Kwesé Sports forges rugby partnership with APO Group

Pan-African pay-television broadcaster Kwesé Sports has agreed a strategic partnership with media relations consultancy APO Group that is designed to raise the profile of rugby union throughout the continent.

As part of the deal Kwesé Sports, the exclusive television and digital rights-holder for the Rugby Africa governing body in sub-Saharan Africa, will be offered unlimited use of APO Group’s Africa Wire press release distribution service and media relations expertise to further boost its coverage of the sport in Africa and beyond.

In return, APO Group, the exclusive global sponsorship agency of Rugby Africa, will provide sponsors with increased exposure by including Kwesé Sports’ television and digital assets in sponsorship programmes.

The deal comes with Kwesé Sports having broadcast all 15 matches of the Africa Gold Cup live, as well as streaming the matches via social media platform Facebook. This year’s Gold Cup, which acts as a qualifying event for the 2019 World Cup, concludes on Saturday with the final between Kenya and Namibia.

“Kwesé is the strongest sports broadcaster in sub-Saharan Africa with which APO Group has built fruitful relationships over the past few months to support Rugby Africa, World Rugby’s African association, in increasing the visibility of its international competitions,” Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, founder and chief executive of APO Group, said.

“We are very excited to deepen our collaboration through this partnership and further combine our expertise. Both Kwesé and APO Group are widely recognised as major players in the media landscape, and I’m convinced that this potent collaboration will help further expand the reach of African rugby in new local and global markets.”