Hennessy Sports is delighted to announce a groundbreaking partnership with YouTube that will offer a new way of watching Boxing.
The blockbuster WBO World Heavyweight Championship title fight between Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury on Saturday 23rd September at the Manchester Arena will be shown exclusively live in the UK and Ireland on YouTube (www.youtube.com/parkerfury) on a pay-per-view basis with further countries to be announced shortly.
A portion of the undercard will also be streamed for free before the big fight, this is also available live on www.youtube.com/parkerfury. Watch this event anywhere online or on your smart TV, game console, PC, Mac, mobile, tablet and more for a special advance purchase offer price of only £9.99 in the UK and €11.99 in the Republic of Ireland until midnight on Sunday 17th September.*
youtube.com/parkerfury is the home of Hennessy Sports YouTube Channel which is called The Boxing Channel presented by Hennessy Sports.
This represents fantastic value for money to watch one of Britain and Ireland’s most exciting young talents challenging for the prestigious World Heavyweight title at half the price of regular Pay-Per-View events and viewers can watch live at a fan-friendly UK and Ireland prime-time.
With 1.5 billion viewers globally, Hennessy Sports believes that partnering with YouTube (which is the world’s biggest provider of online video content) could prove to be a pivotal change in the sport’s landscape.
Through the years boxing has been delivered to fans via the traditional route of TV and after receiving numerous offers from TV broadcasters for the event, promoter Mick Hennessy, CEO of Hennessy Sports, has made the bold and visionary move to partner with YouTube.
Hennessy believes this will take Parker v Fury to a global audience; bring in younger viewers and attract a new generation of fans to the sport with the wide range of devices that the fight can be viewed on.
Hennessy said: “The Heavyweight Championship of the World is still the biggest prize in sport and can capture the imagination of the public like no other sport. For Fury v Parker, we decided to make this event innovative, forward thinking and really push out the boundaries. We’ve been talking to YouTube for months about bringing Boxing to a wider audience through their platform, and are delighted to have found a way to achieve this. The way TV viewing is consumed has altered rapidly in the last few years and we wanted to be at the forefront of that change in presenting this fight. As a company, Hennessy Sports, is proud to be playing such a pivotal role in transforming the way in which live boxing content is televised. This is the future of boxing. I’d like to thank our Board and Shareholders for their continued support in helping us to reach this milestone. Finally, I’d like to thank Peter and Hughie Fury for their great foresight in partnering with us on this exciting journey.”
Tomos Grace, Head of Sport for Europe, Middle East & Africa at YouTube, said, “YouTube allows sports partners of every size to reach a large, global audience. YouTube is the home of sport highlights worldwide and we have a proud record of showing some of the biggest events in global sport live on the platform. We’re delighted that Hennessy Sports have chosen YouTube to show this massive World Heavyweight title fight.”
The production of the event will be produced by one of the global leaders of sport and live event programming to ensure a premium and world class presentation.
Hennessy Sports also today announces a new collaboration with Little Dot Studios, a next generation broadcaster and producer, creating and distributing sports and television content across all major social platforms, achieving over 2.5 billion views every month.
Little Dot Studios will manage Hennessy Sports’ YouTube Channel, “The Boxing Channel presented by Hennessy Sports” and will work with Hennessy Sports to grow its YouTube audience, strengthening its online and social identity and turn The Boxing Channel presented by Hennessy Sports into a primary destination for boxing content on YouTube. Little Dot Studios will create content from Hennessy Sports archive of boxing matches, publishing clips and highlights, as well as producing content in the buildup to the Parker vs Fury fight, including live YouTube streams of the pre-fight press conferences, open workouts and the weigh in, in the lead up to the fight on 23rd September 2017 live on YouTube.
Wayne Davison, the Managing Director, Content Acquisition and Distribution, of Little Dot Studios, said: “We are really excited to be working with Hennessy Sports and YouTube in this unique evolution for viewing live boxing. Little Dot Studios are in a distinct position to reach new and existing audiences on The Boxing Channel presented by Hennessy Sports on YouTube in the run up to the Parker v Fury fight, and to create great content and build a destination that fans will continue to engage with.”
Undefeated Fury is thrilled that his challenge for the world heavyweight crown is breaking new ground and that he is part of an exciting history-making event.
Fury said, “This is great news for fight fans who can now watch my world heavyweight title challenge against Parker exclusively live on YouTube in the UK and Ireland. I’m thrilled and proud to be part of an historic event that will be remembered in years to come as a defining moment in the sport. I’m grateful to Hennessy Sports and YouTube for this fantastic opportunity to showcase my talent. Parker is the biggest challenge of my life and he will bring the very best out of me, but I aim to deliver a knockout performance for YouTube viewers who will see me lift the WBO World title at the end of the fight.”
Peter Fury, father and world class trainer of Hughie, added, “I’m thrilled that the fight will be shown live on YouTube in an innovative move that will bring a whole new audience to our sport. I’m proud that my son will be challenging for the WBO Heavyweight Championship of the World in his home city in what will be a great fight that I believe will see Hughie crowned World Champion live in front of YouTube viewers.”
PRESS CONFERENCE
A press conference will be scheduled in London on Wednesday 13th September, this will also be streamed exclusively live on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/parkerfury More details will follow shortly.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Where will the fight night be shown?
The whole show will be available on YouTube.com/ParkerFury on September 23rd 2017 from 6pm. Users should head to youtube.com/ParkerFury today and subscribe for free so as not to miss out in the pre-fight build up. On the night, there will a portion of the undercard free-to-view in the event build-up before switching over to the main event and the rest of the card on PPV.
How can fans buy the fight?
Fans in the UK can as of now buy the fight in three quick and simple steps through www.youtube.com on any web browser (mobile, tablet, desktop).
1) Users who have a Google/YouTube account should simply log in. Fans without a Google account should follow the simple login process at http://accounts.google.com/signup
2) Once signed in, fans should head to http://www.youtube.com/ParkerFury where they will see a link to the PPV live stream. Click that video.
3) Fans will be prompted to pay for the event – which is carried out through Google Payments. Simply add your payment details and purchase the fight. This can be viewed on any one device which the user is signed into.
Will there be support available for fans?
Google will have a support team on call for any issues and refunds on the night, options for support are listed on http://www.youtube.com/purchases once the purchase has been made.
