Optus reveals plans for 2023 women’s world cup after streaming saga

The beleaguered telco says they’ve had 6000 games to learn from their streaming mistake of 2018.

The Matildas celebrate their goal over France in Melbourne last week. Picture: Getty Images

Twenty millions Australians are expected to tune into at least five minutes of the women’s world cup, Optus predicts, as the telco confronts the controversies of the streaming services past.

Clouds still shroud the company eight years on from the “floptus” saga that saw the platform fail to cover the Russia world cup because of technical problems and subsequently handing over a lucrative $8m campaign to SBS to broadcast the matches.

After Optus was exiled from covering the Qatar world cup, the FIFA Women’s World Cup marks a turning point - and a new look - into the platform’s strategy.

During an unveiling of the refurbished studio preparing to show all 64 matches from cup kick-off on Thursday, the platform’s TV, content and product vice-president, Clive Dickens, assured expectant fans that history would not repeat itself, noting that “we’ve invested enormously in the product and streamed 6000 football games since [2018]to millions and millions successfully”.

Optus reveals first look at brand new studio ahead of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

“Undoubtedly it has been a difficult year for our customers and a difficult year for our brand,” Dickens added, referring to the Optus-hacking debacle that impacted the devices of 10 million customers in September last year, “but this is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our investment in women’s football and the investment we have in the host nation.”

The solution to recovering from the shambles of past boils down to all-access content ser­vices and altruistic pursuits.

Optus will provide streaming of full games, a live one-hour morning show from 8am and highlights to roll out across social media platforms Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok from the studio in Sydney’s Macquarie Park, alongside locations across Australia and New Zealand.

A sub-licensing partnership with the Seven Network will permit 15 matches to air on television, and Dickens says “accessibility” and “inspiration” will be integral to ensuring “Australians are part of this cultural moment”.

“This is the moment - it’s the host nation, the team’s on form, the world is watching and there’s going to be two billion of us in total tuning in,” he said.

Clive Dickens, VP TV, Content and Production at Optus.

In addition, Optus has committed $200,000 in grants, each valued at $3000, to be awarded to participants between the ages of 13 and 19 and selected based on their response to how they would use the money to “inspire the nation”.

Yet on the same day Optus unveiled plans to capture a FIFA Women’s World Cup audience, the Matildas released a video statement calling out gender disparity in prize money. In it, the players say: “736 footballers have the honour of representing their countries on the biggest stage of this tournament, yet many are still denied a basic right to organise and collectively bargain.”

“We call on those who run the game to work to provide opportunities for girls and women in football, whether that be players, coaches, administrators or officials.”

Total prizemoney for the women’s world cup has increased 300 per cent on the 2019 tournament in France, offering $110m to the winning team, with aims to achieve parity with the men’s game by the next tournaments in 2026 and 2027 respectively.

Sarah Walsh, head of women’s football, says viewership figures for women’s sport have been “taken for granted” but this year will mark “the biggest women’s world cup” in history.

“We support our players, we support the players’ views,” she said. “We need to be thinking about all the new ways we can commercialise this team … I think we’re breaking new ground with Optus covering this world cup.”

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Matilda’s star player Chloe Logarzo, who will take a hosting chair as she recovers from injury, says exposure for the games has been integral to building the portfolio for women’s sport in Australia and globally.