Fox Sports launches redesigned app with modern design, bonus camera angles
As the sports world slowly begins to emerge from the pandemic shut down with MLB scheduled to start this week, Fox Sports is launching its redesigned sports app today for Android and iOS. The new app and accompanying website, offers a more modern interface, access to live sports (with cable subscription) and bonus camera angles for a unique view of the game.
David Katz, Head of Digital at Fox Sports says that sports apps haven't evolved that much since the advent of the smartphone, and Fox Sports was looking to change that with a cleaner design that makes it easier to find content you want to look at.
Our goal was if we took a step back and said, everything we know about where the world is today, and everything that we think is kind of missing from sports apps and websites, could we reimagine that and build a much more modern approach to this, but at the same time, not scare people off in a way that they don't know what to do," Katz explained.
Part of that was visual, giving large pictures with story lines easy to swipe through and read at a glance, giving more of a dating or social app feel to the experience, while building in the same kind of visual elements into the website. The goal is to present a set of stories each day that capture the highlights of the day's sport's news.
It's a very kind of user intuitive way that people are consuming content and navigating quickly through things to see what they like and what they don't like. And when you decide you like something, you can either swipe up, or tap anywhere in the middle or the bottom of the picture and headline, and the story is revealed," Katz said.
As you would expect, the app includes scores and in-game information including the latest gambling odds, as well as key matchups and other information that would appeal to fans. Those users with cable packages, can click a link to a broadcast of the game and sign in with their cable credentials. From there, they can watch the game as on TV, or take advantage of bonus camera angles that might, for example, follow one player or give a view of the bench throughout the game.
Image Credits: Fox Sports
When you're the broadcaster, you end up getting a lot of different camera angles brought in and of course we present the broadcast feed, but there are other cameras being shot and presenting information, video content at the same time," Katz said. And by exposing these additional cameras, they can give fans, who want to see something different an additional window into the game, they might not be seeing in the regular broadcast.
The new app is available starting today in the iOS and Android app stores. The redesigned website is also live today.