How Ligue 1 built its own streaming platform from scratch - and whether it's here to stay | The New Economics of Fandom Ep.3
SportsPro PodcastShow Notes
What happens when a football league needs to broadcast its own live games?
In the latest episode of our New Economics of Fandom miniseries in partnership with Genius Sports, Chris Stone and Nick Meacham are joined by Cyprien Castanedo, head of media platform and innovation at LFP Media, to explore the launch and growth of Ligue 1+, the league's direct-to-consumer streaming platform.
After the LFP lost its domestic broadcast partnership, Castanedo explains how Ligue 1+ was built in a matter of months, reached one million subscribers within three weeks, and drove revenue through both subscriptions and major distribution partnerships.
As the league adopted the mindset of a modern media business, the conversation also covers pricing, churn, piracy, first-party fan data, and what Ligue 1's experience suggests about how DTC and traditional broadcast might coexist in the future.
The New Economics of Fandom is produced in partnership with Genius Sports and explores how sport's commercial future is being reshaped by technology, data and changing fan behaviour.
Key Points: How Ligue 1+ was built and launched at speed Delivering one million subscribers within three weeks and objectives for year two The role of distribution partners like Prime Video How Ligue 1+ approaches pricing, churn and piracy What DTC means for fan data and future media rights negotiations
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