Sports broadcaster DAZN has launched a new section within its mobile app and website that allows soccer (football) fans to quickly get real-time updates on how their favorite clubs are performing.
The section, called Scores, uses a custom engine that delivers data on live and completed soccer matches happening around the world. The experience is curated within the DAZN app for smartphones, and also available on the DAZN website, all for free.
As designed, the Scores section of the DAZN app and website resembles Apple’s real-time data platform Apple Sports, in that it delivers in-game statistics involving players and teams moments after they occur.
What makes Scores different is that, at least for now, it only involves soccer matches, tournaments and clubs — it isn’t clear if it will expand to other sports in the future — and the platform ties in nicely with DAZN’s live streams of soccer matches and tournaments to which it had domestic and global distribution rights.
Starting with soccer makes sense for DAZN: The broadcaster is the biggest rights holder for European football, and has “the most-valuable portfolio of women’s football rights,” the company said. Among the rights that DAZN holds include domestic or worldwide distribution of Bundesliga, English Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women’s Champions League. (In the United States, the rights to these franchises are split among Paramount Global, Comcast’s NBC Universal and the Walt Disney Company’s ESPN, among others.)
“The launch of Scores is an important part of achieving DAZN’s vision of building the ultimate sports entertainment platform,” Shay Segev, the CEO of DAZN Group, said in a statement. “By offering this product to all registered users for free, DAZN is increasing fans’ access to sport, while creating greater opportunities to drive sports fans’ engagement with the platform. Scores is a strategic addition to DAZN’s ecosystem of content, products and services. It will provide users with an enriched entertainment experience and increase the discoverability of DAZN’s entire offering, while boosting loyalty, frequency and retention.”
The launch of Scores ties in well with DAZN’s strategy of not just being a destination for live games, but of being a platform where sports fans can connect with the games and with each other. DAZN calls this approach a “community hub,” and it includes the ability to chat with one another, play sports-focused quizzes and even buy tickets to athletic events in some countries.
