Agency will handle global media rights sales for the federation

World Aquatics swimming

World Aquatics has partnered with Sportfive to handle its global media rights, outside of Japan and selected APAC territories.

Sportifve will manage to federation’s rights for the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan (14-30 July 2023), Doha (2024), and Singapore (2025). The partnership also covers the annual calendar of global events for all six World Aquatics sports, including the World Swimming Championships (25m).

The EBU extended its European rights deal for the World Aquatics Championships last year.

Dentsu continues to handle media rights in Japan and selected APAC countries including Australia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand.

Sportfive also aims to work on developing the media product itself. Gravity Media delivered the World Aquatics Championships and World Swimming Championships (25m) last year.

World Aquatics president Husain Al-Musallam said: ”Through this partnership with Sportfive, we are excited to bring the high-intensity action and sporting drama of aquatic sports into millions of new homes. It presents an opportunity to further engage the next generation of aquatics fans around the world, as well as showcase the cutting-edge developments in underwater camera technology and our 4K coverage of the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka. These advancements will redefine the way fans enjoy our premier aquatics events worldwide. 

“With an annual event calendar across our six sports, there are multiple World Aquatics events every month. The coming years will see exciting new destinations added to complement our existing global event calendar. We have every confidence in Sportfive, an excellent partner with a proven record of success across all aspects of sports marketing.”

Sportfive chief growth officer Robert Müller von Vultejus added: “We are proud to be working with World Aquatics – an organisation at the forefront of the Olympic Movement with sports that resonate universally.

“This collaboration represents an exciting opportunity to highlight the world-class athletes, iconic locations and thrilling competitions that define aquatic sports. We look forward to bringing aquatics fans closer to the action than ever before.”