IWGA announces broadcast deals for The World Games 2025
Host broadcaster for The World Games, International Sports Broadcasting (ISB), is developing a new over the top streaming platform for The World Games, called The World Games Live
The International World Games Association (IWGA) in partnership with International Sports Broadcasting (ISB) has announced the first raft of broadcast deals for the the 12th edition of The World Games.
Taking place in 100 days (7–17 August) in Chengdu, China, the 12th edition of the World Games will welcome 4,000 athletes from over 110 countries, who will compete in 34 sports, 60 disciplines, and 255 medal events. The competitions will be hosted across 27 venues—12 indoor and 15 outdoor—arranged in eight clusters, supported by two Athletes Villages.
Broadcasters that have signed up for exclusive and non-exclusive coverage of The World Games 2025 include STVR (Slovakia), Optimum (Thailand), Abu Dhabi Sports TV (United Arab Emirates), Polsat (Poland) and Elta (Chinese Taipei).
These strategic deals represent the foundation of the most comprehensive broadcast plan in the history of The World Games, with live coverage of most sessions and global distribution across multiple platforms, IWGA said.
Read more Over the top: The World Games set to launch new global streaming platform ahead of Chengdu 2025
This approach builds on the model of The World Games 2022 in Birmingham (USA), which reached over 268 million viewers in 61 territories and delivered more than 1,600 hours of broadcast content.
José Perurena, IWGA president, said: “The IWGA is delighted to announce these agreements with five established broadcasters in strategic markets. These deals ensure comprehensive coverage of The World Games 2025 for viewers across different continents.
“We look forward to a great collaboration with our new official partners to expand the global audience for our Games. The commitment received from these agreements underlines the enduring importance and appeal of our flagship event worldwide. We are grateful for our partner ISB for actively helping us with our broadcast strategy for TWG 2025 and assuring extensive coverage of the 34 sports and 60 disciplines on the Chengdu sports programme.”
To complement the broadcast strategy, the IWGA is set to launch The World Games Live, its first-ever official streaming platform, in July 2025. The platform will provide free live and on-demand access to event coverage, highlights, and real-time results.
Also for the first time in the event’s history, The World Games will feature a dedicated Torch Relay with 120 distinguished torchbearers selected based on their contributions to sport to participate in the inaugural Torch Relay race on 26 July 2025.