Australian Grand Prix Most Popular Sports Schedule Download

The ECAL Sports Fan Analytics Report reveals the most popular digital sports schedule download globally in March was the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, followed by Major League Soccer (MLS) club Seattle Sounders, with the MLS master schedule coming in third.

March was the first time ECAL, the world’s first right-time communications platform company, has released the ECAL Sports Fan Analytics Report, which analyses communication via personal digital calendars as indicators of fan engagement.

ECAL works with pro and amateur teams to deliver a direct line of communication between fans and their favorite teams via their personal digital calendar.  Super Bowl Champions the New England Patriots, the Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, USA Volleyball, The Boston Celtics, Duke and UConn Athletics, the LPGA and over 28 international soccer teams all use ECAL for a direct in-calendar link to their fans. 

Fans choose what information they would like to receive from their favorite teams, including match schedules, events, team and athlete appearances, gear sales and other information.  Over 600,000 fans worldwide use the ECAL dynamic calendar service to interact with their favorite sports teams. 

According to the ECAL Sports Fan Analytics Report , when it comes to in-calendar communication 73 per cent of sports fans sampled preferred to connect to their favourite teams via desktop computers, 26 per cent via mobile devices, while the rest connected either via Facebook or other methods.

Of the fans who connected via mobile devices, iPhone remained the most popular platform with 49 per cent of users followed by Android with 46 per cent; just  3.7% of fans connected via Windows phones and 0.7 per cent, Blackberry.

The report reveals fan engagement varies by sport; additional findings included:

●      According to demographic data, men are more interested in connecting to their favorite sports teams via their personal calendars - 68 per cent of US soccer fans and 77 per cent of NFL fans are male.

●      While sports fans in general preferred iPhone over Android, 17 per cent of NFL fans synced their favorite team’s schedules to Android compared to 12 per cent who connected via iPhone.

●      iPhone and Android devices were equally as popular among soccer fans.

●      With soccer fans: 70 per cent connected via desktop calendars, 28 per cent via mobile devices, 2 per cent via Facebook.

●      With NFL fans: 67 per cent connected via desktop calendars, 30 per cent to mobile devices, 3 per cent  to Facebook.

●      With college sports fans: 73.5 per cent connected via desktop calendars, 25% via mobile devices, 2% via Facebook.

ECAL Founder and CEO, Patrick Barrett, says the ECAL platform provides valuable insight into how sports fans prefer to receive events-based communications, what calendar programs they use, who they are, and how they behave within the calendar space.

“We see very high levels of engagement from the calendar space (via click-throughs) for generally high-value items such as buying tickets. We also expect to see the continued rise of the mobile device as the primary way to manage your important life schedule, in which sport often plays a key role,” Barrett says.

About ECAL

ECALis the first right-time, event-driven communications platform that forges closer, more influential relationships between consumers and their favourite event-based organisations.

Over 300 major sports and entertainment brands rely on ECAL to increase revenue streams, acquire important customer data, and develop deeper levels of engagement and trust with high value customers. Over 600K people rely on ECAL-based communication to stay connected to the teams, people, brands and organizations they care about. Flagship customers include The New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, Boston Celtics, Major League Soccer, USA Volleyball, Ladies Professional Golf Association, UCONN and Duke University athletics, plus major sports across Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom.

The management team has played key roles in prestigious organizations, including The British Horseracing Board (UK), Carlton Football Club (Aust), SecurePay (Aust), Real Estate Group, and iSelect.

ECAL Directors include Patrick Barrett (Founder & CEO), Larry Kestelman who founded Dodo Internet (sold $220M), Matt McCann (former Director / CEO at iSelect, Shazam, and Allens Arthur Robinson lawyers) and Ilya Frolov, Founding Partner at Oxygen Ventures (ECAL’s lead investor). ECAL Advisors include Chris Bernard of Microsoft, David Riemer formerly of Yahoo and J. Walter Thompson and Simon Raik-Allen, current CTO at MYOB.