Getty ImagesMumbai: Indian sports social gaming startup Rooter has changed its business model by adding live and user-generated sports content to the app, in a move that will bring more sports fans to the platform.
Since its launch in June 2016, Rooter’s focus has been on building a community of sports fans via live prediction games, match chat forums, quizzes, trivia and news updates. “We were focussed at gaming so far, but looking at the way Indians have lapped up to video and audio content, case in point TikTok, we believe that’s the segment we would like to be in. There is a big market gap here,” Piyush, founder of Rooter, told ET.
In its new avatar, Rooter will allow fans to not just upload audio and video content, but also go live during the matches to comment & analyse for their followers.
“Our USP is live content during matches. We have seen a lot of traction for our users during live games. In the new content mix, we will create content, but 85% will be user-generated,” Piyush added. “We will offer content around not just international and domestic games and tournaments, but also school and college-level games. We will also be running challenges for users to send their short-form videos.”
Rooter was launched as a platform to bridge the gap in the sports fan engagement market through a tech product. Its launch coincided with the Euro 2016, and later, it added cricket, tennis and other sports to its folio. The company is rooting on the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League to bring in a new set of users. “We have got the product mix right and have over 5 million users. By IPL, we will have close to 0.5 million daily active users.”
Since its launch in June 2016, Rooter’s focus has been on building a community of sports fans via live prediction games, match chat forums, quizzes, trivia and news updates. “We were focussed at gaming so far, but looking at the way Indians have lapped up to video and audio content, case in point TikTok, we believe that’s the segment we would like to be in. There is a big market gap here,” Piyush, founder of Rooter, told ET.
In its new avatar, Rooter will allow fans to not just upload audio and video content, but also go live during the matches to comment & analyse for their followers.
“Our USP is live content during matches. We have seen a lot of traction for our users during live games. In the new content mix, we will create content, but 85% will be user-generated,” Piyush added. “We will offer content around not just international and domestic games and tournaments, but also school and college-level games. We will also be running challenges for users to send their short-form videos.”
Rooter was launched as a platform to bridge the gap in the sports fan engagement market through a tech product. Its launch coincided with the Euro 2016, and later, it added cricket, tennis and other sports to its folio. The company is rooting on the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League to bring in a new set of users. “We have got the product mix right and have over 5 million users. By IPL, we will have close to 0.5 million daily active users.”
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