SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Having created this season’s fantasy football game for The Mirror, as well as the recently announced partnership with Goal.com, it’s a busy time over at Fantasy iTeam (FiT) HQ.
Commercial Director, Phil Shaw, took some time out of their hectic schedule to discuss all things fantasy football with SBC.
________________________
SBC: The Mirror’s iTeam Premier League Fantasy Football game is a little different from the rest. Can you explain to our readers why it stands out?
Phil: Firstly we’re entirely mobile – we’ve been focused on mobile for five years now. While our competitors are now fixing their mobile tech, we are leading the way with native mobile innovation.
The core of our app is fantasy football, but we also have many other features including a football quiz, Facebook and Twitter leagues, live scoring via Opta, a newsfeed of real-time football news and the unique transfer system where players can be swapped anytime during a gameweek.
SBC: What was the decision making process in opting to focus purely on mobile for this season’s game?
Phil: Our model has always been mobile since the 2010 World Cup. Our team are mobile developers and marketeers so it wasn’t really a decision, it’s our entire business model.
The two things that we’re most passionate about as a business are football and mobile technology, so Fantasy iTeam really is a marriage made in heaven.
SBC: One issue with such fantasy league games is that there tends to be a drop-off in active users as the season progresses. How do you aim to tackle this problem?
Phil: Yes, that is an issue, however Mirror Fantasy iTeam has weekly, monthly and season long competitions to help keep players engaged. That is a must in the modern day fantasy football environment – you have to make your app sticky and give users everything that they want.
Separate to the Mirror product we are also working on launching a new daily/weekly format in the autumn which we’re particularly excited about.
SBC: You’ve partnered with BetBright for this release. What is it that they’ve brought to the table?
Phil: BetBright are the Mirror’s betting partner and we’ve worked closely with them during the development of the product. They are also heavily focused on mobile and they’ve been an excellent partner to work with.
The gap between fantasy football and sports betting is narrowing all the time and together we’ve delivered a really high quality mobile product for the Mirror’s rapidly growing mobile audience.
SBC: Since the iTeam app was launched for the World Cup in 2010, it’s expanded fast; it’s now available on Android, iOS, Facebook, and iPad. Another recent development is your announcement of a partnership with Goal.com, what are the details of this one?
Phil: This is all about expanding our international footprint and testing some new conversion techniques. Combined we will now have over half a million players on the apps this season and we’re expanding into other countries and leagues too. The daily/weekly format will help boost growth as well
We are constantly innovating and we’re really proud about our recent partnership with Goal.com because it has seen us launch a new European Super League format. This is the first time the fantasy football community can pick players from five major leagues – the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga – in the same team, so it’s a really exciting idea.
SBC: What are your aims in terms of continued expansion in the fantasy football market? It was announced recently that Mondogoal have partnered with Tottenham, is partnering with individual clubs something that’s on the agenda for FiT?
Phil: We have an aggressive growth strategy and we are looking at a number of different avenues. Football clubs is something that we will certainly consider and we’ve already had some discussions with clubs.
However, at the moment we are focused entirely on the start of the new season and delivering a top quality mobile service to all of our customers and partners.
SBC: The most important question of all; what are the prizes for this year’s game? And moreover who is your selection for best value pick?
Phil: There are a number of prizes throughout the season both in our Premier League and Champions League games. The winner of the Premier League competition will receive a world sports tour package for a group of mates while there are plasma TVs, Notebooks and Amazon vouchers to be won.
I’m honestly not the best person to ask when it comes to picking the best iTeam (although I do try hard!) so I’ll pass on that one and leave it to the experts!
SBC: Anything further to add?
Phil: Stay tuned; we will have some more exciting news over the next few months
_________________________________
Phil Shaw, Commercial Director, Fantasy iTeam
