LaLiga partners with Upstream to bring exclusive football content to Sub-Saharan Africa

Global marketing technology company, Upstream, and LaLiga, the Spanish football league, have formed an exclusive partnership to bring LaLiga Premium to mobile phone users in Sub-Saharan Africa.

LaLiga Santander and LaLiga Smartbank are the first and second professional divisions of Spanish football, which includes popular clubs like Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao, and Villareal, and hosts the globally recognized “El Clasico” match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Football is the most popular sport in Sub-Saharan Africa, and according to the GSMA, there are over 500 million unique mobile subscribers in the region, which is expected to exceed 600 million by 2025.

The partnership will enable mobile network operators to provide subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa with access to unique and exclusive content and features that tap into the growing popularity of LaLiga across Africa.

LaLiga Premium offers match highlights, live match commentary, podcasts, news, and detailed player profiles, as well as a game corner with quizzes, fantasy football leagues, and other games offering winners branded merchandise from their favourite clubs as well as cash prizes.

The web app initially operates as a freemium portal, with users able to view certain content before upgrading to the full premium service and adding it to their monthly mobile bill.

Upstream’s mobile marketing platform, Grow, will support mobile network operators with customer acquisitions for LaLiga Premium via its ability to optimize customer journeys.