‘Live sport is where it’s at’: Stan’s bold play for brand dollars, PPV and audience loyalty

It’s been a landmark week for Stan, as the Nine-owned streamer locks up rights to some of the world’s most-watched sporting codes and hints that more is to come in the pay-per-view space.

Following Monday’s announcement that Nine has secured exclusive broadcast rights to the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups through to 2029, Stan has unveiled another major play: a long-term partnership with fast-growing MMA promotion Professional Fighters League. 

Under the deal, Stan becomes the exclusive home of the entire PFL portfolio in Australia, delivering events live and on-demand via Stan Sport, with select premium fights also set to land on a Stan PPV offering.

The deal, which kicks off with the 2026 PFL Pacific Tournament, underlines Stan’s rapid evolution from a general entertainment streamer to a serious contender in the sports media market.

Speaking to Marketing-Interactive, Stan acting managing director Dan Taylor and Stan Sport director Ben Kimber confirmed the streamer's move into sports is not only strategic, but foundational to its long-term platform growth.

SEE MORE: News Corp bets big on Tubi with full-scale streaming push

Live sport, Kimber said, is “absolutely one of the key pillars” of Stan’s broader strategy. “It’s still a unique property in terms of bringing a large audience to the platform at any one time,” he said. “We see massive strength in our 9Now properties and Stan together and we can really track the audience across those outlets and see how sport is performing.”

Taylor added that the combined firepower of Nine’s broadcast footprint and Stan’s digital offering gives the network a significant edge in the streaming wars. “We are completely unique,” he said. “No one else has the massive streaming reach and the massive free-to-air reach combined.”

Crucially, Kimber said, Stan doesn’t take a ‘set and forget’ approach to sports partnerships. “We don't sign a contract and then rack off for five years. We’re constantly looking at what’s best for the code, the events, the fans - week to week, month to month.”

Taylor and Kimber both confirmed that live sport is a gateway not just for audiences, but for subscriber growth. “Stan offers every match, every moment,” Taylor said. “Nine is a curated channel that helps drive viewers into the subscription ecosystem.”

That model was pioneered with rugby and Taylor credits the partnership model for revitalising the code. “Since Nine and Stan Sport took on rugby, we’ve really amplified the growth of that sport,” he said. “Now, with PFL, we see a massive opportunity to throw the full weight of the Nine organisation behind it again.”

The PFL deal includes year-round access to MMA content, with coverage available live on Stan Sport, select free-to-air on the 9Network and highlights and exclusive extras on 9Now. For Kimber, it’s part of a longer play to support ambitious sporting properties. 

“We love ambitious partners. We don’t just want to take a feed and put it on our platform,” he said. “It’s months of behind-the-scenes work. It doesn’t begin and end with the stream.”

Pay-per-view and advertising: what’s next?

Perhaps the most intriguing signal from the Stan Sport team is the confirmation that PPV is coming. Taylor said Stan had already trialled PPV, and another major announcement is expected soon.

At the same time, Stan will also roll out advertising across Stan in the second half of 2025 and while this wasn’t the deciding factor in the PFL deal, both Taylor and Kimber see significant upside for advertisers, with CMOs already showing interest.

“Live sport is still where it’s at,” Kimber said. “It’s about celebration, emotion, and community. That’s a good place for brands to be.”

Beyond traditional broadcast, Stan is looking to double down on short-form content, especially for sports like MMA, which thrive on social.

“Everything now is snackable,” Kimber said. “It’s a massive funnel. People engage in small ways and then you pull them deeper into the ecosystem.”

This approach is likely to see Stan become more active across social platforms and more aggressive in using social as a growth lever for emerging sports like PFL.

Between rugby, PFL, the rights to multiple upcoming Rugby World Cups, and soon-to-launch advertising and PPV, Stan is building a clear and differentiated proposition in a cluttered market. And based on conversations with Taylor and Kimber, this is just the beginning.

“This has been years in the making,” Taylor said of the PFL partnership. “We’ve seen the data. We know there’s a fanatical base. And we’re here to help grow it.”

As for what comes next? “Watch this space,” he said.