FanCode has always taken a collaborative approach to sports broadcasting – Yannick Colaco, Co-founder & CEO, FanCode

FanCode, helmed by Dream Sports, has taken a big leap in sports properties’ digital rights acquisition and merchandising since its commencement in March 2019.

The advent of new age technology in sports broadcasting has brought new patterns in paywalls, and brand collaborations, attracting a new set of audiences and providing a unique sports viewing experience.

FanCode’s decorated sports broadcasting portfolio consists of multiple globally renowned sports competitions – Asian Football Confederation (AFC), FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, Rugby World Cup 2023, Caribbean Premier League 2023, Maharaja KSCA T20 trophy, Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023, Lanka Premier League 2023, Pro Panja League (PPL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

SportsMint Media got the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with Mr Yannick Colaco, Co-founder, FanCode.

Mr Colaco went on to speak about several different topics – FanCode’s business model, acquiring merchandising rights, enhancing sports viewing experience and much more.

Check out the entire interview below to grasp the blend of business and technology in providing prolific sports coverage.

1. How does the process of signing advertisers differ for an established sports competition from a non-established sports competition?

The process stays the same, but brands usually look at a long-term association with long-tail sports rather than event-based associations. For example, Emirates has supported Rugby for a long time and, hence, got on board with us for the Rugby World Cup. Similarly, with Cadbury, we’d collaborated to show our feed on their website to support the Cheer for All Sports campaign with hockey. Through FanCode, we aim to collaborate and partner with brands to help get their message across to our audiences in the most effective manner.

2. What is FanCode’s business model?

FanCode’s business model is a mix of subscription and advertising. Our business model has always been focused on delivering value to our users and monetising through subscriptions, subsequently, we have also built the capability to offer to advertise.

3. How does FanCode determine the value of a pass/tour of a particular tournament or bilateral series?

Our tech and data teams play an integral role in our decision-making. All our decisions are data-driven, we’ve used our extensive tech capabilities to automate this for scale. Determining pricing is no different as we continue to leverage our core abilities as a product-tech company to use data to make better decisions.

4. Could you please elaborate on the process followed by FanCode during sublicensing digital rights for a tournament?

FanCode has always taken a collaborative approach to sports broadcasting. That’s why you see us working closely with other platforms to ensure maximum reach and access for any sport. We aim to provide a personalized consumption experience to our 100 million-strong user base for the sports that they want to watch.

5. How would FanCode attract a TV-specific audience?

At our core, we are a digital company that believes in delivering value to sports fans. For fans who want to watch their games on TV sets, we provide access through connected TV, viewers have the option to access FanCode through Amazon Fire TV Stick, Jio STB, Android TV, Samsung TV as well as platforms like Airtel Xstream, WatchO, OTT Play amongst others.

6. What is FanCode’s target audience in India?

FanCode wants to reach every sports fan across the country – be it a core, curious or casual fan.

7. Could you please elaborate on the entire process of acquiring merchandising rights and putting it out for the fans?

We started FanCode Shop to provide Indian sports fans better access to merchandise and fan gear of sports brands that they love. We feel there’s a huge market for affordable and high-quality sports merchandise in India.

We’ve been working with partners like the ICC, and FIFA, as well as, sports teams like Barcelona, PSG, and Man City and offer the widest range of merchandise including jerseys for everyday wear like polos, t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. We’ve also introduced a kids range, as well, and will continue to diversify our offerings.

8. What new measures FanCode is taking to enhance the cricket viewing experience for fans in this packed cricketing season?

We constantly take feedback from our users to innovate and improve their experience. Be it things like real-time highlights on demand – which FanCode was the first to offer, sachet pricing which has been hugely appreciated by everyone to video overlays with statistics on live streams.

Recently, we have also launched FC Channels through which we are collaborating with top sports content creators in the country for exclusive content on the FC App. We have also introduced FC Shorts, a bite-sized sports content consumption.