With the sports world’s breakneck shift to digital, the Drone Racing League has so far taken a comparatively unusual approach to distribution by going directly to linear and disregarding digital. That will all change this upcoming season as the league inks its first digital distribution partnership after an exclusive three years on TV.
The professional racing circuit, which televises post-production shows of its live events, announced Tuesday that it is switching linear distribution partners to NBC from ESPN, and partnering with Twitter to digitally distribute races and other original content for the first time. This follows the company’s recent announcement of a three-year partnership with Youku, one of the largest streaming networks in China.