“It’s about bringing back the fun, and hardcore sports fan engagement. Sports stars have huge online audiences but no one has tapped into that yet,” Fordham says.
The key to success is combining big digital scale and tech bona fides, Fordham says. “We reach millions of people with just one post. I’m usually a behind-the-scenes person but I’m happy to step up for this one because SportsHero is a unique nexus of talent, media, brand, product, and engagement.”
Revenue is generated by subscription income. Users can subscribe to tipsters for a monthly fee or one-off prediction.
SportsHero collects the subscription fees and splits the income 50-50 with the leaders who are being followed. It will integrate sports app FootballHero’s 250,000 users, which launched in 2015.
Rising sports popularity and internet usage should bode well for this rapidly growing industry. In the adjacent daily fantasy sports industry, the total amount of annual entry fees will reach $US5.3 billion by 2020, according to a report by Juniper Research.
It comes as a boom in sports rights locally and around the world reflects changing viewing patterns in the TV industry. Viewers are watching more programs on demand, underlining how live sport is immune to the rise of online streaming services like Netflix.
