LONDON, UK: Iconic Labs Plc announced that in respect of the JOE and HER media group that is managed by the Company, Greencastle Acquisition Limited and Premier Media Broadcasting Limited, the UK & Ireland sports broadcaster, have entered into a strategic partnership whereby Premier Sports has made an equity investment into the JOE and HER media group and will provide digital content rights across multiple sports.
Premier Sports has a successful pay TV channel with over 600,000 subscribers together with free-to-air channels that broadcast into over 18 million homes across the UK & Ireland. JOE and HER are high profile digital publishers in the UK & Ireland with inclusive male and female brands that achieve over 100m views a week.
This strategic partnership means that JOE and HER will become the exclusive UK and Irish digital home of the sports media rights in Premier Sports portfolio, which includes Tier 1 football and rugby properties such as Italy Serie A football league and the Pro 14 rugby union competition.
The strategic partnership also provides for operational efficiencies through sharing assets including studio space and other production resources.
The Company intends to co-produce sports shows for use by JOE and HER together with Premier Sport in a pioneering approach whereby the shows will be simulcast to both digital and broadcast audiences.
Iconic Labs manages and controls JOE and HER pursuant to a management services agreement with Greencastle Capital. The new partnership with Premier Sports follows on from Greencastle Capital’s acquisition of the Lovin Media Group last month and has the effect that on a combined basis Iconic Labs now manages and controls Ireland’s largest independent digital media business.
John Quinlan, CEO of Iconic Labs, said: “We are excited to announce this strategic partnership with Premier Sports. It is a big step for us in achieving our vision for Iconic and the JOE and HER media group in bridging the gap between digital publisher and broadcaster. In addition to immediate revenue opportunities for Iconic, the access this partnership provides to sports rights and new TV audiences gives us a unique position and offering in the market and is a strong verification of the great work our teams have done to date.”
Mickey O’Rourke, Premier Sports, said: “We are delighted to formalise this partnership with JOE and HER. They have a vast digital footprint across the UK & Ireland with inclusive male and female audiences and an extensive knowledge of how these audiences consume content online. We have long been admirers of their original content including their sports, lifestyle and entertainment programming and are looking forward to working with their team to reach a new demographic”.