Rakuten enters fully into competing for the business of streaming sporting events with Rakuten Sports

The new live streaming and video on demand service will offer sports content to fans in 140 countries and regions around the world.

Rakuten has announced the launch of Rakuten Sports. This new live streaming and video on demand (VOD) sports entertainment platform provided by Rakuten will deliver sports content to a global audience.

Rakuten Sports will offer viewers matches from the Japanese Professional Football League (Meiji Yasuda J1 League) from the 2019 season, both live and on demand. The service's content portfolio, currently focused on soccer, also includes the original series Iniesta TV, which follows international soccer star Andrés Iniesta, who plays for the Rakuten Group's J.League soccer club, Vissel Kobe.

Rakuten has partnered with Lagardère Sports, the international distributor of the rights to the Japanese professional football league, to distribute the J.League matches of the 2019 season to fans of more than 140 countries and regions from around the world, excluding Japan and certain regions.

The new service is designed to attract football fans from Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and other Southeast Asian countries, where the sport's popularity is rising and where the J.League fan base is steadily growing.

“Rakuten believes in the power of sport to transcend linguistic and cultural barriers, a power that connects people and creates communities,” he said. Makoto Arima, executive vice president of the Rakuten group. "We are delighted to bring the joy of sports to people around the world, which is why Rakuten has worked alongside our partners to bring a diverse range of sports initiatives to life. Rakuten Sports represents an important part of this mission. We look forward to contributing to the continued growth of the J.League by sharing what the league has to offer to football fans around the world."

Masaaki Kimura, CEO of the J.League, acknowledges that "it is a real pleasure to know that Rakuten Sports will distribute Meiji Yasuda J1 League matches around the world through its platform in the 2019 season. In addition to international superstars such as Andrés Iniesta and Fernando Torres playing in the league, we feel the growing global interest towards our league. We hope to have a positive synergy with Rakuten Sports and make the league more attractive to all sports fans around the world. the world.”

In addition to football, Rakuten Sports plans to add to its offerings by introducing basketball, table tennis and other sports in the future. Going forward, the sports entertainment platform also plans to introduce new user engagement capabilities that will allow sports fans around the world to interact with content while communicating with other sports fans in new and innovative ways.