A Real sports app that's built on data
The Real app is taking on big sports media apps and social media with its own take on sports fandom.
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Social media has become a popular place for fans to follow sports and consume sports content. But the big social media apps are not specifically designed for sports or sports fans.
A new app, Real, is looking to fill this void. Real is a place for fans to chat about games, players or specific plays. But unlike other apps, its discussion is built around a constant stream of real-time data tied to specific plays in games. Real is one of many verticalized media startups, but it’s different with its focus on data and deep understanding on the interests of sports fans.
The app, the brainchild of brothers John and Louis Antonelli, grabs sports data feeds from major providers and then turns them into a feed, highlighting the jaw-dropping plays that fans want to talk about. The app, launched in March 2021, has grown to about 170,000 monthly active users and has had more than 3 million comments across the app in the last 30 days.
John previously built a large basketball fan community on Instagram (@Bball), while Louis has the first engineer at eSports management startup Gilded, which was acquired by Roblox. The two decided to build Real to provide a different kind social community built on data—and they started with the NBA but then expanded to other sports. “We wanted to take a purely objective data angle,” John Antonelli said.
“[Real is] usually faster than TV for all of our sports. So they're usually the first to know what happens on our product. The first place they talk about it, the first place they see it is on Real. And then they'll see it later, a couple minutes later on social media.”
The app is designed to avoid the misinformation or other random chatter on social apps, John said. Meanwhile, sports news apps typically bury the discussion or community features in a hard-to-find spot. In this way Real is taking on both social media apps and sports news apps.
“When you open the ESPN app, the home screen is a lot of opinions and talking heads and headlines,” Louis Antonelli said. “When you open Real it’s just scores and stats. So we cut out all the noise.”
Context, data, highlights
By highlighting plays with tags such as “walk off homer” or “23’ fastbreak lead-taking three” and adding context about whether a player is hot or cold or how many shots they’ve made in a row—and giving users special emojis to talk about plays—Real helps keep the conversation flowing. “It's difficult for a 20-year-old legacy sports media company to add something that the latest generation can actually socialize with properly,” Louis added.
Real is designed to make it easy for users to follow a game—and not have to switch apps. Since the conversation is centered around each play, some people watch the app as a kind of replacement for watching a game, John Antonelli said. The app can also be a “second screen” for following or joining the discussion during a game.
Social Karma
Real has also added several features to juice its community. It has a social karma system where users can earn points by making predictions on which team will win, over/unders, or which player will have the most points, rebounds or assists. It also has in-game predictions. Users compete on leaderboards to have the most karma—it doesn’t offer real money betting. It also has a digital card collecting feature, where users can buy “packs” of digital cards or plays and trade them. Real also has another monetization feature: a new “Pro” paid tier that offers additional features.
Real has seen a surge of users who are betting on games and come to Real to discuss their picks or strategies, Louis Antonelli said. “We've seen a lot of growing betting activity actually—bettors who talk and discuss their bets and say, ‘Oh, I need 40 fantasy points or three PRAs.’ They talk about what they're looking for, and they celebrate their wins and commiserate together for their losses. So it's kind of a cool social experience.”
The speed of the app also draws bettors and fans generally, he said. “It's usually faster than TV for all of our sports. So they're usually the first to know what happens on our product. The first place they talk about it, the first place they see it is on Real. And then they'll see it later, a couple minutes later on social media.”
“I've honestly think long term, data can replace even watching games, just because of how contextual it is.” John Antonelli said.
While there are other fan communities such as Discords, Twitter or Telegram groups, Real aims to offer features of many apps, Louis said. It’s also looking to make Real more accessible to a broader range of fans.
“Whether you're an avid bettor or an avid fantasy player or you just want to understand what's happening—the casual sports fans who follow their local teams—we serve all those fans on Real. That's what differentiates us from using ESPN and Twitter and Discord,” John said. “You might as well use Real—it just makes it easier because you're getting informed faster than anyone else anywhere else.”
Deep data
Real pulls its data from industry sports data sources, then runs its proprietary process, adding tags and other features. This adds details to each play such as “walk off” or “lead-taking shot”. It also adds supplementary data such as: how many shots in a row the player has made or the exit velocity of a home run. Users get this data and they can also click out to watch the video clip of the play.
The company prides itself on the speed of its data. Its feed can be faster than TV broadcasts or streaming—so it includes a feature to delay the app for a certain amount of time to match a broadcast if you’re behind.
“I've honestly think long term, data can replace even watching games, just because of how contextual it is.” John Antonelli said.
The Future of Fandom
That’s a question about a new generation of sports fans: do they really want to watch a whole game live? Or do they just want to watch the highlights afterwards?
Viewership has been down for the NBA compared to before the pandemic, even though it has inched up slightly this past year. Some fans only want to watch their favorite teams, while others may only tune in for the last five minutes, John Antonelli said. With the viewing habits of sports fans evolving, apps like Real stand to benefit.
Fans may no longer want to watch an entire live game but they may still like to follow games on their phones—and also discuss with friends, make predictions or bets, collect digital cards or watch highlights. These different ways for fans to interact with sports are evolving and giving openings for new companies.