The service has content from the English Premiere League, Serie A and the National Basketball Association

One of the most important developments in recent sports history is the growing popularity of live streaming. Instead of watching the local game on the weekends, sports fans can watch the entire league, whenever they want, where ever they want.

One company, called Eleven Sports, is a British-based sports platform and has expanded across much of Western Europe since its launch in 2015. Now, thanks to its fast growth, Eleven Sports operates in seven markets globally — Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Singapore, the US and Taiwan.

In 2016, CEO Marc Watson saw an unusual chance to beam sports like the Premier League, NBA basketball and Formula 1 auto racing into Asia. That year Taiwan became the second Asian market after Singapore, based on what Watson describes as a local passion for sports.

Eleven Sports in Taiwan

A market survey showed that the service would succeed in Taiwan because its people have a passion for sports, showed an interest in the events broadcast on Eleven Sports and will try new tech according to a fair pricing scheme, Watson told Business Next.

The name “Eleven Sports” refers to a football (soccer) team of 11 players. Its business model rests on localising content and languages to each market, including what Watson describes as otherwise underserved viewers.

Eleven Sports started in Taiwan as an over-the-top internet streaming service in January 2016 and moved into Taiwan’s MOD cable in February 2017 to adapt to local viewers who prefer television sets to the internet.

“We see a bright future here since people here in Taiwan love sports, and we are eager to launch more interesting contents here for Taiwanese fans,” Watson said.

Behind the scenes

Watson, 45, once worked as chief executive of BT TV, a sports broadcasting operation under British telecommunications company BT Group. The law expert also used to advise the Premier League on legal matters.Eleven Sports buys the rights to big-league sports broadcasts and prides itself on giving fans flexibility to choose how, when and where they watch games.

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A passion for sports should also be a byword for people on the Eleven Sports staff, the CEO suggests. Finding the right employees is a challenge because the programming and marketing are all localised, he said.

“Hiring the right people is always the key challenge no matter from which market,” Watson said. “We will never put in a British or a French (person) to run Taiwan’s market, since the locals know better what does the local audience prefer and how to make it better.

“You don’t have to be a fan interested in every single sport,” he added. “However, it would be better if you are a certain sports fan or it might be wrong you work with us since we are in sports field.”

Taiwanese tastes

Some but not all in Taiwan like soccer despite some dedicated fans. Since baseball and basketball have a broad following, Eleven Sports is working with Taiwanese teams for broadcast rights.

“For instance, we talked to the people from the Lamigo Monkeys, a well-known local baseball local team, to seek for providing more contents for the fans here,” Watson said.

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Eleven Sports will is also looking to work with advertising firms, telecom firms and other TV channels, the CEO said.

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Originally is from Business Next Media.

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