ATP Media has granted L1VE the immersive live rights to its main events, as well as highlights and replays across nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, the Nitto ATP Finals, and ATP 500 and ATP 250 events.
The three-year deal kicks off in October and runs through the end of 2028, with L1VE producing events in stereoscopic 360° 3D and 14K at venues. The technology brings viewers into events via major immersive headsets, including Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro.
L1VE operates the tech under its Social Presence brand, with access sold as tickets rather than a subscription, available as day passes or tournament passes. Last month, it secured an immersive rights deal with FIBA for the 3×3 World Tour, Women’s Series and World Cup basketball tournaments.
Holger Hansen, co-founder and CEO of L1VE, said, “We founded L1VE so that being at the biggest matches would no longer depend on where you live or whether a seat was available. Social Presence is not a better way to watch tennis, it is the match itself, lived from inside the venue with the people you choose. Bringing that to the ATP Tour is a milestone for us and for live sport.”
David Morgenbesser, chief commercial officer at L1VE, added, “What sets this agreement apart is its scale and its length. ATP Media has not licensed a single event to try the format out; it has licensed the Tour, worldwide, for three years. That gives the sport a revenue line that grows as immersive grows, and it opens a place for partners and sponsors to meet fans that did not exist before.”
Tom Bullock, COO of ATP Media, added, “Immersive is a genuinely new way for audiences to experience our events, and it sits alongside our broadcast and streaming distribution rather than competing with it. Working with L1VE allows us to extend the reach of ATP Tour tennis to fans who cannot be in the stadium, while protecting the production quality and the integrity of the sport that our partners expect.”
L1VE worked with the ATP Masters 1000 events in Miami, Madrid, and Rome, and at the ATP 250 in Stuttgart.
