IMG Worldwide Enters Seven-year Strategic Partnership with Livestream

LONDON, Oct. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IMG Media Worldwide, the global sports, fashion, and media company, and Livestream, (Livestream.com) today announced a strategic partnership to broadcast and distribute live events around the world.

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Livestream is also debuting its presence in Europe with the opening of a London office and the creation of its Europe, Middle East, and Africa operations and sales division. In the past quarter, Livestream has more than doubled audience on its award-winning platform and has recently emerged as the largest live video platform by unique visitors in the US according to Compete.com.

The long-term partnership follows an in-depth assessment of the market by IMG, currently working with Livestream on flagship events such as Wimbledon, The Open Championship, the National Rugby League, and major European football leagues.

Michel Masquelier, President of IMG Media, said: "Livestream is clearly the uncontested market leader in live streaming, innovating beyond any of its competitors, and is the only live video company that provides a full end-to-end solution for our partners and customers. We are delighted to have formalised this strategic partnership, which will reinforce the synergies between our two companies."

The partnership with IMG also marks the opening of Livestream's London office, led by Mark Kornfilt, Livestream's Co-Founder and General Manager, Livestream EMEA.  The company plans to expand the new office rapidly and houses positions in business development, engineering, live video production, account management and sales. Current customers in Livestream's London office include Sony Music UK, The World Economic Forum, H&M, MTV Italy, Blue State Digital, The Body Shop, and The Web Summit.

"We are thrilled to be announcing our debut in the European, Middle Eastern and African markets with IMG as a partner," said Mark Kornfilt, Livestream's Co-Founder and General Manager, EMEA. "As the global leader in sports, fashion and media, IMG Worldwide's premium content will now reach Livestream's growing global audience of over 30 million unique monthly visitors. This partnership also marks the beginning of our commercial expansion outside of the US market, and our focus and expansion in the sports market."

"Our vision is to bring every event around the world, live, to fans watching on any device: from tablets and mobile phones to connected televisions," said Max Haot, CEO and Co-Founder, Livestream. "This strategic alliance between IMG and Livestream is a major milestone in allowing us to bring more high-quality content to our global audience and will increase the strength of our live streaming solutions for sport events and federations."

The opening of Livestream's London office marks its already growing international expansion with global headquarters in New York and satellite offices in Los Angeles, India, and Ukraine.

About IMG

IMG Worldwide is a global sports, fashion and media business, with 3,500 employees operating in more than 30 countries around the globe. IMG's areas of expertise are diverse and wide ranging:  IMG College; IMG's Joint Ventures in India, Brazil, China and Turkey; IMG Media; IMG Events and Federations; IMG Golf and IMG Tennis; IMG Fashion; IMG Models; IMG Art+Commerce; IMG Clients; IMG Academy; IMG Consulting and IMG Licensing.  More information is available at www.imgworld.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About Livestream:

Livestream's mission is to connect people and live events. Livestream offers event owners a complete set of hardware and software tools to share their events with a growing community online. More than 30 million viewers each month watch thousands of live events from customers including The New York Times, Facebook, ESPN, SpaceX and Warner Bros. Records. Founded in 2007, Livestream is headquartered in New York with offices in Los Angeles, London, Ukraine and India. www.livestream.com

PR contacts:

Christina DiRusso
Livestream
PR Manager
(646) 532-6622
christina.dirusso@livestream.com

IMG

Gary Double
Vice President, Corporate Communications, Europe
T: +447768 825114
gary.double@imgworld.com

 

SOURCE Livestream

RELATED LINKS
http://www.livestream.com