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Fox Sports launches online community forum The Crowd

The CrowdFox Sports has launched a new second screen experience with online community forum The Crowd in a bid to draw sports fans into discussions about everything and anything to do with their favourite games.

The free platform covers all programs, games and discussions on Fox Sports shows, and sees hosts from the shows joining in the conversations.

Ben Kimber, national digital director of sports product for Fox Sports and News Corp said The Crowd integrates Fox Sports digital and social strategies to drive deep engagement with fans.

The Crowd“We know sports fans are passionate, we know they have opinions, we know sport creates heroes, and villains and moments of controversy all the time and people will want to talk about them so its really giving our users a platform to do that and to get more involved,” he said.

Talent such as Paul Kent, host of NRL 360 and Daily Telegraph columnist, are currently involved in discussions posted around a certain topic. However, Kimber said this could be evolved in future to allow for longer form content that could identify fresh talent.

“People who clearly know their sport and know their writing and find a way to get them involved more deeply in our business. It would be a great opportunity,” he said.

The platform also allows Fox Sports to draw on its content by making its suite of statistics and other relevant content available to viewers while watching live games, driving engagement and widening its offering for advertisers.

“It’s not just about letting the user get involved in our products, it’s about us also surfacing some of the things we know are going to make a difference for them,” Kimber said. “We know there’s a sporting experience we can provide that no one else can, and that’s because of the talent that we have, the content that we have, and from those nuggets of information we can provide.”

The platform, in development over the last six months, had a soft launch last month and TV ads launched this week, as well as being promoted through social media channels and Kimber is already encouraged by the numbers.

In just two weeks The Crowd passed its six week target and more than 900 people have already registered for the site managed by the social and direct community manager at Fox Sports.

Megan Reynolds

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