DAZN's current inability to increase its subscriber base makes Cyril Linette fear the worst, who has once again sounded the alarm.
New Ligue 1 broadcaster since this summer, DAZN
did not have the expected start in terms of subscribers. If current figures suggest a base of around 500,000 subscribers to the broadcaster's offer, this remains very far from its initial expectations. And it is also far too insufficient to ensure the sustainability of its economic plan for very long. While it has an early departure clause in the event of an insufficient number of subscribers, DAZN made some observers fear the worst.
The subject comes up week after week in the specialized media and this Sunday, it's the show “The Great Faces of Sport” broadcast on RMC who looked into it. On the air Cyril Linette was not very optimistic when taking stock and discussing the potential consequences of a story that has been going badly for a long time.
“I would like to point out that I speak as an expert and enthusiast. Canal+ has 5 million subscribers. DAZN is 400,000. It's not very complicated to make the report: basically the Ligue 1 audience has been roughly divided by ten compared to seven or eight years ago. And it's not DAZN's latest choice. This is the change of broadcasters over the last six years. »
“No Parisian bar subscribes to DAZN”
An observation which made the man who ran (and lost) against Vincent Labrune in the last elections for the presidency of the Professional Football League say: “Who still talks about Ligue 1 in bistros? Listen carefully to the conversations in the bistros. Less and less. »
The former journalist then made a perhaps questionable assertion: “My son wanted to watch 'Classic' in a bar on Sunday, but he couldn't find any. No Parisian bar has collectively subscribed to DAZN. Shop around. They all kept their Canal subscription. There is no bar, at least in Paris, subscribing to DAZN today. »
And Cyril Linette finally gives his version of things concerning the public's still existing interest in Ligue 1:
“For me, football still holds because you are there, RMC, L’Equipe. There are the matches, not many people see them, but we continue to talk about them a lot in the broadcasts. If tomorrow your audiences start to decline (…) and this ecosystem starts to say to itself: 'In reality, people don't talk too much about Ligue 1 anymore because you've seen, it's reducing audiences',
it will be catastrophic for football. So, yes, Ligue 1 is in mortal danger. » This is what is said.
