Sportradar expands content portfolio with acquisition of sportsman media

By Paul Nicholson

April 24 – Swiss based sports data group Sportradar has widened the base of its business with the acquisition of German rights agency sportsman media holding. The German business stretches from media rights representation and sports marketing, to production services, digital platforms, digital services, as well as providing services for betting platforms, and takes Sportradar into new areas.

Sportsman had revenues of about €90 million in 2015 and is a privately held company owned by its founders Thomas Krohne and Karl Wieseneder. No figure was released for the cost of the acquisition.

The motivation for the deal for Sportradar was the additional penetration sportsman gives it into providing audiovisual and data content to the betting business, including some premium football content in Germany and Spain.

A company statement said the “combined portfolio will create one of the largest and most compelling audiovisual sports offerings currently available from a single provider, including premium content such as the Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and Copa del Rey in football, basketball’s CBA, volleyball’s CEV, ITF Tennis and ice hockey’s KHL, as well as some of the most important audiovisual betting content available across table tennis, badminton and many other events and event series.”

As well as beefing up the content that will become available to Sportradar’s more than 800 clients worldwide, sportsman also expands its business interests into new areas with a sport rights and marketing sales agency.

Sportradar also takes ownership of LAOLA1 Multimedia (the operator of Austria’s largest sports website as well the as new media service partner for clubs and federations), and unas media productions (a live streaming and video-platform production business).

Sportsman media holding founder and Co-CEO Krohne said: “We have chosen an ideal buyer for our group of companies with Sportradar. The sports rights, production and platform business we set up perfectly complements that of Sportradar. The clear synergies give us confidence that the company we built up and our staff have very good future prospects.”

Sportsman has had rapid growth, being founded in 2004 by Krohne as a rights agency in Munich and in 2005 making its first major breakthrough winning the rights to market the Bundesliga to media worldwide. In 2006 it launched, with sports betting site bwin.com, a live streaming proposition for sports betting platforms.

Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl outlined the additional opportunities for the Sportradar business sportsman brings: “Although we already provide the market-leading offering in data, odds and trading services, this agreement marks a shift. It will upgrade our audiovisual portfolio and will ensure that our clients will have the broadest and best range of solutions to choose from, whether on an individual basis, or whether on a bespoke bundle of solutions basis. But it also provides a unique opportunity to explore new synergies where we can cross-pollinate our various products and services.”

Sportsman’s 400+ employees will be joining Sportradar’s 1,300 who are spread across 30 locations worldwide. Sportradar itself has seen rapid growth, having only been found in 2001, not details for its turnover are publicly available but estimates put it at about €200 million.

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