SportsCenter Goes Mobile: ESPN Launches All-New SportsCenter App
Next-generation app gives sports fans new levels of personalization and access to ESPN content; Unique combination of live scores, news, video, alerts, and social media integration; Available for both iPhone and Android handsets at launch
ESPN Digital Media today launched the SportsCenter app, an all-new, next-generation app for iPhone and Android handsets designed to provide sports fans a comprehensive, personalized mix of the ESPN content they want, anytime, anywhere. Users will receive the SportsCenter app as an update to ESPN's ScoreCenter, the most popular free sports app of all time with more than 43,000,000 downloads.
The SportsCenter app delivers live scores, breaking news, video highlights, feature stories, native social integration, in-line alert settings, GameCast access, and more. Taking full advantage of iOS7 and Android functionality, the SportsCenter app presents an entirely new experience for fans, with an elegant design that makes it easy to access unprecedented levels of ESPN content most relevant to them.
Navigation is designed around three content pillars: Scores, News and ESPN Now.
Enhanced Scores - With live scores from favorite teams and the day's best games, the Scores screen allows fans to set alerts and access expanded information for each game with a simple tap.
Enhanced News - Curated by SportsCenter, the News screen presents the best and latest headlines of the day with a mix of breaking news, features, video and highlight clips.
ESPN Now - Integrating contextual live scoring and social updates for a personalized set of teams and leagues from ESPN Twitter handles, the ESPN Now screen enables fans to reply, retweet, favorite, share, and email each post.
Other key features include:
Favorites and Clubhouses - The Favorites screen provides quick access to favorite teams and upcoming or current games. Tapping a team allows access to the all-new Clubhouse feature, which provides a team-specific theme that mimics the SportsCenter app's main navigation, with Scores, News and ESPN Now tabs for each team.
Inbox - A personalized collection that enables fans to catch up on relevant alerts, scores, video highlights, and news based on their preferences and activity.
"The unique challenge for us is taking all of the content that only ESPN can produce and making it simple and easy for fans to find what's important to them on a mobile screen," said Ryan Spoon, senior vice president, Product Development. "Optimizing for iOS7 and Android allowed us do that, developing functionality that is true to the device but also consistent across devices with the familiar look and feel of ESPN and SportsCenter."
Launch of the SportsCenter app comes as the demand for mobile sports content continues to grow. Last September, a month in which ESPN Digital Media set a sports category record with 72,700,000 unique users, more sports fans consumed ESPN content via mobile devices than online computers for the first time ever.
Advertisers for the SportsCenter app at launch include MillerCoors, Kay Jewelers and Bud Light.
About ESPN Digital + Print Media
ESPN's Digital + Print Media properties include ESPN.com, the world's leading online sports service; ESPN The Magazine, a bi-weekly, award-winning print publication; ESPN mobile products, which include the leading mobile web destination and top-ranked apps for iPhone, iPad and Android; espnW, the network's initiative serving female sports fans; WatchESPN and ESPN3, the groundbreaking 24/7 live sports broadband network, and ESPN Fantasy Sports, which includes the No. 1 fantasy football game. ESPN Digital properties also include ESPN Digital Audio, Interactive Games and other emerging digital media properties including Grantland.com, the literary site focused on sports and popular culture, led by Bill Simmons, the most popular sportswriter ever; and fivethirtyeight.com, Nate Silver's site exploring analytics across sports, politics and economics.
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