People love sports! And they want to stay up-to-date with the latest happenings in their favorite sports. Whether it’s about knowing the live scores, or the match results, sports enthusiasts want a medium that keeps them informed.
This is where media-based sports apps, like theScore, come into play. These types of apps provide the latest sports news live scores and statistics of major sports tournaments and athletes.
Some sports apps even offer live videos and highlights for many major leagues and competitions across the world, fulfilling every need of sports lovers. If you are interested in knowing more about such applications, this blog is exclusively for you.
Here we have talked about developing a leading media-based sports app, named theScore. From the market insights to the development process and required technology stack, we have covered everything you need to know to build such a sports app. So, let’s start!
What is the Market Size of Sports Media Applications?
The following are the market statistics for sports media applications.
- The global sports media market was worth $58.2 billion in 2023. It is estimated that it will grow at a CAGR of 5.2%, reaching a valuation of $82.99 billion by 2030.
- Moreover, North America was the market leader in 2023 and is estimated to continue ruling the market in the coming years.
- According to reports, theScore app has approximately 5 million users and is a popular platform for live scores and several sports events in a single place.
What is theScore App?
Owned by PENN Entertainment, theScore is one of the best sports apps that delivers the latest sports news, real-time score updates, statistics, match videos, social content, and more.
The application covers almost all the major sports, such as basketball, football, rugby, golf, F1 racing, hockey, baseball, and more, and major sports leagues like NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, and more.
theScore app has approximately 5 million active users and is available on both Google Play Store and App Store.
theScore App’s Top Features
- Real-Time Score Updates
- Statistics and Expert Analysis
- Latest News
- Favorites
- Chat and Messaging
- Community
Now, let’s move forward and learn about developing a sports app like theScore.
How to Develop a Sports App like theScore
The following is the step-by-step process to build a sports app similar to theScore.
Step#1. Planning
The first step is to plan the development of a sports app like theScore. You must determine the target user base, the technology stack to build the app, features and functionalities to add to the sports app, user interfaces for the app, and more.
Also, study the competitors to know their unique selling propositions (USPs) and pain points.
Step#2. Set Up the Development Team
Developing a sports app similar to theScore is a daunting task. Deep expertise and years of experience are required to build a sports app successfully.
Therefore, it is suggested to hire dedicated mobile app developers to build theScore-like sports app. Moreover, outsourcing the project to a leading sports app development company is also a good option.
Step#3. Design the UI/UX
Start with designing an intuitive and user-friendly user interface (UI) for theScore-like sports app, to offer an enhanced user experience (UX). The user interface is the element of the app with which the users interact.
Hence, it is crucial to create well-defined and engaging user interfaces, to grab user attention and retain them for a long.
Step#4. Develop the Sports App
The next step is to build the backend infrastructure using top-end mobile app development frameworks, programming languages, software development kits (SDKs), application programming interfaces (APIs), and more.
Also, consider adding emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide users with personalized sports experiences tailored to their preferences.
Step#5. Testing and Quality Assurance
Post-development, test the sports app like theScore to identify bugs and glitches and fix them before the launch.
Also, releasing a Beta version of theScore-like app in a closed environment is a good way to test, gather user feedback, and make relevant changes before the app release.
Step#6. Launch
Once testing and quality assurance are done, launch the sports app on the Google Play Store and App Store. Use different marketing strategies to educate your target audience about the new sports app in the marketing.
App store optimization, advertisements, influencer marketing, collaborations, etc., are some proven ways to market a sports app similar to theScore.
Step#7. Post-Launch Maintenance
The job doesn’t end with the launch of the app. Proper monitoring is required to analyze the performance of the sports app in the market. Experts use different KPIs ( key performance indexes) to measure the performance of mobile apps.
Moreover, adding new features and functionalities, and making slight changes to the user interfaces over a while, is also necessary to offer users a new version of the app with new features and functionalities.
Technology Stack to Build a Sports App Like theScore
Here is a suggested technology stack to create a compelling sports app similar to theScore.
| Component | Tech Stack | Description |
| Frontend Development | React Native, Flutter, Swift (iOS), Kotlin (Android) | Frameworks and languages for building the app interface |
| Backend Development | Node.js, Django (Python), Ruby on Rails, Java (Spring Boot) | For server-side logic and database management |
| Database | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Firebase | For storing user data, game statistics, and other information |
| Real-time Updates | Firebase Realtime Database, Socket.IO, Pusher | To provide live scores and real-time notifications |
| APIs for Sports Data | SportsData.io, RapidAPI, TheSportsDB, Betfair API | For integrating live scores, news, and statistics |
| Authentication | Firebase Auth, Auth0, OAuth | For secure user authentication |
| Push Notifications | Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) | For sending updates and alerts to users |
| Analytics | Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Firebase Analytics | To track user engagement and app performance |
| Payment Gateway | Stripe, PayPal, Braintree | For handling in-app purchases and transactions |
| Testing | JUnit (Java), JUnit (Kotlin), XCTest (iOS), Selenium, Appium | For automated and manual testing of the app |
| Version Control | Git, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket | For source code management and collaboration |
| CI/CD | Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI | For continuous integration and deployment |
| Monitoring | New Relic, Sentry, Crashlytics | For monitoring app performance and crash reporting |
*Please note that it is a recommended technology stack only. You can use other tools, technologies, and software, that align with your requirements to build your sports app.
Moving forward, let’s discuss some top-notch features to add to the theScore-like mobile application.
Top Features to Integrate into Sports Apps like theScore
Features make a sports app successful. No user will interact with a sports app having basic features. Thus, it is crucial to add some cutting-edge features to the sports app to attract users and enhance user experiences.
The following are the top features to integrate into a sports app similar to theScore.
- Account Set Up and Login
It allows users to create an account with minimum information, and log in using a username, password, or biometric authentication, and through social media accounts.
- Interactive Dashboard
A user-friendly dashboard to allow users to choose their preferred sports, tournaments, events, related news, statistics, and more.
- Live Scores and Updates
It provides real-time scores, updates, and statistics on different sports and athletes.
- News and Articles
This feature provides the latest news, expert analysis, and insights for major sports and top players in the game.
- Player and Team Statistics
Detailed statistics for various athletes, teams, and sports.
- Match Schedules
Schedules for upcoming matches and events with date, time, venue, and more.
- Push Notifications
Personalized alerts for news, scores, games, events, and more, via notifications.
- Social Sharing
This feature allows users to share information like scores, winning team, player of the match, etc., on social media.
- Favorites
Allows users to save their favorite teams, athletes, sports, leagues, and more.
- Commentary and Highlights
Live commentary in preferred language and video highlights of matches and the best moments of the sports.
- In-App Chat
The app’s chatting feature allows users to communicate and share information about games and events through texting.
- Multi-Lingual Support
Sports app’s content in multiple languages to cater to users from different parts of the world.
Some Advanced Features to Add to theScore-like Sports App
Apart from basic features, you can also integrate some advanced features into the sports app like theScore, to offer users an enhanced experience.
- In-Depth Analytics
AI-driven advanced analytics for statistics, heat maps, and player performances.
- Augmented Reality Overlays
Engaging overlays powered by augmented reality technology to improve the immersive viewing experience of game statistics and highlights.
- Virtual Reality-Watching Experiences
Virtual reality-powered experiences for watching live games and highlights in an immersive virtual environment.
- Voice-Driven Controls
Feature to allow users to use the sports app using voice commands and integrate with virtual assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant
- Interactive Polls and Quizzes
Feature to engage users with interactive content, polls, riddles, quizzes, and more related to sports events.
- In-App E-Commerce Store
An e-commerce store in the sports app like theScore allows users to buy sports merchandise directly from the app.
- Live Streaming
An optional feature to stream sports events directly within the app.
- Multi-Device Sync
Cost to Build a Sports App like theScore
You might be wondering, how much does it cost to build a sports app similar to theScore?
The development costs of a sports app depend on multiple factors, such as the platform, features and functionalities, technology stack, development team size and location, API integrations, UI/UX designing, and more.
So, if you want an accurate estimate tailored to your specific needs, reach out to our experts. Share your requirements, and we’ll provide you with a detailed cost breakdown to develop a sports app similar to theScore.
Monetizing Strategies for Sports Apps like theScore
There are several proven monetizing strategies to make money from sports apps like theScore. Here are the top strategies that you can implement to generate revenue from your sports app.
- Subscriptions
To generate revenue from a sports app like theScore, you can use subscription and freemium models.
In the former, users need to pay subscription fees to access your sports app, whereas, in the latter, users can access the basic features for free and need to pay to access advanced features.
- In-App Advertisements
Another proven monetizing strategy is in-app advertising. Depending on impressions and clicks, you can charge other businesses to run their ads on your platform.
However, remember to do it sparingly, otherwise, it will ruin the user experience, resulting in users abandoning your sports app.
- Data Licensing
Data Licensing is a legal agreement between licensor and licensee to use data for various purposes.
You can use data licensing monetizing strategy to generate revenue by sharing license user data and analytics with sports teams, broadcasters, sports analysts, news and media houses, market researchers, and more.
- Live Streaming and Pay-Per-View
Paid live streaming and pay-per-view are other monetizing strategies that have been already used by various live-streaming platforms. You can charge users for live streaming major sports events directly within the app.
Also, you can offer pay-per-view options for exclusive events, matches, or tournaments.
- In-App Merchandise Store
Last but not least, you can also set up an in-app e-commerce store in your sports app like theScore, and sell official merchandise and other sports products to users and generate revenue from it.
Popular Sports Apps Similar to theScore
The following are the popular sports apps like theScore.
- Yahoo Sports
Yahoo Sports is a leading sports score and news application that covers all the major sports and events played across the world.
Users can access live scores and news related to their preferred sports, watch highlights and key moments, get valuable team and game analysis from experts, and more, using the app.
- ESPN
ESPN is another leading sports media application similar to theScore. It has a large library of streaming content for various sports played worldwide.
Moreover, the application also covers major sports leagues and tournaments such as the Olympics, NFL, Premier League, and UFC.
- BBC Sport
The sports division of BBC, BBC Sports is a top sports news and entertainment app that provides live scores, expert analysis, highlights, and news for top sports, such as football, rugby, basketball, golf, and more.
Also, users get scores and fixtures, instant updates, and a personalized sports page in the BBC Sports app, that enhances their sports experience.
- Bleacher Report
The Blecher Report is a sports application that offers various features that enhance the sports engagement experience of the users. It has direct messaging, content sharing, news and alerts, exclusive streaming, live scores, and more.
Like all other sports media apps, the Breacher Report also covers all the leading sports played across the world.
- Sofascore
Sofascore, the best sports score and news app, is used by millions of sports enthusiasts to keep a tight eye on their favorite sports.
The application offers live scores, statistics, and results, for leading sports, including football, basketball, and tennis, with real-time updates and detailed analysis.
Conclusion
Sports apps are the best way to track live scores, the latest news and updates, and all other events happening in the world of sports. theScore is one of the key players in the sports media app category that provides users with cutting-edge features that enhance their sports watching and engagement experience.
Sports is an evergreen category and it never goes off the trend. Sports are loved by everyone, whether they are kids, teenagers, or adults. And they need a platform that keeps them connected with their favorite sports and teams.
So, building a sports app like theScore can be a gaming-changing idea for you. Before it gets too late, reach out to our experts at Quytech, and let’s talk about how developing a custom sports app can help you engage sports fans, and create new revenue streams.
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions related to sports app development like theScore.
Sports media apps are the category of sports applications that provide users with real-time updates regarding scores, news, stories, and analysis related to various sports. Examples include theScore, ESPN, Yahoo Sports, and more.
People love sports and they need an app or a digital platform like theScore so that they can get the latest scores, news, and updates for their favorite sports on the go.
Yes, it can be a good and profitable idea to build an app like theScore, even though there are plenty of apps available. However, you must focus on addressing users’ needs that these existing apps fail to fulfill by adding cutting-edge features and technologies to your app. By doing so, you can get a competitive advantage in the sports app industry.
You can get artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide your users with personalized sports experience and data analysis, virtual reality to live stream events in immersive environments, and sports betting integration to offer users an option to place bets on various sports events, online.