4 - FIFA/CIES International University Network

SPORTS APPS
PORTAL/MULTI-SPORT AWARD:
ESPN SCORECENTER
MULTI-SPORT PRODUCTS tend,
unsurprisingly, to focus on the markets for
which the parent company’s media provides
content. This can make them hard to compare:
one market’s perfect news source is another’s
tedious irrelevance. However, our scoring
system allows us to award a ranking.
Top in this category is an app which is
a long way from providing the best service
or experience but does give us the chance
to acknowledge the absolute best in the
exploitation of mobile sports content.
ESPN launched its ScoreCenter app in June
2009 and proceeded to attract over five million
downloads in the following months pushing it
comfortably ahead of nearest rival, Sportacular.
Users can personalise the product with their
teams and get push notifications, results and
data from a wide range of sports.
What sets ESPN apart is the follow-up
approach they employed to turn this enormous
subscriber base into a powerful revenue stream
for the company, one which has contributed
to a 78 per cent growth across the channel.
Not content with one successful app, ESPN
followed up with several premium products
(ESPN Radio is particularly noteworthy) which
1. ESPN Scorecenter
2. Sky Mobile TV Sport and News
3. ESPN Radio
4. NBC Sports Mobile
4. Eurosport TV
6. ITV
7. Gazetto dello Sport
8. Racing Post
9. Le Monde
10. BBC Sport
effectively monetised this lucrative database.
According to Nielsen Mobile, ESPN’s
mobile web traffic now averages 8.93 million
unique visitors a month, up 35 per cent
year-on-year. Visits to ESPNSoccernet Mobile
grew 379 per cent over 2008, and visits to
ESPNCricinfo Mobile increased 113 per cent.
ESPN Mobile TV delivered almost 850 live
events in 2009, and total viewership minutes
increased 186 per cent over 2008 totals.
Not all ESPN’s apps are centred
around sport but each is focused on a
key demographic represented among its
ScoreCenter downloaders. There are a number
of fantasy games based on football and
basketball complete with draft versions, but
there is also a money competition, Streak for
The Cash, and a Spelling Bee app. Each uses
powerful, cross-selling links to migrate users
from one app to another and the collection of
personal information along the way enables
the company to target users cleverly.
In an environment where there is a morass
of free content and many question the value,
ESPN ScoreCenter has shown how the
provision of sports content can drive its brand,
enhance knowledge of its customers and
generate real and sizeable profits.
In second place is Sky’s popular Mobile TV
Sport and News product (Sky, £6 per month/
£35 per month on the iPad). With clear sound
and video, subscribers get unlimited access
to four Sky Sports channels plus Sky Sports
News and Sky News making it tremendous
value given Sky’s extensive rights portfolio.
62 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10