• by Alex Weprin , April 5, 2019

The streaming sports video service DAZN (pronounced “da-zone”) is launching its biggest U.S. marketing campaign yet. The campaign is meant to promote what is arguably the service’s most important live event since launching last year: the Canelo Alvarez-Daniel Jacobs boxing match set for May 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The campaign is major for DAZN, which signed a deal with Alvarez for five years and valued at more than $365 million. 

The company has tapped comedian — and noted boxing fan — Tracy Morgan to be the face of the new campaign.

The first 30-second ad will debut during WWE's Wrestlemania 35, which will be held on Sunday April 7. The full campaign, which will include 30-second, 15-second and six-second video ads, will run on linear and digital platforms starting Monday April 8.

DAZN has made boxing and combat sports a centerpiece of its offering, with more than 100 live fights per year. The company is pitching itself as a value proposition for boxing fans, offering a year’s worth of fights for the cost of one pay-per-view event.

In the ad, Morgan leans into that model by “blowing up” the existing fight game. “It’s the dawn of a new era, bye bye pay-per-view!” Morgan says in the first ad.

The company has also secured ads on podcasts, including Bill Simmons’ “The Ringer” podcast, and in Major League Baseball stadiums.

While DAZN has made combat sports a focal point, it also recently launched a show called “ChangeUp” with Major League Baseball.” The show, produced by MLB Network, is a live cut-in show, taking viewers to different ballparks for live peeks at games in progress.

The MLB programming is the start of a larger strategy of adding mainstream sports to the service, even if traditional live games may not be available. On Simmons’ podcast this past week, DAZN chairman John Skipper said the service wants to be a "multi-sports aggregator."