SofaScore

Mateo Stupicic -

SofaScore is a sports data company based in Zagreb, Croatia, that offers live score services through its website and mobile applications. The company covers around 11,000 tournaments in over 20 different sports and more than 30 languages. SofaScore's digital products provide a complete, unique, and personalized experience of following sports to 20 million fans worldwide on a monthly basis. The company was founded in 2010 by Zlatko Hrkać and Ivan Bešlić, and it has since transformed from solely live scores into an analytical tool for sports lovers, offering various statistical features and innovations.

👀 Key Takeaways

  • SofaScore is a sports data company that provides live score services for a wide range of sports and tournaments.
  • The company has over 20 million fans worldwide who use its digital products for a unique and personalized sports-following experience.
  • SofaScore was founded in 2010 and has since evolved into an analytical tool for sports enthusiasts, offering various statistical features and innovations.
  • The company has over 200 employees and offices in Zagreb and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • SofaScore's statistical ratings, introduced in 2015, are a key milestone that established its analytical direction[1].

📣 Marketing Strategy

  • SofaScore is a global brand with a diverse and highly engaged audience. The company's audience is primarily males aged 20–45 who are tech-savvy, present on multiple social media channels, and very passionate about the teams they support[2].
  • The company's marketing strategy is tailored to each market, with extensive market and user research conducted prior to entering a new market. This includes understanding each market's cultural dynamics and sports fans' demands[6].
  • Major sports events significantly impact the volume of traffic to SofaScore's app and website, and the company's largest campaigns take place during the world's biggest sports tournaments[6].
  • SofaScore uses App Store Optimization (ASO) as an essential part of its acquisition strategy. The company strives to optimize for most of the languages in which its app is available in both the App Store and the Google Play Store[6].
  • The company has partnered with renowned football player Luka Modrić, which has helped increase the visibility and growth of SofaScore[6].

🏆 Management Strategy

  • SofaScore's management strategy involves driving the product strategy and development for one of the world's biggest sports apps[6].
  • The company focuses on expanding the list of sports covered within its app and tracking a wide range of leagues with detailed stats and its SofaScore rating. This includes a special focus on lower and youth leagues, which are rarely covered[6].
  • SofaScore is committed to improving the user experience and continually enhancing its product. The company aims to have users try its app for free and hopefully continue using it after the trial[6].
  • The company's management strategy also involves tackling further challenges with the help of Adjust, a mobile attribution provider that enables SofaScore to accurately attribute installs, track data on a granular level, and benefit from a holistic marketing stack with all of their data in one place[7].

💡 Innovation Strategy

  • SofaScore's innovation strategy is centered around turning numbers into insights. The company's passion for this has resulted in unique features such as Attack Momentum, Attribute Overview, and SofaScore heatmap, shotmap, and more[1][13].
  • The company's key innovation was the introduction of SofaScore statistical ratings in 2015. These ratings are generated by a sophisticated algorithm that translates hundreds of stats into one live number which quantifies a player’s performance[1].
  • SofaScore has a sister app integrated into its ecosystem, called SofaScore Editor. This app allows sports enthusiasts and organizations to enter and organize results and statistics for lower and amateur league competitions in the most popular sports[6][23].
  • The company also has a Historical data option that gives die-hard football fans an insight into all football World Cups, teams, and players from 1966 to the present day[6].

🧩 Business Model

  • SofaScore's main source of revenue is in-app advertising (IAA). For this monetization strategy, retention of both organic and paid users is one of the most vital metrics[7].
  • The company focuses on acquiring high life-time value (LTV) users, or those who continually visit and actively engage with the app, as they drive the most revenue[7].
  • SofaScore also generates revenue through partnerships. The company offers opportunities for brands to strengthen their brand and engage an audience of more than 20M monthly active users through various app and web placements[9].
  • The company also offers opportunities for sports article writers to enrich their content through SofaScore partnerships[9].

🦋What is Unique

  • SofaScore is unique in its extensive coverage of sports and tournaments, offering live score services for over 11,000 tournaments in more than 20 sports and over 30 languages[1].
  • The company's statistical ratings, generated by a sophisticated algorithm that translates hundreds of stats into one live number, provide a unique way of quantifying a player’s performance[1].
  • SofaScore's sister app, SofaScore Editor, is a unique offering that allows sports enthusiasts and organizations to enter and organize results and statistics for lower and amateur league competitions in the most popular sports[6][23].
  • The company's Historical data option provides a unique insight into all football World Cups, teams, and players from 1966 to the present day[6].
  • SofaScore's partnership with renowned football player Luka Modrić is a unique marketing strategy that has helped increase the visibility and growth of the company[6].