Sports is more than just what happens on the pitch. It’s more than athletes, the result or the finances involved. It’s a community built by fans and encompasses all the facets that makes it such a passion driven industry. The role of fans has never been more important or valued than it is today, especially considering the financial implications that sporting organizations have had to face amidst the COVID-19 pandemic with games being played in empty stadiums.
The connection between sports teams and fans is a special one. Bringing the fans closer to their beloved teams in a fun and engaging way is more important than ever before. To know more about this, Mr Aishik Lala, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at FlashPlays Live speaks about his vision and objective, strengthening the Miami Dolphins community, enhancing gameday offering, overcoming challenges, the Indian sports market and future goals and ambitions.
Q 1) What inspired you to come up with FlashPlays Live and what is your vision and objective?
The FlashPlays product is predicated on the fact that existing apps of professional sports teams have limited utility. By driving digital engagement to a team’s platform through real-time predictive gaming, FlashPlays allows teams to monetize this digital traffic via sponsorship activations and data collection. The ultimate objective is to make the usage of team apps commonplace for sports fans all over the world, creating endless revenue opportunities. The FlashPlays team consists of young sports enthusiasts who are passionate about an overlying problem and want to ultimately change the way sports fans interact with their favorite teams for the better.
Q 2) How has FlashPlays strengthened the Miami Dolphins community with its stand alone app?
When FlashPlays launched the Dolphins GameTime app, the initial goal was to engage the Dolphins community during live games, along with giving fans rewards for engaging with the app. The results exceeded our expectations significantly – we saw 45% of downloads come through user referrals, 55% 90-day retention, 13-minutes of screen time per game, and entered users answered 88% of questions. Not only did we see users engage with the platform, but we saw Dolphins fans warmly meet each other in the chat, converse about their predictions, and most importantly, discuss the live game.
Q 3) How is FlashPlays building the digital relationship between sports teams and fans and enhancing gameday offering?
While watching live sporting events, fans will often hop from one app to another (Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) and consume different pieces of content that pertain to the game they are watching. This can create a distracting and segmented experience for the fan. What FlashPlays aims to do is consolidate this. We want to bring all the ways that fans engage with live sports onto one app – the team’s app. Additionally, there are very few predictive games that have seen the same success as ours. Proper gamification during live sporting events is what we provide with our simple 8 question system which has proven to be engaging to fans without being distracting.
Q 4) What are some of the challenges that you face in making your vision a reality? How do you plan to overcome those challenges?
Being the young team we are, we often struggle to put our product in front of the right people at professional teams. Building credibility by showcasing successful partnerships, constructing a group of advisors who can cast a wide net, and constantly utilizing our growing network are ways that will set us up for success.
Q 5) How big of a market do you see in India, especially considering that there is a growing sports market?
Our team sees a lot of untapped potential in the Indian sports market as new teams, leagues, and sports are constantly forming in the country. Although IPL presents the largest opportunity by far, we do believe that FlashPlays can help generate a more engaged, and loyal fanbase to some of the emerging sports such as volleyball and hockey.
Q 6) What are your goals and ambitions for FlashPlays in the future? How do you plan to accomplish them?
The ultimate goal for FlashPlays is to create a digital ecosystem for fans that revolves around the sports club’s app. Not only will fans be able to foster a digital relationship with their favorite team and fellow supporters, but they will also be provided with easier access to buy tickets, merchandise, and fan experiences via a digital token on the app. The primary strategy for FlashPlays is to start out with smaller clubs who have more of an immediate need of a digital presence, and prove out success to present to larger clubs around the world.
