Notts County FC brings fans worldwide closer to the action with live streaming

The Challenge

Notts County FC, founded in 1862, is the oldest professional football club in the world, one of the Football Association’s 12 founding members.

With a 20,000-capacity stadium, Notts relies on ticket sales for a significant portion of its revenue. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of sport stadiums, digital video solutions became crucial. To replace lost ticket revenue and enable their fan base to have a viable channel for cheering on their team, Notts planned to live stream their games.

Other football clubs had tried to build live-streaming solutions with mixed results. Notts wanted to reward their loyal fans with a premium viewing experience for a premium match pass price. In addition to high-quality video streams, their fans would expect certain features, such as the ability to pause or rewind the stream. They also needed a system that would make it easy for them to launch a profitable Pay-Per-View live streaming service within days.

The Solution

Notts County FC chose JW Player because of its best-in-class video streaming, expert support, and competitive price. They particularly valued the turnkey nature of the live-streaming solution and integration with InPlayer for match pass sales. The JW Player team was committed to ensuring success with digital video from the very start.

JW Player and InPlayer had Notts County set up for live streaming games within three days. The JW Player platform and user-friendly dashboard made it simple to start streaming broadcast-quality live streams. Every game streamed with built-in DVR for rewinding and optimized video transcoding for the best viewing experience. JW Player’s account manager and technical team were in touch throughout the process–from helping them get up and running before their first live event to checking how the streamed matches went–to ensure Notts’ County was set up for success.

The Result

Notts County FC pioneered live streaming success in their football league. With over 5,000 match passes sold at £12 across their first two games, Notts County exceeded their initial forecasts. Assuming an average of two people watching per stream, this exceeds their average stadium attendance. Notts expects this number to grow as their fan base around the world signs up to watch.