“It all stems from frustration, that a rugby fan like myself, can no longer watch this exciting competition,” Marliere told L’Equipe., external
“Honestly, the idea isn’t to make money with this project; we’ll probably even lose some. But I hope that the increased visibility will lead to side projects that might be more profitable.”
Marliere is not the first streamer to broadcast action free on YouTube.
Mark Goldbridge, whose That’s Football channel has more than 1.5 million subscribers, shows football from Germany’s Bundesliga, while the Pro D2 – the second tier of French domestic rugby – is available in the UK on start-up channel FR-UK.
Prem Rugby itself has had success with streams of the Prem Rugby Cup competition, attracting six-figure audiences for pool-stage meetings between Leicester and Northampton and Gloucester and Bath in November.
“We’re always looking at how we can innovate and deliver the best broadcast experiences for new and existing fans around the world,” said Ollie Lewis, head of broadcast at Prem Rugby.
“We are proud of the fact that the Gallagher Prem is a global product broadcast in more than 150 territories, which gives us the biggest footprint of any league in rugby.
“Our vision is to become the best league in the world and we look forward to bringing viewers in France unmissable, free-to-air coverage of the Gallagher Prem across Twitch and YouTube.”