Team Whistle expands Eleven Sports’ reach to North America, and adds portfolio of data-driven video content IP, young audiences, and more.

ELEVEN x Team Whistle

Eleven Sports has announced the acquisition of New York-based global sports media and entertainment company Team Whistle.

Identified three years ago when Eleven parent company Aser Ventures invested in Team Whistle and Aser founder Andrea Radrizzani joined its board, the company expands Eleven Sports to North America.

The deal joins Eleven Sports’ over 150 commercial partners, 20 million users and 30,000 hours of live sport each year with Team Whistle’s slate of original programming, 1,655 distribution channels, 629 million aggregated social media followers and four billion monthly video views.

The Eleven Group aims to house an extensive network of OTT and social platforms; proprietary streaming technology; data driven production capabilities; and marketing and brand partnership services, and will now look to secure more live sports content and developing new on-demand sports and entertainment programming. This strategy began in earnest with the acquisition of MyCujoo in 2020.

Team Whistle’s on-demand content includes Dude Perfect and F2 Freestyling, and its portfolio of unscripted, scripted and interactive shows are available across its social and AVOD media distribution network. 

Team Whistle founder and executive chairman, John West, will join the Eleven Group’s board of directors, while Team Whistle CEO Michale Cohen will continue to lead the company and joins the Eleven Group management team.

Aser founder Radrizzani said of the deal: “We have long recognised the opportunities for partnership between Team Whistle and the wider Aser portfolio. By welcoming Team Whistle into the Eleven Group, we are bringing together two media companies who have a track record of building strong and innovative sports media businesses in Europe, Asia and North America. We will also be adding transformative new scale and capabilities to Eleven.”

West added: “Upon first meeting Andrea [Radrizzani] years ago, we shared a common bond on how sport and entertainment were being reimagined and now with the pace of media transformation happening at an accelerated rate globally, joining forces with Eleven allows us to create a truly unique, global media powerhouse.”