IRONMAN Extends Exclusive Content Deal With Facebook

IRONMAN has a new multi-year partnership extension with Facebook for live and fully produced IRONMAN race coverage.

The agreement calls for Facebook Watch to be the exclusive digital home of 17 live events in 2019 and increasing to 19 events in 2020, with a third-year option for 22 events in 2021.

This includes full live coverage of the IRONMAN World Championship and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, as well as VOD recaps of every event broadcast on Facebook Watch.

All coverage will be available globally on Facebook Watch via the IRONMAN Now Facebook Page.

IRONMAN is owned by Wanda Sports Holdings.

In just the first year of the Facebook partnership in 2018, IRONMAN showcased a large and engaged audience with more than 3.5 million people watching at least one minute of an IRONMAN live broadcast, while totalling 4.5 million engagements through all content posted on the IRONMAN Now Facebook Page.

Devi Mahadevia, Facebook North America Sports Programming Lead, said: “Participatory sports are a great fit for Facebook Watch because they’re highly communal with established and engaged fanbases on our platform.”

“IRONMAN is a perfect example, so we’re thrilled to build on the success of our 2018 partnership by teaming again to bring fans around the world full-length coverage of the competition’s top events.”

“The partnership with Facebook has given us the unique ability to showcase our sport to a global audience while taking them inside the inner workings of race day,” said Matthieu van Veen, Chief Revenue Officer of IRONMAN.

“With events on every continent and in more than 50 countries, we continuously strive to provide our athletes, fans and sponsors with content and platforms to connect. Facebook Watch provides the most innovative tools to allow our community to interact and engage throughout the 10 hours of live coverage for each of the events.”

IRONMAN will produce its live coverage for a connected audience, incorporating unique viewer interaction through Facebook Watch Parties, real-time polls, fan discussion, and user generated content from spectators along the course.