John WestWHISTLE SPORTS
When Whistle Sports raised $28M in a round of funding led by investment company Aser in June, it marked the latest step forward for the digital entertainment company. After launching in ’14 and establishing a presence in the U.K. in ’15, it now has about 460 million subscribers across the globe. The company’s founder & CEO, John West, told SBD Global that nearly 55% of that audience is int'l.
Whistle’s investment from Aser came about after West and Aser Founder Andrea Radrizzani met at Sportel in November ’17. Radrizzani is also the founder of Aser-owned Eleven Sports, which is now in 11 markets worldwide. West expects Whistle and the growing network to have a complementary relationship.
"We just clicked," West said of Radrizzani. "He’s a really visionary guy. ... He’s an expert in sports rights. His view of the world is very similar to ours, which is that you can sort of segment the audience. For 40 and up, they’re watching live sports on TV and they’ll continue to. For 25 to 40, they’re migrating to OTT platforms, they want to be streamed to and they want more flexibility. And under 25-year-olds are just living on social media."
Radrizzani told SBD Global of the partnership, "In our vision, we can build a great integration between the business of Eleven Sports, which is premium live sports, together with the social media sports content created by the different talents managed by Whistle Sports."
West identified three major priorities for Whistle following the infusion of funding: "build out an operation in China," work on packages that combine Whistle content with Eleven’s live sports rights and create original content for Eleven. He said that Eleven’s strong presence in Asia will be helpful as Whistle looks to gain a foothold in China.
"It’s such a huge market over there," West said. "We think that relative to social video around sports lifestyle, the market in China is kind of where it was in the U.S. four or five years ago as far as the opportunity for us to jump in there and grab a first-mover advantage, like we did in the U.S."
THE BIG PICTURE: West expects Whistle Sports, which currently has 95 employees, to continue its growth both inside and outside the U.S. He mentioned Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Latin America as specific markets Whistle could target "down the road." He added that he has learned to expect the unexpected.
"We didn’t have a five-year plan, we didn’t have a three-year plan," West said. "We’re sitting on the front edge of a massive disruption in media, but also in sports. I could not have predicted two years ago that, for example, Facebook would be a huge partner for us to create original content series, or, frankly, YouTube Premium. ... One of the wonderful aspects of Whistle Sports, and, frankly, one of the challenges, has been trying to anticipate how our business model evolves."
'EXTREMELY SATISFIED': Radrizzani also addressed the growth of Eleven Sports, whose portfolio has recently expanded with the addition of the U.K. rights to La Liga, Serie A and this year’s PGA Championship.
"We are extremely satisfied," Radrizzani said of the network, which launched in ’15. "It’s quite a unique and successful history in the sports media industry. In only a three-year period, in only one cycle, we are already in a position to reach break-even and be profitable by the end of this season in existing markets."
PLAYING CATCH-UP: Radrizzani said of his first year as owner of Leeds United, "Commercially, the club was not modern when I found it and entered the company. Now, after only 12 months, we can say the club is catching up. It’s very active engaging with the fans in different areas. We also relaunched the stadium by renovating different lounges. All the new projects that we have done have been received very well by the fans. Overall, we’re very, very happy. Unfortunately, we are not [happy] on the sports side. This is an area where I have to learn a lot. The first year has been difficult. I’m sure the challenge will continue. We need to become more and more competitive, and, hopefully, one day be where we want to be."
Radrizzani also addressed the possibility of selling the club if it secures promotion to the EPL.
"Many people, when they meet me, they ask me if I want to go up to the Premier League and sell," he said. "Actually, the answer is the opposite. I will never sell if I’m in the Premier League, or at least not in the short term. I will definitely enjoy the ride and stay a long time in the Premier League. That’s a dream I would love to enjoy. I might sell if I don’t go up in the Premier League after 10 years."
