Sports Media Report
The Professional Fighters League (“PFL”) and ViewLift today announced a partnership that will leverage ViewLift’s technology to power the PFL’s digital platforms and bring MMA action, behind-the-scenes footage and statistics and metrics to fans worldwide. This partnership between the PFL and ViewLift will enable PFL to share OTT content, in-depth athlete stories, streaming video and 360-degree comprehensive coverage across all digital platforms, including mobile devices.
“Our partnership with ViewLift is key to fulfilling PFL’s vision of re-imagining MMA and delivering a new experience for our partners, fans and fighters in our first-of-its-kind league,” said Peter Murray, CEO of PFL. “We are committed to presenting mixed martial arts in innovative ways that capture the full spectrum of talent, athleticism and action that PFL athletes bring to the cage. With ViewLift’s technology, we will create a direct connection between PFL, its fighters and its partners and millions of loyal MMA fans.”
The partnership between PFL and ViewLift is another facet of PFL’s commitment to bring the best live and on-demand MMA action and content directly to fans. Professional Fighters League events and fights will be streamed live and on demand on pflmma.com and the PFL apps, broadcast live in primetime on NBC Sports Network, and streamed live globally on Facebook Watch. The PFL 2018 Season debuts June 7 from Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden and consists of 7 regular season events, 3 “win or go home” playoff events, and concludes with the $10 million PFL championship event on December 31.
Together, ViewLift and PFL are determined to change the landscape of sports media. PFL’s unique win-and-advance format and fighter-focused content gives fans unprecedented access both inside the DECAGONTM and outside of the cage. ViewLift’s platform will give PFL powerful tools to unlock the value of that content for the benefit of PFL’s fighters, fans, sponsors and partners. In the future, ViewLift’s technology will also allow MMA fans to go deeper by supporting PFL’s “Cagenomics” feature that will give viewers statistics and analytics about the fighters and the fight.
“We love the intersection of sports and technology,” said Rick Allen, CEO of ViewLift, “and PFL lives at the middle of that intersection. We will work with PFL and its other partners to help MMA fans go deep into the sport: to watch fights live or on demand, to go behind the scenes to see how fighters live and train, and to understand all of that more completely than ever before, by integrating data that matters, right into the experience. What the technology, business and fight worlds all have in common is that the best pros win – and that’s what this new alliance between PFL and ViewLift brings to the game.”
U.S.-based and international fans will be able to watch all PFL regular season, playoff, and championship fights—over 66 hours of live action—for free. In the United States, all of the PFL regular season events will air live on Thursday in primetime exclusively on NBCSN, and stream live on NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, pflmma.com and the PFL apps. All regular season events will have encore telecasts on NBCSN later the same night.
Outside the U.S., Facebook will stream up to six hours of free, live coverage for each event. In the U.S., fans can watch the first three hours of coverage of each event on Facebook and continue to watch the rest of the card on NBCSN. Prior to the bell, fans can learn more about the PFL, the fighter roster and the personal stories of PFL fighters at PFLmma.com.
