Free community sport platform Streamer and mining giant BHP join forces in new partnership

Australia’s fastest-growing free community sport streaming platform is set to step up a gear, with Streamer and mining giant BHP joining forces in a landmark new partnership to celebrate local sport.

Streamer — owned by The West Australian — is the new home of community sport in Australia and showcases everything from amateur karate to State tennis and even the WAFL colts.

Unlike other similar platforms, Streamer lets leagues, clubs and players create profiles and do everything from fundraising to sharing their highlight clips from games on social media.

And Streamer also crucially allows sporting organisations to control and house their own content on the site.

The platform has seen incredible growth. In the past seven months alone it has grown audience views by more than 200 per cent.

It has also onboarded more than 220 clubs.

Seven West Media chair Kerry Stokes said the partnership with BHP would be a game-changer.

“Streamer is a great example of The West Australian’s continuing drive to innovate and bring new digital products to the market,” Mr Stokes said.

“It takes traditional media back to where it started and reminds us of why it flourished for so long - by serving the local community and towns.

“Our aim is for Streamer to be the most popular one-stop shop for live streaming community sport and events in Australia.

“BHP is a fantastic partner and we’re really proud to now have them on board in a major way with our vision of supporting grassroots sports and events across the country.”

The foundation partnership will also extend to this year’s BHP Streamer Screamer competition for local sporting highlights — the winner of which is set to be crowned next week — and Jackson Barrett’s popular weekly newspaper column Bush and Burbs in The West Australian, wrapping up the best moments in country and suburban sport.

“Making a positive contribution to WA communities is important to BHP, and we know that local sports and events are core to the social fabric of many regional areas,” BHP Australia president Geraldine Slattery said.

“BHP is very pleased to partner with Seven West on the Streamer platform, which will provide new avenues for WA’s local communities to share and celebrate what makes them great. “

Streamer has been built to accommodate streaming programs from clubs and leagues at any price point.

The website was the brainchild of Seven West Media WA chief executive Maryna Fewster and West Australian Newspapers editor-in-chief Anthony De Ceglie as they witnessed the growth of local sport being live-streamed during the COVID pandemic.

On any given weekend you can see high-quality, full-service broadcasts from the likes of the WAFL colts, WAFLW and NPL competitions right down to the most local of fixtures being recorded and streamed through a smartphone.

There are also options for clubs to fundraise through the platform — more than $30,000 has already been returned to community sport through Streamer - or even put their content behind a paywall if that’s what they require.

From the PSA WA and ACC school sporting seasons to karate and judo national championships, to corporate rowing events and even curling, Streamer aims to give a platform to any sport that seeks it.

This weekend will see finals action get underway across multiple leagues and sports, with State Cup finals from Football West’s new State Football Centre, the Perth Football League’s A-Grade women’s grand final and the first week of finals in the WABL just some of the many fixtures those leagues will be broadcasting through Streamer.com.au.