Matchday Digital Launches To Drive Club Revenue

Football clubs from the Premier League to non-league, football publishers and fanzine editors can now easily monetise their matchday programmes at scale with the launch of MatchDay Digital – the world’s first, football first, digital magazine app.

MatchDay Digital publishes traditionally printed content from clubs, premium football magazines and supporter-led fanzines in an easy-to-find, easy-to-read format for football fans to use. It’s simple and free for publishers to manage, with no set-up fees or monthly costs – just a no-risk, scalable revenue share model that can generate unlimited income for clubs thanks to the increased exposure and access the platform offers.

Clubs across England’s football pyramid, including all the way down to the ninth division, (step five of the non-league structure) plus iconic football publications and fanzines have already signed up to Matchday Digital ahead of the 2020/21 season, as the football industry begins to prepare for a season with vastly decreased physical touchpoints for fans.

Damian Woodward, MatchDay Digital CEO & co-founder, said: “Our research has shown that over 50% of match-goers and 25% of fans watching on TV or through subscription services would be interested in buying a digital matchday magazine*, whereas only about 20% of supporters currently buy a physical programme when they go to a match. Respondents told us if it was more convenient, easy to access and offered better value, more fans would buy them. That’s how MatchDay Digital was born.

“With more fans than ever at home thanks to restricted crowds or behind-closed-doors games, MatchDay Digital enables clubs and publishers to access fans who aren’t spending their money in or around the ground by allowing them a key part of the match day experience and ensuring they don’t miss out on content – often at a cheaper price than a physical copy.”

No matter where in the world fans are, Matchday Digital’s intelligent content engine ensures they will never miss out on content. Users can select their favourite clubs by league and country, for both the men’s and women’s games, and will be notified every time relevant content is published anywhere on the app. This personalises and maximises fan engagement, extending audience reach and revenue potential for all MatchDay digital publishers.

“With all the limitations related to COVID-19, it’s more important than ever to access fans and readers wherever they are, but permanently changing to this way of thinking can greatly benefit clubs at all levels in the long term,” said Woodward.

“By digitising their content, clubs can distribute their output to a much larger audience without having to pay for printing or distribution of physical copies. A widely-read programme is also a much more saleable asset for clubs when speaking to sponsors and local businesses, which will build stronger community relationships and unlock even further income that clubs desperately need.”

The Matchday Digital app will be free to download for football fans on both Android and iOS, and launches this month in the UK, in time for the 2020/21 season. Fans will be able to read programmes, magazine editions and fanzines as either one-off purchases, subscriptions to specific publications or as part of complete access to all Matchday Digital content.

For more information on how to get your club or football publication on Matchday Digital and to become more accessible to a larger group of fans, please contact Damian Woodward at Damian@matchdaydigital.com or 07584 497841.