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News
Bundesliga multilayered strategy in UK and Ireland
Bundesliga International has confirmed deals with multiple broadcasters throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland to ensure fans across the neighbouring islands can watch their favourite stars play in Germany next season, including England captain Harry Kane and Borussia Dortmund’ s rising star Jobe Bellingham.
The multi-year deals give British and Irish Bundesliga fans more opportunities to watch their favourite teams each matchday with the broadcasting rights being granted to different outlets across a number of platforms.
Under the new strategy, existing partner Sky Sports will continue exclusively to screen the Saturday‘ top match’ alongside a comprehensive highlights package and other shoulder programming throughout the week.
The Bundesliga’ s new partner Prime Video holds the exclusive rights to all Sunday matches on a single pay-per-view basis( UK only), with no long-term commitments required.
“ German football has an intense following in the UK, especially as more English talent such as Jobe Bellingham and Jarrell Quansah join the likes of Harry Kane in the Bundesliga,” commented Tim Wood, head of rights and business affairs, Prime Video Sport, EMEA.“ By expanding our Pay-Per-View selection with Bundesliga matches, we’ re giving UK football fans more ways to engage with European football throughout the season without longterm commitments or subscriptions.”
Peer Naubert, Bundesliga International CEO, added:“ The relationship between British football fans and the Bundesliga is a love affair that has been growing for decades. The noise of our sold-out stadiums, the unique history of our clubs, the end-to-end football that entertains and excites: our goal is to transport these moments of magic from the pitch to the screen, and with Prime Video showing Bundesliga matches each Sunday, we are confident that fans throughout the UK will experience the best of German football.”
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“ The multiyear deals give British and Irish Bundesliga fans more opportunities to watch their favourite teams each matchday.”
The season’ s opening tie was screened freeto-air across multiple platforms in the UK and Ireland, as part of the Bundesliga’ s innovative audiencebuilding strategy that aims to make all Friday matches widely available.
This approach is anchored by a multi-year deal with BBC Sport. The BBC will stream all
Friday night games via its on-demand platform BBC iPlayer as well as on the BBC Sport website and app.
Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport, commented:“ To be able to include Bundesliga matches within our live football offering is phenomenal, especially Bayern Munich’ s opening game with England’ s captain Harry Kane. I’ m proud BBC Sport has such an impressive portfolio of football coverage across all of our platforms – from live games to highlights, digital clips to breaking news on the website, we’ ve got fans covered this season.” The free-to-air strategy will be supercharged through a partnership with leading YouTube football channels, who will livestream matches on their platforms in a watchalong format.
This will be the first-time ever a top league will grant live rights for an extensive package of matches to content creators in Europe.
The Overlap, featuring some of English football’ s biggest names such Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Ian Wright, will show 20 Bundesliga games in 2025-26, starting with the season opener on Friday, to its 1.5 million subscribers, while Mark Goldbridge’ s That’ s Football channel with 1.3 million subscribers will also stream 20 matches.
This content creators’ partnership will be part of a broader collaboration with the platform, focusing on combining the
Bundesliga’ s fan base and in-depth content with YouTube’ s unprecedented reach to tell the best stories from the German league.
The Bundesliga’ s own YouTube channel will also broadcast all Friday evening matches from the top tier of the German league and Bundesliga 2 games next season.
“ We are delighted to announce our newlook line up of great media partners as part of our multi-platform strategy in the UK and Ireland,” said Naubert.
“ Our approach is as diverse as our supporters: by combining established broadcasters with digital platforms and content creators, we are taking a progressive step in how top-level football can be experienced.
“ This multi-layered strategy allows us to connect with more audiences across the UK and Ireland, giving every supporter the chance to engage with Football As It’ s Meant To Be in the way that suits them best.”
FreeWheel, Experian announce UK partnership
FreeWheel, a Comcast company and technology platform for the video advertising industry, and Experian, a data and technology company, have announced a partnership aimed at improving audience targeting for media buyers in the UK. The collaboration will enable advertisers to reach more precise, addressable audiences, ensuring consumers receive more relevant experiences, products and services.
Experian’ s household consumer insights and expertise will now be integrated into FreeWheel’ s ecosystem including FreeWheel’ s Publisher Suite, its demand-side solutions including FreeWheel DSP( formerly Beeswax DSP), and Comcast Advertising’ s new Media Solutions division.