⚽ The Broadcast Break: Will Ligue 1 Go Direct-to-Consumer?
With broadcasters pulling back, Ligue 1 is weighing a digital-first future built on control, content, and capital
⚽ French Football’s Platform Play: Can Ligue 1 Go Direct?
DAZN’s recent decision to sever its broadcasting deal with Ligue 1 has sent shockwaves through French football, reigniting discussions about leagues launching their own direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming platforms. With the landscape shifting dramatically, Ligue 1, guided by new media leadership and the strategic backing of private equity investor CVC Capital Partners, stands at a pivotal juncture. The league must now critically evaluate the feasibility, economics, and strategic implications of launching a league-operated OTT (over-the-top) streaming service.
Leadership Update: New CEO, New Direction
In April 2025, Nicolas de Tavernost, former president of French broadcaster M6 and one-time owner of FC Girondins de Bordeaux, was appointed CEO of LFP Media, the commercial arm of the Ligue de Football Professionnel. With deep roots in the media world and football, de Tavernost brings critical experience to steer the league through this transition and develop a commercially viable media strategy-whether that involves third-party partnerships or a league-controlled DTC platform. CVC will no doubt lean on its extensive experience to reignite discussions with Vivendi-owned Canal+.
Historical Context: From Mediapro to DAZN
In 2018, Ligue 1 secured a landmark media rights deal with Mediapro, valued at €1.15 billion annually for the 2020–2024 cycle, heralding a new era for French football finances. However, by late 2020, Mediapro defaulted, plunging Ligue 1 into a severe financial crisis and forcing the league into emergency rights deals with Canal+ and Amazon Prime Video totaling approximately €624 million annually. Recently, DAZN committed to a €400 million per year deal starting in 2024, now terminated due to ongoing market complexities. This volatility created significant uncertainty for the French football ecoystem.
🧱 Strategic Rationale: Why Go Direct?
Control Over Content: Owning the channel can enable better control over the messaging; whether clubs will be open to offer more tailored fan experiences, with exclusive behind-the-scenes and player-centric content, is to be seen.
Revenue Diversification: Reduced reliance on third-party broadcasters and potential to increase margins; if the model works, the league can keep the benefit of economies of scale.
Global Reach and Data Ownership: Direct relationships with fans offer valuable data, enabling targeted marketing strategies which would be difficult to achieve by relying on third-party distributors.
🛠️ Build vs. Buy: What It Takes to Stream In-House
Offering a league channel is not an easy task and will require the league to build / hire teams with significant additional know-how, including
Technical Infrastructure: Build (or lease?) robust OTT streaming technology, reliable CDNs, high-quality and reliable streaming capabilities.
Content Production Capability: Professional live production teams, commentary, analytics, advanced graphics, and dedicated creative teams for supplemental content.
Digital and Marketing Expertise: Subscriber acquisition, CRM analytics, social media engagement.
Customer Support and Retention Management: Efficient customer support infrastructure, proactive churn management strategies.
Patience: No matter how good the Ligue will be at executing the plans, acquiring D2C subscribers take time; it may take 2 or 3 seasons before the channel can attact the right level of subscriptions without strong distribution partners (eg, potentially the same DAZN or maybe Canal+?).
💸 Cost Logic: Platform Economics at Scale
Launching a DTC platform will therefore involve substantial investment. Some potential initial estimates are below
Initial Setup Costs: €8–10 million.
Recurring Annual Costs:
Technology and streaming: €5–10m
Live content production: €20–30m
Marketing & subscriber acquisition: €15–50m
Customer service and churn management: €5–10m
Administrative overhead: €5–10m
Annual costs thus likely range between €50m and €110m, with potential for rapid growth, especially in marketing.
📈 Subscriber Math: Breakeven Requires Scale and Retention
Subscriber economics highlight that Ligue 1 would need significant volume - potentially comparable to what DAZN achieved this season - to reach breakeven, depending on monthly pricing charged to consumer.
(Revenue per subscriber reflects monthly revenue gross of VAT and does not factor in seasonality or commercial subscriber revenues)
➕ Distribution Scenario for the Clubs?
But of course, breakeven is not why Ligue 1 would launch its own channel. The goal would be to secure significant distributions to the members clubs. The table below shows how many subscribers would be required to achieve various distribution targets, assuming the league operates with a fairly lean cost base of €50M.
(Figures assume a fixed €50M annual cost base on top of target distributions and monthly revenue per subscriber gross of VAT. Seasonality and commercial revenue not included.)
📉 Risk Curve: What the Regulator’s Warning Really Means
Amid the ongoing uncertainty, the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG) - French football’s financial watchdog - has reportedly recommended that Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs assume zero broadcasting revenue in their budgets for the 2025–26 season. This signals just how precarious the current situation is, and underscores the urgency of finding either reliable broadcast partnerships or a viable direct monetisation strategy.
📣 Marketing the League’s Channel
Targeted Engagement: Leverage social media, influencers, and data-driven marketing.
Strategic Partnerships: Collaborations with telecoms, betting companies, merchandise stores.
Promotional Campaigns: Incentives, exclusive content, trials, referral bonuses.
🧠 Challenges and Skills Needed
OTT infrastructure management
Digital marketing expertise
Advanced data analytics and CRM
Agile customer service
Innovative content strategies
⚖️ Economic Feasibility and Risk Assessment
Break-even Analysis: Profitability achievable within 2–4 years based on subscriber growth.
Key Risks: Subscriber churn, seasonal viewership volatility, competition from established OTT platforms.
🔑 Key Takeaways from the Global DTC Landscape
The most successful league-owned DTC platforms-like NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, and F1 TV-operate as complementary offerings, not replacements for traditional broadcasters.
Subscriber scale is critical: leagues must hit a minimum threshold, probably of at least 1.5m subs in the case of League 1, to make the economics work; that often requires strong marketing, global reach, and competitive pricing.
Tech and churn management are key operational pillars. OTT services must offer more than just match coverage-multi-angle cameras, club content, and fan interactivity can boost retention.
Younger European fans are digitally native but price-sensitive. Bundles, flexible pricing, and international options will increase adoption.
A DTC platform won’t replace €400m/year TV deals overnight-but it could become a sustainable, long-term revenue stream if Ligue 1 takes a phased and global-first approach.
🧭 Strategic Verdict: Ligue 1’s Platform Moment
With CVC’s significant investment and new executive leadership driving strategic initiatives, Ligue 1 is potentially well-positioned to navigate this complex scenario. A league-owned DTC platform could offer transformative benefits in revenue diversification and global audience engagement if clubs are patient and subscriber targets are met efficiently.
🧠 The Berkida Take
The potential shift towards DTC for Ligue 1 marks a structural evolution-leveraging platform strategies, IP-driven content, and data-centric monetisation similar to successful digital-native sports ventures. This strategic move, underpinned by private equity expertise and disciplined execution, could reshape French football’s commercial landscape for years to come.
📩 Building a strategy around streaming, fan data, or owned media in sport? Let’s connect-we’re tracking it closely.
What’s your take-will Ligue 1’s platform shift redefine how we invest in football media, or is this simply an attempt to wake-up potential new partners in Europe’s fragmented broadcast future? Comment below or reach out directly-we’d love your perspective.