DAZN names film producer and media magnate Giladi as president of broadcast partnerships

Film producer Aviv Giladi has today (Monday) been named as the president of broadcast partnerships at DAZN Group, the global sports subscription service and media company.

Giladi will oversee all of DAZN’s joint venture partnerships, including the long-term deals in place with the European Handball Federation, the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), and the Women’s Tennis Association.

DAZN Group said that the Giladi will “look to expand existing joint ventures and audiences worldwide and identify new partnership opportunities”.

Shey Segev, who was recently named as the sole chief executive at DAZN Group, remarked: “Aviv joins us at a time of great global growth at DAZN, as we broaden and strengthen our strategic partnerships, and transition our platform into a more expansive sports destination, benefitting our stakeholders, fans, leagues and the athletes themselves.

“Our goal is to make sports broadcasting more fun, interactive, social and accessible to everyone on any device, and our partnerships with rights holders, athletes and leagues are key to this. Aviv is a great addition to our leadership and will be fundamental in driving this strategy.”

Giladi is well known in the Israeli media sector and to Len Blavatnik, the billionaire founder of DAZN owner Access Industries. Giladi previously established RGE Group, the Israeli media group in which Access Industries became a significant shareholder. Assets housed by RGE included Channel 10, the Sports Channel and Noga Communications.

Giladi was also previously a director of AI Film, the London-based film production company backed by Access Industries. At AI Film, Giladi helped to produce titles including ‘I, Tonya’, the biographical black comedy about US figure skater Tonya Harding. In 2011, Giladi was recruited as chief executive of the Access Industries-owned film production company Icon UK.

Last year, Giladi headed an unsuccessful bid for Uefa club competition broadcast rights in the Middle East and North Africa as beIN Media Group, the incumbent, retained the rights following a snap tender process.

He said today: “DAZN Group has a brilliant portfolio of strategic partnerships and I look forward to further enhancing the commercial opportunities and helping grow new audiences for sports around the world. DAZN is gaining huge global momentum and I look forward to overseeing and identifying new partnerships and supporting our existing joint venture partners.”

The EHF, Fiba and the WTA represent DAZN’s trio of high-profile joint venture agreements.

DAZN and the Infront agency co-market EHF media and marketing rights, having agreed a 10-year international rights contract. The agreement, which includes the men’s and women’s EHF Euros (from 2022 to 2030), as well as EHF club competitions, is worth €500m ($560m) in rights fees alone, with an additional spend on production and services.

Fiba and DAZN (then Perform) created a joint venture in 2016 to oversee the management of the international federation’s media rights, along with live broadcast production, broadcast services, data and editorial distribution of the international federation’s events around the world. The deal with DAZN is worth €500m over 17 years, with rights fees making up the majority of that sum.

A 10-year media rights alliance with the WTA was unveiled in 2014. That agreement, which is worth $525m (€469m), runs from 2017 to 2026.

Earlier this month, DAZN Group announced its latest executive reshuffle as the Israel-born Segev, former head of international sports betting and gaming group Entain, was named as the sole CEO. James Rushton, who became acting group CEO after Simon Denyer exited in June 2020, was given the new title of DAZN co-founder. He will continue his existing responsibilities in “overseeing growth in local markets, rights and content”.

In addition, Darren Waterman, international finance director of Amazon Prime Video, was recruited as group chief financial officer, succeeding Stuart Epstein. Sport Business