NZ ad tech company VeNA and global digital rugby network RugbyPass have signed an exclusive reseller partnership covering New Zealand and Australia.
RugbyPass has a focus on original content to entertain and inform the 120 million rugby fans, in addition to delivering visible, effective media and creative solutions to brands.
Across Asia and parts of Europe, RugbyPass is the exclusive digital rights holder for Super Rugby, The Rugby Championship; Autumn Internationals, Six Nations, Aviva Premiership, European Champions Cup, Pro14, Top14, and Mitre 10 Cup.
Although the live streaming is not available in New Zealand or Australia, RugbyPass’ global team of rugby personalities, sports journalists and commentators are producing rapid and scalable content including in-depth features, articles, videos and podcasts, attracting growing numbers of NZ and Australian audiences.
In addition, RugbyPass’ match centre allows fans to follow game stats in real time, when they don’t have access to the live broadcast, and its fantasy gaming products provide strong engagement for tens of thousands of users.
“Opportunities for brands in NZ to connect with the RugbyPass audience include display, video, sponsorships, branded content, email, and social.”
The RugbyPass platform consists of an interconnected network of rugby websites, and social pages catering to different fan groups and geos. These include RugbyPass.com, Rugby365.com, RugbyOnslaught.com, RugbyDump.com, Fantasy Rugger, various podcasts and 15+ high-reach Facebook pages.
“Opportunities for brands in NZ and Australia to connect with the RugbyPass audience include display, video, integrated sponsorships and branded content, email, social distribution and amplification,” says VeNA NZ general manager Toni Knowles.
Singapore-based RugbyPass chief operating officer Richard North said: “This partnership further strengthens our premium sports category, is a strong media brand with NZ connections at its core, and has an exciting roadmap focused on the evolving needs of the global rugby audience.”
“The New Zealand and Australian rugby audience is hugely important to us and provides exciting and engaging opportunities for brands,” he said. “We recognise the importance of having a locally focused sales partner to lead and manage the relationships with agencies and their brands.
“With Super Rugby action starting on the 17th February and new seasons of our various original video formats kicking off again, our traffic and engagement across New Zealand and Australia builds considerably, making it an opportune time for brands to get involved.”
About VeNA
VeNA is an award winning, proprietary SaaS Video SSP, adserver and programmatic sales house operating across the Asia Pacific region. Independent, with offices in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, its core programmatic values are transparency, real time information and viewability. For agency partners, VeNA provides a wide range of solutions for distribution of video advertising at scale. For site/app and technology partners, VeNA offers a range of video asset management and platform services that add value and align complementary business objectives, to develop new revenue and strategic opportunities.
About RugbyPass
Launched in 2016 by Coliseum Sports Media (PremierLeaguePass.com) with a vision to connect the 120M global rugby fans, RugbyPass is the home of rugby in Asia and now the largest English-language rugby audience network in the world. RugbyPass complements a boom time for the game in Asia, including World Rugby’s deal with Chinese broadcaster Alibaba, the return of Singapore to the World Rugby Sevens circuit and the inclusion of Japan’s Sunwolves in Super Rugby. In 2016, Discovery Communications acquired a minority stake in the platform to provide sports fans to greater access to content on more screens, when and wherever they choose to watch it.
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