Five years, 160 mn users – How FanCode’s user base has grown 5X in last three years

In the rapidly evolving world of sports media, FanCode has emerged as a trailblazer, reshaping how sports fans in India engage with global and domestic sporting events. With its innovative approach to providing live content and official merchandise, FanCode has quickly established itself as a significant player in the industry. By addressing key pain points for sports enthusiasts and leveraging cutting-edge technology, the platform has become a go-to destination for sports fans seeking comprehensive coverage and personalized experiences.

In an interaction with Adgully, Yannick Colaco, Co-Founder of FanCode, delves into the factors driving the platform’s success, what sets FanCode apart from competitors, the strategic decision to broadcast international sports like MLB and F1, and the role of technology in enhancing user experience. Additionally, Colaco also shares insights on significant partnerships, including the recent collaboration with Hardik Pandya, and key metrics that highlight FanCode’s growth trajectory and user engagement.

Fancode has seen rapid success since its launch. What would you attribute this success to? What do you believe sets Fancode apart from other sports media platforms in the market?

Our vision at FanCode has always been focused on building a great product for sports fans in providing them access to the live content that they want to watch and to official merchandise of the sports brands that they love. We understand the pain points that an Indian sports fan has – be it with content or commerce, and we’ve focussed on solving for that. Things like match passes, tour passes – giving the power to fans to choose what they pay for has been a result of this. The single-minded focus has helped us emerge as a major player in the Indian sports industry. But there is still a lot to do and we’ll continue working tirelessly in innovating to create value for sports fans.

Fancode has started broadcasting international sports such as baseball and F1. What factors influenced this decision?

We’ve been streaming baseball for a while now – it all comes down to the fact that Indian sports fans didn’t have access to a major global sporting event like the MLB, or for a couple of years to Formula 1. Everyone knows there are baseball and F1 fans in the country, in fact F1 has close to 60 million fans who we are now reaching out to. MLB, too, has millions of fans. We see ourselves as enabling access to these global events through our platform.

How does Fancode leverage technology and innovation to enhance its user experience and service offerings? What strategies do you use to keep users engaged and retain them on your platform?

We are a product-tech company and consequently technology is at the centre of what we do here at FanCode. We have the fastest instant highlights available, we have screen overlays on demand and users can see any stat they want during a live match. In fact, we’ve streamed 20+ LIVE matches at the same time and 200+ LIVE games over a weekend. This year, one of the things we have planned is to go deeper into each sport to ensure that any fan who comes on our platform has something to look forward to for the whole year, rather than just one tournament. So, we have F1, which is 10 months in a year, but have also now added DTM, F2, F3, Porsche Super Cup. Similarly, in golf, we have PGA Championships and the full season of LIV Golf. In domestic cricket, we have TNPL, now the Karnataka T20 League. Similarly, internationally, we have LPL, The Hundred, Canada GT20, CPL. Fans will never run out of content, and we have content streaming all 365 days.

Could you discuss any significant partnerships or collaborations that have contributed to Fancode’s success?

I think all our partnerships have been mutually beneficial for everyone involved. We’ve had long-term partnerships now with Cricket West Indies, Bangladesh Cricket Board, with the ECB for The Hundred, in football with EFL, Spanish Super Cup; domestically, with a number of state boards. Even on FC Shop, we have partnered with the ICC, football teams like PSG, Man City, Juventus and just now announced an exclusive range with Hardik Pandya which I’m looking forward to.

Could you provide details about the exclusive partnership between Fancode and Hardik Pandya? Are there any other prominent athletes or celebrities you are considering for future exclusive partnerships?

We are thrilled to team up with Hardik and bring his brand to life through the Hardik Pandya performance wear range. Getting a global athlete on board was the next step in our journey after working with top brands, leagues, clubs and teams, and we are delighted that the first player we have is Hardik Pandya. We will be looking at more partnerships and collaborations in due course, but for now, the athlete focus remains on Hardik.

What key metrics do you track to gauge the platform’s performance and user engagement?

We are only a 5-year old company and user growth remains integral to us. We already serve more than 160 million users across our platform. Our user base has grown five-fold in the last three years, and by the end of 2024, we are looking at doubling our paid subscribers. We have also now crossed 50 million app downloads across android and iOS.