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Jamie Reeves – FFMag – Bringing fantasy football to print

At the end of the 2016/17 Premier League season, Jamie Reeves, the man behind FFMag, released an e-mag version focusing on Fantasy Premier League (FPL) strategy.

SBC News Jamie Reeves - FFMag - Bringing fantasy football to print
Jamie Reeves, FFMag

The number of downloads (5,000) convinced him to launch a crowdfunding campaign for the operation of a new print product. A few months on, and having reached over 150% of the fixed funding goal, SBC News spoke to Reeves about publication of the magazine, exceeding the initial target and plans for next season.

SBC: With the abundance of fantasy football material already online, and with print often considered a content medium on the wane – were you surprised by the uptake in the crowdfunding campaign?

JR: Absolutely. When we launched the first e-magazine in March we never intended to produce physical copies, because like you said, it’s arguably a medium on the decline. We then had hundreds of people ask where they could buy future editions in print, so we did the maths and figured out the money we needed to raise in order to make that a reality next season.

It was obviously still a very pleasant surprise to see people then actually get behind the campaign. It’s one thing saying you’re interested in a print subscription, but it’s another thing buying one in May…2/3 months before the Premier League starts again!

You’re right in saying that the fantasy football tipster market is very saturated right now, but we see that as a good thing because competition drives creativity. Our aim was always to produce a magazine that provides content that is second to none, and that’s how we plan to continue.

SBC: Will the delay between writing, publication and delivery be a problem with the content to be provided?

JR: Each month the Premier League fantasy football calendar presents a new set of questions and decisions. The basis of the magazine will be theories and analysis to help equip readers with the fundamental knowledge to tackle the upcoming month successfully.

This kind of content does not expire and is something that we tested with Edition 1. In fact, you can go back and read that now, and whilst you won’t be able to put it directly into practice – you will definitely gain lots of important insight.

Alas, the people have spoken and the people want part of the magazine to be dedicated to player tips for the upcoming month as well. We advocate a calculated approach to FPL, rather than encouraging sporadic weekly transfers, so this shouldn’t create too much of a problem.

I think it’s fair to say that you won’t be finding any features written around one specific player, as statistics change and there’s always a risk of injury/suspension. Instead, you can expect tips that don’t expire so fast such as fixture analysis, defensive/attacking forecasts and so forth.

We’re doing everything we can to ensure physical copies arrive at the fastest speed possible. The option to read our e-magazine will be there for all print subscribers, so if it’s a very congested schedule they can always have a skim read online between glancing at their letterbox in anticipation.

SBC: Having far exceeded the initial target, what are you going to do with the extra money? Do you have anything else lined up?

JR: It’s important to remember that the crowdfunding campaign was more for idea validation, and whilst it ended up surpassing our target, it doesn’t mean we now have disposable cash. We made the print subscription as competitively priced as possible, which is tough as an independent publication because we do not qualify for the printing and distribution discounts that larger publications do.

The additional money does mean that we can improve our website, accessibility of the e-magazine, and pay our writers and designers without having to scrape the bottom of our own pockets. Now that our idea has been validated, you can also expect to see us bring some truly innovative ideas to the fantasy football space!

SBC: Are you going to extend beyond the Fantasy Premier League website and consider strategies for Daily Fantasy Sports, or is that an area that you won’t be considering? Do you think there’s potential for UK consumers to be as enamoured with DFS?

JR: The magazine will fundamentally cover Fantasy Premier League, because that’s what our readers want. However, due to my background within DFS, it’s fair to say that I’m looking to work with certain products to ensure they can tap into a wider market of fantasy football players.

I spoke in detail with Sam Cooke of Esports Insider about how this magazine could play a key part in raising the profile of daily fantasy sports in the UK. You can read that interview on their website.

There’s also a reason we chose the name Fantasy Football Mag rather than Fantasy Premier League Mag. You can expect to see us delve into other domestic leagues and competitions that have fantasy football games (MLS, Champions League & Tippeligaen) as soon as next season.

There’s also a certain world competition at the end of next season, which we intend to cover in print.

SBC: What’s the main demographic you’ve seen for the download of the magazine? Have you seen much uptake from outside of the UK?

JR: When it comes to both digital downloads and print subscriptions our main demographic has been the UK followed by the US. The e-mag is already showing the signs of developing a vast worldwide reach, meanwhile, we’ve sold print subscriptions to 27 different countries including Antarctica, Mauritius & Colombia.

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