OTT streaming service DAZN has unseated Major League Baseball as the producer of the world’s top revenue-generating sports app, according to a new report.
Despite only entering the rankings in 2018, mobile app marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower’s State of Sports Apps Report, covering developments in the sector from the first quarter of 2016 through to quarter two in 2019, named DAZN as the top app by revenue in the first half of 2019, a rise of one position from 2018.
International sports broadcaster ESPN saw its app jump five places to No.2 in the rankings, with MLB’s At Bat app falling two places to third. The official app of North American basketball league the NBA, along with onX Hunt, a specialist GPS hunting app, fell a position apiece to fourth and fifth, respectively.
Sensor Tower’s report detailed that sports category net revenue growth accelerated in 2017 and 2018, and growth remained strong into 2019. It said sports apps will look to surpass $100m (€91.8m) in net revenue in Q3 2019.
Google Play Sports app revenue grew even faster than Apple’s App Store. Sports app revenue on Google Play nearly doubled year-over-year to $23.7m in Q2 2019. Despite this, the App Store still represented 74 per cent of sports app revenue between the two stores in the quarter.
App Store sports app revenue grew 70 per cent between 2017 and 2018. The report said this growth rate is expected to slow to compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 per cent over the next five years, with net revenue reaching $520m by 2023. Net revenue is on track to surpass $250m in 2019. By comparison, sports apps grossed nearly $125m in the first half of 2019.
Sports app revenue on Google Play is expected to have a similar CAGR as the App Store at 22 per cent to $151m by 2023. However, this reflects lower revenue growth per download given higher forecasted download growth for Google Play than the App Store. Google Play sports revenue is projected to grow 45 per cent year-on-year in 2019. This is less than the 78 per cent growth seen in 2018.