Performance marketing specialist WePlay has been appointed to drive subscriptions to the FIA World Rally Championship’s over-the-top (OTT) streaming platform, WRC+.

The partnership follows hot on the heels of longtime former Sky Sports MD Barney Francis’ appointment as an advisor to the WePlay Board.

Under the agreement, WePlay will work with World Rally Championship across the post-COVID-19 interrupted season that resumed with rallies in Estonia and Turkey, earlier this month and will continue over two more live events in Italy and Belgium before the end of December.

The relationship builds on WePlay’s strong track record in driving OTT (over-the-top) and SVOD (subscription video on demand) growth – of five pillars of the agency’s Direct-to-Consumer marketing model, which also includes Digital Sponsorship, Event Marketing, E-commerce and Audience Development & Memberships.

As the first performance marketing agency dedicated to sport, WePlay also delivers OTT marketing for the likes of UFC, LaLiga and ESPN.

Commenting on the latest appointment, Jon Abraham, Head of Business Development at WePlay, said:

“We’re incredibly proud of WePlay’s success in driving OTT subscriptions during lockdown, but we couldn’t be happier to see live sport back on our agenda. The WRC partnership is a chance to demonstrate our capabilities in growing revenues for sports clients though the streaming of live events. We’ve really established ourselves in this space over the last three years and believe it now represents an even more fundamental area of growth in sport’s new era.”

Jona Siebel, managing director of WRC Promoter, which owns the commercial rights to the FIA World Rally Championship added:

“We’re delighted to be working with WePlay – the go-to agency for performance marketing in the sport sector. We see our OTT product as a significant factor in WRC’s commercial growth over the coming years. Over the last few months, WRC has worked tirelessly with the FIA, our competitors, teams and rallies, in exceptional circumstances, to revise the calendar. It’s fantastic to be able to provide live Rally content to our fans around the world, and WePlay will be fundamental to achieving this via WRC+.”