Professional Triathletes Organisation Launches Streaming Service with Endeavor Streaming

Streaming has been the wellspring of life for smaller, more niche sports, and yet another sporting organization has turned to a digital streaming platform to distribute live content.

Today, the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) announced a multi-year partnership with Endeavor Streaming to launch a brand-new over-the-top (OTT) service. PTO+ will launch as a free, registration-only service to maximize audience engagement worldwide for the PTO’s flagship events this summer, starting with the inaugural PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton, July 23-24, the new PTO Tour’s first event.

“This is another important milestone for the PTO as we promote our PTO Tour events and athlete storytelling to sports fans around the world,” explained Tim Godfrey, chief marketing officer at the PTO, a new triathlon organization that is co-owned by the athletes, seeking to, “grow the sport and take it to the next level.”

According to PTO, the organization “will leverage Endeavor Streaming’s end-to-end D2C [direct-to-consumer] capabilities with branded front-end device applications, video streaming capabilities, and subscriber management tooling to deliver a dedicated triathlon content destination, so the fans can follow all the action.”

Multiple sports organizations have made a move to streaming in some capacity over the past few months, most of which fall in the “niche” or “growing” category. In June, FloSports and MAVTV Motorsports Network announced a livestreaming partnership that will begin later this month, in which the former will host the latter’s content on its platform. Ice Cube’s BIG3 basketball league also reached an agreement with Black-owned streaming platform VYRE this spring, which will bring 29 hours of live 3-on-3 action to the service.

In a move that’s more of an aspiration than a comparison for the PTO and other smaller entities, the Premier Lacrosse League and ESPN reached a deal back in March to broadcast games on its linear and digital platforms, with every single PLL match airing on ESPN+. Like the PTO, the PLL was founded “by players, for players” and completely shifted the landscape of professional men’s lacrosse. The PTO would surely like to follow in the PLL’s footsteps with a major streaming deal down the road.

“We are pleased to partner with PTO who has a keen eye for delivering impactful content, and who are in an exciting phase of their digital evolution,” said Pete Bellamy, SVP global head of sports and international M&E at Endeavor Streaming.

Registration for the platform is free to anyone around the globe via the PTO+ website and is available on Web and iOS/Android mobile and tablet devices. The service is launching with the PTO original content library with plans to expand further, which should make PTO+ a true destination and experience for triathlete fans.