Verizon will pay the National Football League for rights to stream the Sept. 24 regular-season game between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars in London, The Wall Street Journal reports. The telecom giant is hoping to rank in digital ad revenues by streaming the game on its digital properties: AOL, go90 and Complex.
Why it matters: NFL's SVP of digital media business development told WSJ they chose Verizon because of its scale. (It owns AOL and is in process of purchasing Yahoo! digital properties.) The NFL has been losing TV viewers, so digital partnerships are crucial.
Between the lines: The League is making loads of money off of digital distribution deals, while expanding their digital audience at the same time. Last month, they announced an exclusive Thursday Night Football streaming deal with Amazon for reportedly $50 million. They also just announced an exclusive content partnership with Twitter.