LONDON: Discovery Communications has purchased a 20-percent stake in Play Sports Group, the digital sports media company behind the brands Global Cycling Network (GCN) and Global Mountain Bike Network (GMBN).<\/p>\n
With its investment, Discovery also gains a seat on the Play Sports Group board. In January 2017, Play Sports Group reached more than 20 million cycling fans with content posted across its YouTube channel and its Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat profiles. The company will launch further channels in cycling and across other sports, hiring up to 150 people for newly created digital and creative roles over the next two years\u2014 predominantly based at its headquarters in Bath in the U.K., as well as a small number based in new international offices.<\/p>\n
Discovery leads this latest round of funding, which also has been supported by its existing investor group\u2014including Andrew Croker (chairman), Oli Slipper (non-exec director), John Gleasure and Stef D\u2019Anna (Perform), Tony Ball (ex-Sky and BT), Paul Bolwell (ex-Wiggle) and Humphrey Cobbold (Pure Gym, ex-Wiggle). Ralph Rivera, the managing director of Eurosport Digital, and Sameer Pabari, the senior VP of business development for Eurosport, will join the newly formed executive board.<\/p>\n
Simon Wear, the founder and CEO of Play Sports Group, said: \u201cPassion for cycling is the biggest it\u2019s ever been and as a lifelong fan, I know it\u2019s one of the most robust and enduring sports that\u2019s ever existed. I\u2019m delighted to have Discovery Communications and its leading sports brand Eurosport join our incredible list of investors and advisors. It\u2019s extremely clear how determined and smart they are in the development of their digital business, and we\u2019re really looking forward to working with the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to our team of investors, we\u2019re able to make our business ambitions possible. Their backing and financial support enables us to really turbo-charge the next phase of growth, bringing around 150 new people to digital and creative roles. There\u2019s an audience of hundreds of millions of cycling fans around the world, and together we\u2019ll get closer to them than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peter Hutton, the CEO of Eurosport, commented: \u201cEurosport\u2019s community of cycling fans is among the most passionate and devoted in sport, so we are excited to deepen our position as Home of Cycling even further. Working with a digital media company that is squarely focused on cycling is an excellent proposition for Eurosport to align with, and it\u2019s another example of how we\u2019re nurturing sports communities and making sure viewers have access to their favorite sports content whenever and wherever they choose to access it. This deal turns up the volume on Eurosport\u2019s digital business, which includes Eurosport Player\u2014the all- access on-demand digital pass, and Eurosport.com\u2014Europe\u2019s number one online sports news website. With the Play Sports content integrating our brand and services, this multifaceted partnership will be a winning result for advertisers, partners and most importantly, for fans of cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON: Discovery Communications has purchased a 20-percent stake in Play Sports Group, the digital sports media company behind the brands Global Cycling Network (GCN) and Global Mountain Bike Network (GMBN).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[342,1064,1065,1066],"class_list":["post-7438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-top-stories","tag-discovery-communications","tag-global-cycling-network","tag-global-mountain-bike-network","tag-play-sports-group"],"yoast_head":"\n