DAZN remains in the red but hopes to “drive margin to profitability

DAZN expects its betting platform to help it turn a profit.

UK.- It’s been almost ten years since the streaming platform DAZN was founded, and the company remains in the red. The latest report to Companies House shows an operating loss of $1.38bn in 2023 compared to $1.06bn in 2022.

The company, led by Shay Segev since early 2022, blamed the decline to “key exceptional items”, possibly including licence fees for big tournaments. The good news was a 30 per cent increase in revenue to $2.3bn and a 25 per cent rise in EBITDA from negative $1.1bn to positive $830m.

The last three years have seen DAZN sign high-profile media rights deals and the launch of its betting platform DAZN Bet, which started in the UK in 2022 and has since expanded to Germany, Spain and Italy. The company remains confident in its positioning at the crossover of media and betting and said it “expects to continue driving improvements in margin towards profitability”. It has previously said it aimed for profitability in 2024.

The past year has seen DAZN sign domestic football deals with Ligue 1 in France and the National League System in England. It expects to continue to expand its media rights business by entering into new markets, while the DAZN Bet sportsbook brings in more revenue and advertising streams.

Len Blavatnik’s investment firm Access Industries became the majority shareholder in DAZN in 2016. It has invested $6.7bn to date.