DRL Announces US Broadcast Deals with Twitter and NBC for 2019 Season

 The Drone Racing League (DRL) has today announced two new US broadcasting deals. First, a streaming partnership with Twitter and second, a broadcast agreement with NBC and NBC Sports. Both platforms will air the 2019 DRL Allianz World Championship Season.

The season premiers on Sunday, August 11, 2019 at 2pm ET on NBC and Twitter. The move to live stream on Twitter should greatly expand the competition’s global reach. As the early success of the sport on YouTube has shown, drone racing is well suited to quickfire highlights on social media.

Twitter and NBC back the ‘sport of the future’

Twitter is collaborating with DRL for the first time. DRL’s partnership with NBC, traditionally seen as the broadcast home of motorsports, ill put more than forty hours of DRL content alongside NASCAR, INDYCAR, and Pro Motocross in 2019.

Both deals mean that DRL will have its World Championship season concurrently on devices of all kinds: mobile phones, tablets, PCs, and TVs.

“Over the last three years, the number one request we got from fans was to bring DRL to an always-on digital platform. And now, by merging the Sport of the Future with the future of broadcast, we’ll give millions of fans the opportunity to watch DRL season races and video-game-like sports content anytime, anywhere — all while authentically engaging our integrated partners on an array of mediums across the planet,” said DRL CEO & Founder Nicholas Horbaczewski.

Starting in August, fans can tune into DRL on NBCSN and Twitter via @DroneRaceLeague. The season will kick off with high-speed, minute-long heats as elite pilots race (and crash) identical, custom-built DRL drones at 90+ MPH through 3D courses with sky-high dives, inverted loops, and razor-sharp turns in iconic venues like palaces, museums and football stadiums around the world.

Non-stop action meets non-stop social media

“The fast, non-stop action of the Drone Racing League fits perfectly with the always-on nature of Twitter,” said TJ Adeshola, Head of US Sports Partnerships at Twitter. “We’re excited to bring live video content from this futuristic robotic sport and pair it with the already active conversation around DRL all in one place on Twitter.”

“Speed and racing are featured throughout the events that NBC Sports covers, from Olympic sports to motorsports and horse racing’s Triple Crown,” said Jeff Macaluso, Senior Director, Programming, NBC Sports. “The Drone Racing League showcases a unique blend of speed and skill and we’re excited to partner with them for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.”

DRL recently announced a three-year deal with Chinese streaming network Youku. More than 57 million fans around the world tuned into DRL’s first three seasons. That number looks set to skyrocket with the media partnerships for the fourth season embracing digital.