Telstra partners with Kayo to expand sports streaming offering

Telstra’s live sports strategy takes a giant leap forward with Kayo Sports to deliver a world-class sporting entertainment experience with more value and more sports on more screens for Live Pass customers.

Telstra will expand its sports streaming offering for customers through a long-term partnership with Kayo Sports, Australia’s premier sports streaming service. Kayo will replace Telstra Live Pass in the AFL Live App and NRL Official App, delivering sports fans a world-class experience featuring every AFL and NRL game, of every round, live and ad-break free during play. Kayo also delivers the biggest and best range of live and on-demand sport from Australia and around the world.

Telstra is offering an exclusive offer for customers who have previously used the NRL and AFL Live Passes. Eligible customers will now receive a special offer from Telstra of $20/month off Kayo’s Basic subscription (usually $25/month) for 12 months providing them with Kayo for just $5/month for 12 months.

This exclusive offer gives Telstra Live Pass customers access to every game of every round of the AFL and NRL regular seasons (including the Finals Series in the lead up to the AFL and NRL Grand Finals), and also 50 premier local and international sports live and on-demand, across multiple devices and screens.

All other Telstra consumer customers have access to a special offer of $10/month off Kayo’s Basic subscription for 12 months (equates to Kayo Basic $15/month for 12 months). More information here: http://hub.telstra.com.au/kayo

Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said the partnership with Kayo would give Live Pass users access to Australia’s best sports streaming service at amazing value.

“We laid the foundation for sports streaming in Australia with Live Pass back in 2012. Today, video streaming of content is everywhere. How and where viewers consume their content and their expectations have changed greatly in this time.

“We have always been committed to delivering fans the best experience possible across our range of products and services, and sports is a key part of our strategy and offering. While Live Pass has provided a great experience for our customers over time, Kayo has quickly become the premium sports streaming service in Australia, and we’re excited to provide this exclusive offer to our customers, giving them the chance to watch a wider range of sports on their choice of screen.

“We’re proud to support the AFL and NRL and will continue working with them and our other partners to leverage the latest innovation and technology to offer their fans and our customers the best entertainment experience possible at the game, at home, on the bus, or anywhere our network takes you.”

Patrick Delany, Foxtel Group CEO said: “We have a great long-term relationship with Telstra and as our company’s strategies evolve, we are finding new ways to work together. We have created a great product in Kayo, streaming 50 sports live including the AFL and NRL action, it’s exciting for Kayo to be endorsed for Live Pass customers by Telstra.”

Since its inception, the Telstra Live Pass - which gave fans unprecedented access to live sport on-the-go thanks to the rise of smartphones and rapidly improving mobile internet - helped grow a community of sports lovers keen to see every minute of the action in and out of their homes.

By 2020 the number of subscribers had surpassed over three million, streaming hundreds of millions of minutes of action per year from apps developed by Telstra on behalf of its sporting partners.

The AFL Live App and NRL Official App will remain powered by Telstra, and still be the home of all the other features subscribers know and love, including match replays, live scores, highlights, stats, and other great features on the AFL, AFLW and NRL apps.

Gillon McLachlan, CEO AFL said: “Each season we work closely with the Telstra team to improve our digital offering to footy fans around the country, and around the globe. Our AFL, AFLW and club digital media network bring fans closer to the game and closer to their clubs.

Our goal is to bring the game to more fans by giving them choice of where to watch- whether that be on a mobile device on the move or right there in their lounge room at home. The AFL brings fans the most comprehensive coverage of the AFL and AFLW competitions, complementing our great broadcast partners Telstra, Kayo, Foxtel and the Seven Network.

The Telstra and Kayo partnership will give our fans an innovative platform and take footy directly to the them.”

Andrew Abdo, CEO NRL said the announcement was another exciting addition to the viewing experience for NRL fans.

“Rugby League is lucky to have wonderful fans that enjoy watching games on multiple devices,’’ he said.

“Through our work with Telstra and now Kayo, we can provide our fans with another exciting option for their viewership experience – live or on demand, and on any device. Today’s announcement is about giving our fans the experience and flexibility they deserve. We will keep focusing on continuously improving our fan experiences and delivering value for our partners and I expect more exciting enhancements to follow.”

Today’s announcement is a result of the ongoing evolution of the sports streaming industry and broadcast rights landscape in Australia which has changed dramatically since the Live Pass was launched on mobile devices by Telstra in 2014, while the demand for top-tier live sport, and its importance to the community has been underscored by record AFL and NRL ratings during 2020. The announcement also follows the live broadcast rights agreements completed by the AFL and NRL with the Foxtel Group during 2020.

Australia has also seen an emergence and uptake of several entertainment and sports streaming services in Australia; consumer behaviours and expectations have quickly evolved to demand access to more live sporting content across more screens and devices, which Kayo includes, compared to Live Pass.