LOS ANGELES, California/USA (Thursday, December 16, 2021) - The World Surf League (WSL) announced this week that, beginning in 2022, Globo will be the official media partner in Brazil. The new three-year media deal will be effective from 2022 through 2024, providing multi-platform coverage that will be amplified on Globo TV, Globoplay, ge.com, and Canal OFF. This new media deal will give the passionate Brazilian audience the opportunity to watch the world's best surfers in action, including all of the Brazilian athletes that are on the forefront of competitive surfing.
In addition to full coverage of the Championship Tour (CT), the agreement also includes linear broadcast rights to the Challenger Series (CS), the path to the elite tour, as well as Longboard events. Globo will also have distribution access to original content series and documentaries produced by the WSL. As the home of professional surfing, the WSL will continue to broadcast all WSL competitions on its own digital platforms, its free app as well as its YouTube channel.
"This is a very valuable and exciting partnership for us," said Cherie Cohen, WSL Chief Revenue Officer. "By being a part of Globo's multi-platform coverage, the WSL content will reach millions of fans on a daily basis. The Brazilian market is very important for the WSL, as we have a large number of our athletes coming from that country as well as a very loyal and passionate fanbase that follows our tours every year. The augmented visibility of our surfing content coming from this partnership will not only help solidify Brazil's current dominance in our sport, but hopefully also act as a springboard for the future generation of surfing heroes."
While providing greater visibility of professional surfing to a larger audience on free-to-air, premium, internet and streaming platforms, the Globo Group will use all of its experience by supplying broad coverage across all its platforms to bring a unique perspective and outreach to the sport of surfing and to the Brazilian athletes, who are a vital part of the WSL surfing elite.
"We are very happy to have the WSL back in the Globo portfolio," said Eduardo Gabbay, Director of Globo Sports Channels. "We have successful partnerships in all mainstream sports - such as soccer, volleyball and basketball - and surfing could not be left out because it is linked to our strategic goals. It is a democratic sport, it has Brazilian athletes as some of the main idols in the world and it has been attracting even more fans after Italo Ferreira's gold medal in surfing's Olympic debut, Gabriel Medina's third World Title and Tatiana Weston-Webb's runner-up finish at the first-ever WSL Finals. Our multi-platform coverage will bring more visibility to the sport, offering relevant content to thousands of surfing fans across the country, in addition to attracting new consumers to the sport."
All CT events will be broadcast free of charge on Globoplay until the Round of 16, and SporTV will exclusively broadcast all subsequent heats from the Quarterfinals onwards. If a Brazilian athlete wins a competition, Globo TV will amplify its coverage by adding inserts to its programming. The Oi Rio Pro, the eight stop of the 2022 Championship Tour, scheduled to run between June 27 - July 4, 2022 in Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, will have guaranteed special coverage on all Globo channels.