Iyke Bede reports on the introduction of Foniso, a new sports entertainment and networking app that seeks to galvanise various facets of the sports ecosystem
With an astonishing figure of 6.85 billion, representing the combined number of users across the top five most popular social media platforms globally, social media platforms generally attract a broad and diverse audience, creating a melting pot of varied views. While this diversity presents opportunities for exploration and learning, it can also be limiting for those seeking to leverage these platforms effectively.
For instance, the global sports market, projected to hit $680 billion by 2028, with a cumulative annual growth rate of 9.13 per cent between 2022 and 2028, is reported to have low visibility on social media platforms. This also applies to adjacent industries like sports betting, projected to rake in a revenue of $45.43 billion this year.
Further reports reveal that the gap between athletes and their fan base constantly widens, with 78 per cent of athletes desiring more direct and meaningful interaction with their fans.
To bridge this gap, Nigerian serial entrepreneur and CEO of Foniso, Dominic Essien, is championing a cause in the sporting world by galvanising various facets of the ecosystem--including athletes, fans, journalists, and sports legends--through his sports entertainment and networking app, Foniso.
His goal is to provide fans with an all-round experience while enabling athletes to speak directly to their audience.
Foniso covers all types of popular sports content and news. One of its unique features, which punters will find invaluable, is the live score functionality built into the app. This addresses the problem of leaving the app environment to seek data, potentially serving over 2.8 billion sports enthusiasts.
"Foniso is very special and very dear to us because we've realised, for instance, that the sporting world is really a huge industry. Over the years, what you tend to see are sports enthusiasts, fans, and players scrambling for space somewhere on social media," said Essien. "They are just juggling every part of the social media space in order to get visibility, to read content, and to project whatever information they have. So we decided that for such an important industry, we needed to create a space uniquely for them."
With over 60 per cent of athletes believing that digital platforms play a major role in attracting scouts and securing sponsorship, particularly in the Global South, Essien has begun the groundwork to enhance the app's visibility, especially in European countries, as the Premier League is set to kick off later this month. Locally, he proposes that the unique connectivity offered by the app will help showcase talents on a global scale.
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Essien added, "Very few of the sports legends we have today are very comfortable, and that's not because they didn't plan for a time like this. What we are trying to do here is to have them share stories and content about their playing days, post about their past, offer advice for young people and upcoming stars, and then we'll amplify that and pay them for their consistent content."
Foniso wants to support sponsoring some local games for local talent development, but "we need to, first of all, get to the market and understand where these talents are," Essien stated.
Foniso is designed to leverage the community's functionality, enabling users to build a following and potentially earn on the platform, particularly benefiting journalists in the field.
"An Italian journalist, Fabrizio Romano, was once just a regular journalist until he gained access to the sports community and specific clubs and began to obtain vital information. Today, he is a reference point. We can create our own African, Nigerian journalist for the world. And that's what I want to do--showcase our own talent, find talents all over Nigeria, and present them," Essien said.
While still in its nascent stages with a positive outlook, Essien revealed that future updates will include live streaming, live video games, and live messaging features integrated into the app.
