League of Legends academy team. Riot Games is "now allowing organizations to stream matches" featuring its academy teams, "a first for the company." Cloud9 fans "will soon be able to tune into the team's Twitch channel for an exclusive pre-game show," the matches themselves -- with casting talent hired by Cloud9 -- and a post-match wrap-up show featuring Cloud9's Academy Team (THE ESPORTS OBSERVER, 6/13).
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