DAZN reported to have more than 4 million subscribers since starting operation last year

DAZN, the fledgling streaming service that began operation in the U.S. last September, is now reported to have four million subscribers. Although the company doesn’t disclose subscriber number information, Joe Markowski, DAZN executive vice president for North America, commented that the service was “on the positive side of that” when asked about a recent report that pegged DAZN’s global subscriber base at above four million.

Mostly dependent on boxing and MMA events, DAZN is now trying diversify with a daily baseball studio show and hoping to gain more events.

DAZN has been emerging in Asia and Europe, gaining rights to NBA, NFL, and NHL games, and the English Premier League in Canada. According to Markowski, it’s talking with those leagues (the NFL in particular) to expand its programming in the U.S.

Live boxing and MMA events are currently driving the subscriptions, but DAZN doesn’t want to be known for just combat sports. Charging $99 per year or $19.99 a month, the service hopes to gain more events to make DAZN more attractive. The key is that with ESPN+ having a huge head start on live MLB and NHL content, and charging $4.99 per month (for now), can DAZN co-exist? Will it have to reduce its price?

DAZN is working with cable and satellite providers to help with its marketing and increase its awareness among pay customers. It already has had actor/comedian Tracy Morgan appear in commercials promoting the service.

So it looks to a bullish future with former ESPN President John Skipper leading the way and former Fox Sports President Jamie Horowitz on board as head of content.

The service isn’t comparing itself to Netflix, but it is making its presence felt in just a short eight months in the U.S. The key is, will it be able to find the content that will bring mass subscriptions? It will have plenty of time to find out.

[Fierce Video]