PBM Insight Report: Padel faces calls for change as it targets mainstream global TV audience

A growing number of broadcasters and media platforms are looking to cash in on padel’s surge in popularity, with a series of deals over recent years struck by the likes of ESPN, Red Bull TV and the UK’s ITV, as well as specialist streaming services such as Padel-TV. The sport is looking to build on the expanded coverage to lift its profile worldwide, but faces a series of challenges in establishing itself as a global TV product. Experts within the game are calling for a more broadcast-friendly approach, with visible crowds and more creative camera angles, as well as a greater focus on the best players outside of Spain and Argentina, and the widespread use of English by both broadcasters and players. PBM Insight Report by Laura Syrett and Paul Cochrane.

The last five years have seen a flurry of broadcast and media deals to show live padel tournaments to the sport’s rapidly growing international community of players and enthusiasts. 

Padel has attracted a combination of mainstream and sports broadcasters with established television channels and viewing platforms, as well as specialist padel-focused media companies, streaming padel live online. Viewing models include both free-to-air and fee-paying subscription agreements. 

Big name broadcasters include the UK’s ITV, which in 2024 signed an exclusive deal with the Hexagon Cup to broadcast the competition live on a free-to-air basis on ITVX, with highlights shown on ITV4. ITV’s UK deal was renewed in 2025 and the broadcaster has continued to air the tournament in 2026. 

Other well-known names include Disney-owned US-based sports broadcaster ESPN, which in 2022 signed a four-year deal with the International Padel Federation (FIP) to broadcast FIP tour matches in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. 

Another major player is Austria-based Red Bull TV, which since 2024 has broadcast Premier Padel matches throughout the season.

Padel-TV looks to build on deals with national federations 

Among the specialist streaming channels dedicated to padel is Swedish media company Padel-TV – a business which started covering Nordic region matches and is gradually expanding its coverage across the globe. 

“Padel is a great TV sport since there is a lot of action in a relatively small area, and we have found a good way of producing cost-effectively with multiple cameras, replays, scoreboard, graphics, commentators and studio,” Johannes Thomhave, CEO of Padel-TV, tells Padel Business Magazine. 

Launched in February 2021, Padel-TV began with a three-year agreement with the Swedish Padel Federation to produce and broadcast the Swedish Padel Tour. It has since signed deals to stream live professional padel matches in Denmark, Norway and the UK.

In March 2025, Padel-TV signed a three-year agreement with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the governing body for tennis and padel in the UK, to produce and exclusively broadcast padel competitions, including the British Padel Tour, Masters Final and the LTA Padel National Championships, along with some FIP tournaments. 

Padel-TV also produced and broadcast the first Americas vs. Europe Intercontinental Cup Competition padel tournament, launched by FIP in 2024 and dubbed ‘the Ryder Cup of padel’, in three languages (English, Spanish and Swedish) and is in discussions with padel leagues in the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Finland and the US.

The company charges a monthly fee for subscriptions, which Thomhave says is modest at the “equivalent [cost] of renting a court for 15 minutes in most countries”.

When choosing which padel competitions and leagues to partner with, Thomhave explains that Padel-TV looks for padel leagues which are sanctioned by recognised national international or national federations with whom the company can work to help attract and expand audiences. The company also looks for a strong population of professional players with sponsors who see the value in reaching broadcast audiences.

“Underlying market drivers and momentum for padel have to be strong and there has to be a will and understanding from the federation to professionalise and grow the sport together. Then we need a growing set of skilled players that are attracting sponsors and followers and are happy for us to create a platform for them to be seen,” Thomhave says. 

“When these factors align, we know that the padel community is strong and growing and they want to follow their sport in high quality and are willing to pay for it,” he adds.

Olympic ambitions: a potential gamechanger for padel’s broadcast appeal 

Some padel industry commentators believe that padel’s broadcast appeal would be significantly enhanced if the sport succeeds in FIP’s ambition for it to become an Olympic sport, with a goal of including padel in the Brisbane, Australia, summer Olympics in 2032. 

In March 2026 padel was confirmed as a medal sport in the official programme of the European Games, taking place in Istanbul, Turkey in June 2027, having previously been confirmed as a sport in the Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan and the Mediterranean Games 2026 in Taranto, Italy. 

“This represents another major event within the Olympic Movement and a fundamental step in the pathway towards the goal of Olympic participation,” FIP said on announcing the decision.

But Thomhave believes greater integration of the international padel scene is needed for padel to enter the top tier of spectator sports and involves reaching an audience beyond the padel-playing community. 

“For the sport to grow even more and become an Olympic sport, everyone [broadcasters and players] has to start speaking English, and international players need to be included,” he says. 

“As the sport grows our audience will grow with it, especially when people not playing padel notice that padel is a great spectator sport,” Thomhave adds. 

Pro Padel League develops range of broadcast and streaming partners

For their part, professional padel leagues and federations are eager to sign broadcast deals that allow them to reach new audiences. As of April 2026, the Pro Padel League (PPL), North America’s professional padel circuit, had 15 broadcast and streaming partners distributing its content across six continents. 

According to Diane Gotua, chief commercial officer for PPL, broadcast deals are essential for transitioning padel from a purely recreational sport into a spectator sport.

“The PPL is getting the sport in front of more eyes, especially in emerging markets like the US,” Gouta tells Padel Business Magazine.

She says the PPL is “actively exploring more mainstream opportunities like our partnership with DAZN”, referring to the company’s first broadcast deal, signed in 2024, with the London, UK-based sport and entertainment streaming service, which streams PPL events live in 200 countries.

Gouta says PPL competitions are available to watch through a “robust global distribution network”, spanning traditional broadcast, streaming platforms, and free online access.

“In the US, last season fans watched PPL content on FanDuel Sports Network, Tennis Channel, Telemundo [an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal], and Tubi,” she says.

Internationally, DAZN carries the PPL across most of the world via its regional partners and every match is also streamed live on the PPL YouTube channel in both English and Spanish, making the league freely accessible to fans worldwide.

Gouta says the PPL is locking in domestic and international partners for 2026 and expects even broader distribution this year compared to last season.

According to Gouta, reach is more important than direct revenue from its broadcast partners. “[We prioritise] distribution and exposure over maximising media rights fees. Streaming deals are a small source of revenue for us – accessibility is what matters most,” she says.

The PPL looks to achieve maximum audience engagement by balancing its broadcast partnerships between those companies with global scale such as DAZN and those with established, engaged audiences like the Tennis Channel in the US.

Overcoming hurdles to meet padel’s broadcast product potential 

But while the number of broadcast deals for padel is growing, Philippe Azar, Austria-based owner and founder of TennisHackers, an independent advisory platform focused on the global racquet sports industry, thinks padel has some more work to do to achieve its potential as a broadcast product with an appeal similar to tennis. 

“Unpredictability is television gold, and audience numbers reflect that: tennis reaches around two billion global viewers annually, while padel is still working toward a sustainable broadcast audience,” Azar tells Padel Business Magazine.

Azar notes that while padel has the participation numbers to make for a strong broadcast viewing base, at present it lacks the “stories, personalities and moments” needed to underpin a broadcasted spectator sport with mass appeal.

He suggests padel needs to become more visually broadcast-friendly, with lighter, preferably outdoor, stadium courts in iconic locations and with visible crowds and event-style lighting.

Azar also argues for more creative camera angles – rather than just back of court shots – and player microphones, plus investment in ‘star building’ to bring out padel players’ personalities and rivalries.

Padel-TV’s Thomhave agrees that spectators want to get to know professional players better to help build a broadcast audience following and thinks this should start at a national level.

“We think what the international federation is missing is that the national community are tired of watching the same Spanish and Argentinian players every week – they want to watch their own national heroes. They are much more excited about watching, respectively, Britain’s, Denmark’s and Sweden’s best players than the world elite,” he says.

beIN drives padel broadcast expansion in Middle East

Meanwhile, sports broadcasting in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – has been dominated by Qatar, with the emirate owning a raft of pan-Arab channels, including Alkass Sports Channels (a group of 11 sports channels), which broadcasts in Arabic and English, as well as international channel beIN Sports. 

Both channels covered the 2026 GCC Games, which included padel and were staged in Qatar from 11th to 22nd May despite the recent armed conflict with Iran. 

“beIN has taken the leadership position through all rights acquired for padel,” says Astrid Thams, commercial managing director of the Hexagon Cup. “It’s a positive thing, a strong penetration in the Middle East from a global perspective. Saudi Arabia and the UAE both now host world-class padel events.” 

With padel taking off in the Gulf, a private investor in padel clubs who requested anonymity observes that the region is ripe for “taking it to the next level, with more commercialisation of the sport, more branding, advertising and media outreach. There’s a lot of potential, and there should be more than just Qatari channels broadcasting padel.” 

Thus far, despite padel’s regional popularity, Middle East broadcasters "have also not really commercialised padel, or had the outreach to players and the public to make the sport better known,” says Thams, noting that padel sport infrastructure is lacking, such as larger court facilities that can host a lot of spectators. "More sponsorship and broadcasting deals can help drive padel in the region,” she says.

Saudi Arabia is a case in point, with the Saudi Padel Committee (SPC) only becoming an official federation two years ago, following its 2021 launch. Mogren Al Mogren, president of the SPC, says: “In terms of broadcasting, padel is still not mature in our region, although Qatar and the UAE are ahead of us. The federation is only two years old, and padel has only existed in the kingdom since 2018, with private clubs. But we have created the BSF League, and have sponsors.” 

The SPC does not yet have any broadcasting contracts. It live streams events on its YouTube and TikTok channels, while Saudi broadcaster Riyadiya TV (KSA Sports TV) broadcast two padel tournaments in 2025. National-level events featuring padel are broadcast on the Saudi National Olympic Committee’s streaming channel.  

European-based streaming channels have approached the SPC to cover tournaments but required payment – so no deal thus far. “Hopefully, there will be a sponsorship model like Premier Padel has with Red Bull, which is what all federations are aiming for, to have companies come and pay us for broadcasting. That will take time and investment,” says Al Mogren. 

Hexagon strategy focused on regional awareness

At a more international level, Saudi Arabia is involved in padel tournaments through the sports and entertainment agency 54, which received investment from Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

In 2025, 54 teamed up with the Hexagon Cup and FIP to create the Hexagon World Series, a global professional circuit governed by FIP and aimed at complementing Premier Padel and the Cupra FIP Tour, with broadcast potential.

However, given the nascency of the sport in the Gulf, Thams says Hexagon is not yet seeking exclusive contracts or pay-per-view deals. “Maximum exposure would be through a combination of live and streaming coverage, such as on Saudi channel MBC and its streaming platform, on beIN Sports and its streaming platform, and on UAE channels Dubai Sports and Abu Dhabi Sports. It would be a network of agreements to make sure there is wide coverage,” says Thams.

The strategy is focused on regional awareness, spearheaded by Hexagon’s own YouTube channel, whose viewership grew 250% last year on 2024, with 7.6 million viewers worldwide. “It’s also important to assess audience data to understand the demographics,” says Thams.

Hexagon has also developed short videos, not longer than 60 seconds, without any language used to reach an international audience. “Through reels and shorts on YouTube, we managed to increase non-Spanish-speaking audiences to 29% of our YouTube views so far in 2026 compared with 10% in 2025, which reflects a trend in the market,” says Thams.

The Hexagon Cup has tie-ups with the eight teams in the tournament, including Team AD/vantage, which is co-owned by tennis star Sir Andy Murray, boxer Anthony Joshua and AD Global Sports, which was founded by Arran Yentob and Dani Vallverdú, who was Sir Andy’s former coach.

“We capitalise on celebrities from other sports to make sure we can bring padel not only to our fans, but to benefit from their fan base, and their digital impact. We had over 86 million video views from the Cup event,” says Thams.

Celebrity owners are not paid to attend tournaments. “Rather than being a model where celebrities are paid to participate, it works the other way around: they are involved as team owners and are investing in the competition,” she says.

For Hexagon Cup and Series events, “the idea is that the money will come through sponsors, media deals and venues, and goes down from there,” Thams explains. For now, she adds: “There’s still a way to go with how big a business padel will be. But the more successful an event is, the more the money will trickle down in different areas, from prize money to media broadcasting.”

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