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Forty Under 40

Forty Under 40: Joseph Markowski

amanda westcott / dazn

Joseph Markowski seemed taken aback, and perhaps even a bit offended, as he blurted a decisive “No” in answer to a Forty Under 40 survey question: Are you a cable or satellite TV subscriber?

As executive vice president, North America, for the digital streaming service DAZN, his aversion to traditional television distribution is more existential. “I suspect you realize,” Markowski said, chuckling, “that I don’t have cable.” 

Cord-cutting is, of course, a business pillar for DAZN, the first pure-play over-the-top sports network to launch in the U.S. Markowski has been neck-deep in it from the beginning, hired in 2011 by Perform Group, the U.K.-based sports media company that launched DAZN in 2016. Late that year, Perform dispatched the then-28-year-old Markowski to Japan to launch the service there.

DAZN quickly assembled a portfolio of rights that includes the top-tier Japanese soccer and baseball leagues, Formula One and MLB, as well as most of the world’s leading soccer leagues. Two years later, DAZN tapped Markowski to do the same thing in the States, running day-to-day operations.

“I’ve often been the youngest person in the room,” Markowski said. “In Japan, I was decades younger than most people we were dealing with. 

“I don’t think about it a lot. Is someone at 60 or 55 who’s got 40 years in the industry inherently going to understand OTT better than someone with 10 years experience? Probably not. It’s not something you need in a business like ours. The clout: You need that. But you also need young refreshing voices who can speak to the needs of OTT and understand it slightly more inherently than an older generation. Our business needs that combination. It’s a good mix.”

Executive Vice President, North America, DAZN


Age: 32

Born: London

Education: University of Nottingham, B.A., history and politics; Imperial College London, MBA

Profession I’d most like to attempt: An architect. I have no engineering skill set. But it would be cool to build buildings.

Cause supported: Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Person in the industry I’d most like to meet: I’d love to have dinner with Bob Iger. He’s an absolute legend. I would love to, in this American journey, meet him and pick his brain.

Most unusual question asked while networking: I get asked a lot of questions about my hair. It obviously is real.

Sports industry needs to do a better job of … : Innovating itself. Too many sports don’t innovate their formats. The sports that fail to do that are at the biggest risk of decline.

Most adventurous thing I’ve done: I went to Yosemite by myself and hiked for two days. I drove from LAX to Yosemite and slept in back of the car because there were no campsites open. I didn’t shower. Loved it. Brilliant.

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