Eleven Sports acquires US-based AVOD specialist Team Whistle

Broadcaster Eleven Sports has acquired US-based AVOD specialist Team Whistle in a move that expands its operations to North America. 

Eleven said that the acquisition, which is subject to antitrust regulatory approval, will bring together its 150-plus commercial partners, 20 million-plus users and 30,000 hours of live sport annually with Team Whistle’s slate of original programming.

Whistle also offers 1,655 distribution channels, 629 million aggregated social media followers and four billion monthly video views.

The two companies will focus on expanding the group’s offering by securing more live sports content and developing new on-demand sports and entertainment programming, Eleven said.

Whistle houses original content and online creators such as Dude Perfect and F2 Freestylers. The acquisition follows that of MyCujoo last year, with the aim of building a new global ElevenSports.com platform, which will launch with a focus on niche-premium and long-tail sport.

Eleven’s parent company Aser Ventures first invested in Whistle three years ago and Aser’s founder Andrea Radrizzani is on the Whistle board. Pro forma revenues for the combined group will be in excess of $300m for the financial year ending 30 June, 2021.

Radrizzani said: “We have long recognised the opportunities for partnership between Team Whistle and the wider Aser portfolio. By welcoming Team Whistle into the Eleven Group, we are bringing together two media companies who have a track record of building strong and innovative sports media businesses in Europe, Asia and North America.

“We will also be adding transformative new scale and capabilities to Eleven. Together, we look forward to delivering on our goal of creating a global destination for live and on-demand sports content for audiences everywhere to enjoy.”