Sports-oriented streaming service fuboTV said that it will make its free-to-play games and FanView Live stats feature available to all subscribers in time for its telecasts of the South American Qatar World Cup 2022 qualifying matches in September.
Sports media outlets have been looking for ways to make their telecasts of sporting events more interactive, immersive and personalized in order to keep viewing high and attract younger viewers.
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Fans can win a $1,000 prize answering questions during the matches fuboTV streams in September.
The technology also is important as sports gambling become legal in more states.
FuboTV’s subsidiary Fubo Gaming expects to launch Fubo Sportsbook, a comprehensive sports entertainment experience through sports betting, in the fourth quarter of 2021.
On Friday, Fubo Gaming secured a market access agreement in Arizona for Fubo Sportsbook via the Ak-Chin Indian Community. The first sports wagers can be placed in Arizona on Sept. 9.
FuboTV said it tested both the free-to-play games and the FanView stats package during the World Cup qualifying matches in June. It said the integration of the features during the soccer games increase engagement, with subscribers watching fuboTV for up to 37% more minutes than those who did not engage with the features, depending on the platform.
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“FuboTV’s vision to define a new category of interactive sports and entertainment television takes a major step forward with our launch of free games and FanView,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, fuboTV. “We believe this will mark the first time any company has integrated live streaming television, free gaming and live stats within the same platform, on the big screen. With free gaming and our upcoming Fubo Sportsbook real-money wagering app, we intend to deliver a truly interactive streaming experience, one that we expect will improve engagement and retention to fuboTV while also driving advertising revenue.”
Starting Sept. 2, fuboTV subscribers can stream matches, use FanView to keep track of stats and scores in a segment and play free predictive games all on one screen, using their remote control without having to open an additional app. Viewers can toggle in and out of the features when they want to view the game on a full screen.
FuboTV subscriber can access the games on Android mobile, iOS mobile, Android TV, Fire TV, Roku and the web; FanView will be available Android TV, Fire TV, LG TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Xbox One’s family of devices and the web. The company expects to roll out both features on additional devices in the future.
The fuboTV predictive games asks viewers to answer questions during matches on Sept. 2, Sept. 6 and Sept. 9. Correct answers earn points and the fan with the most points wins the $1,000 prize.
FuboTV will be adding to new features in September. There will be a leaderboard so they can track how they’re doing in the predictive game. They can also subscribe to notifications for updates.
“With this launch, consumers will never have to leave fuboTV to interact with their favorite live sports,” said Mike Berkley, chief product officer, fuboTV. “Our beta test in June gave us the opportunity to introduce free games and FanView to a cohort of users, gather data on usability and optimize ahead of September’s launch. We’re really excited with what we will bring to market and can’t wait for more consumers to experience live television as a truly active and immersive experience.”
