DAZN top of the pile as highest revenue-generating sports app

Sports streamer DAZN has beat out ESPN to be the top revenue-generating sports app for the first half of 2019.

As per the State of Sports Apps Report from mobile app marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower, DAZN has risen one place to be the leading app.

Disney’s ESPN app rose five places to reach second, while 2018’s number one – MLB At Bat – dropped to third. The NBA official app and GPS hunting app onX Hunt were fourth and fifth respectively, both falling down a place.

Sensor Tower studied worldwide revenue trends in mobile sports apps from Q1 2016 to Q2 2019.

The report estimates that sports apps will surpass US$100 million in net revenue in Q3 2019. Apple’s App store represented 74% of sports app revenue, with revenues from Google Play nearly doubling year-over-year to US$23.7 million. 

In total, apple App Store sports app revenue grew 70% between 2017 and 2018. This growth rate is expected to slow to a still-substantial 23% CAGR over the next five years, with net revenue reaching US$520 million by 2023. Net revenue is on track to surpass US$250 million in 2019 (sports apps grossed nearly US$125 million in the first half of 2019).

Sports app revenue on Google Play is expected to have a similar CAGR as the App Store at 22% to US$151 million by 2023. However, this reflects lower revenue growth per download given higher forecasted download growth for Google Play than the App Store. Google Play Sports revenue is projected to grow 45% year-over-year in 2019. This is less than the 78% year-over-year growth seen in 2018.

This report follows an earlier study from Sensor Tower in June that showed DAZN achieved 950% year-over-year revenue growth. In May, the app made almost US$11.5 million in revenue, which is more than nine times what it made 12 months earlier.