Fox Sports has launched a "super app" that will give sports fans personalised sports news, video and other content across 140 competitions from 14 sports.
The content will include video highlights, live scores, statistics, analysis, fixtures and results, breaking news alerts and reporting exclusive to the app itself. Users can personalise the app by selecting their favourite teams or sports to allow for quicker, easier access to the information they want.
With previous Fox Sports apps being code-specific, this change means the 'omnivore' sports fan – as highlighted by recent Enhanced Media Metrics Australia (EMMA) Football Trends and Insights report 'Play On' – will be better catered for.
The EMMA data showed that sports fans are becoming more multi-faceted, and not just focusing on one code. For example, more than half of A-League soccer fans also follow the AFL, as well as 50% of them regularly watching rugby league - and 42% viewing rugby union - on television.
This is substantiated by a Sydney Morning Herald sports survey that showed 88% of their readers followed multiple sports codes.
There is also a certain amount of geographic differentiation within this, as News Corp Australia's Campbell Reid explained in the report.
"Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia are more devoted to a single code, AFL, and the omnivore sports fan is not as prevalent in those states. However New South Wales – long an NRL bastion but also with strong Rugby Union roots – now has two AFL and four A-League teams.
"Queensland, in addition to being a strong NRL state, also has an affinity for Union and historical links to AFL, which New South Wales never had."
The report also adds that sports fans are heavy media consumers, both online and off, as befitting the passion they hold for their teams. This makes them an ideal and substantial target for marketers and advertisers.
“With more than 4.5 million Australians who don’t just follow one sport but around three to four, the all-in-one Fox Sports App will be the ultimate destination for them to get all the information they want,” said Fox Sports CEO Patrick Delany.
“The depth and breadth of the content available on the App is what will set it apart from the rest in the market.
“Features including live scores form over 140 competitions, Fox Sports News streamed live and the ability to personalise the content and tailor to the way fans like to follow their sport and their team is what will make sports fans fall in love with this App.”
The app will feature pre-roll ads, as per the Fox Sports website, and other ad support will come from MRECs and video overlays.
Based on market changes, and pending sponsorship and brand partnerships that “are formed for different content offerings and sports”, the advertising mix will adapt, Delany said.
The Fox Sports app is free to download from the App Store or Google Play, and Fox Sports' digital subscribers will have the ability to access additional content such as match replays and on-demand entertainment programmes.
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