Fan Valley to Start International Expansion

Sports fans are a fast growing social media demographic. According to the 2013 Global Sports Media Consumption Report, there are 990 million sports fans in the world’s top 14 sporting nations. Of those, more than two-thirds consume sports online, 49% follow using a mobile device and 35% follow on social media. The growth of sports consumption via mobile devices is a whopping 36% per year*. “That’s the market we’re targeting” say Joel Tendon, one of Fan Valley’s founders. “As opposed to generic social networks centered on following friends and people, our network is centered on fan clubs and is dedicated to meeting the needs and aspirations of sports fans.”

Joel says that the team - split between Neuchâtel and Porto - has been working on this project since June 2013. The Fan Valley mobile application was published in October 2013 and the team has run a market trial and fine-tuned the user experience based on feedback from sports enthusiasts.

“Since publishing the application, the number of new users is doubling every month” says Joel. “Today, we have both iOS and Android applications running in 3 languages with fan clubs for Portuguese football teams. Due to the great response of football fans, we’re rushing to add other languages and fan clubs for 122 countries and 350 national leagues. Other sports will follow.”

It’s worth noting that the team behind the project has already worked together in a previous startup that was exited early 2013.