Urban Zoo: Changing The Game With Gamechanger
As clubs navigate an ever-changing digital landscape, meeting the demands of fans and sponsors, Urban Zoo has become a trusted industry partner. As content, data, personalisation and the AI revolution take centre stage, Urban Zoo have launched Gamechanger 2, helping clubs through more integrations, greater efficiency and expanded commercial opportunities.
Over the past 15 years the Owned & Operated (O&O) digital platforms of clubs have become critical real estate for sports organisations in achieving their goals. This is where controlling a club’s brand begins as the official voice of authority.
Where fan engagement brings stronger control and authenticity. It’s these platforms that are always on and capturing the data that provides insights to help understand fans and followers. All while being the critical link to an organisation’s commercial growth through sponsorship, ticketing and retail.
Since 2013, Urban Zoo has built a reputation as one of the industry’s most trusted providers (highlighted in the fact that Urban Zoo can proudly state that they have 100% client retention), working with over 80+ clubs, leagues and federations – including clubs across the EPL, EFL, SPFL and National League – and also the EFL and National League at a central level too.
This trust has been the result of building a sports data-rich and feature-led platform for developing web applications, streaming solutions, native mobile applications, microsites and retail/e-commerce powered through their own or third-party Single Sign On (SSO) all whilst integrating with additional third-party providers to create one cohesive ecosystem, one CMS and one central point for fan-led data acquisition.
This is Gamechanger®, the only true Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution in sport, Urban Zoo owns, operates and evolves the core technology that connects the entire digital fan experience.
“The way we build and progress our feature set is focused squarely on the needs of modern-day sports content and comms teams,” explains Chief Operating Officer, Matt McKiernan.
“We see clubs of all sizes and at all levels having to do more as the importance of digital continues to grow. We can help with that by continually listening to our clubs and presenting the features they want at pace and in an intuitive way.
“When we are bringing new features into the new platform we can build once and deploy to everyone, meaning a constantly developing roadmap rather than individual sites which all need to be updated independently and typically lead to a big site refresh every three years or so.”
In 2025, as clubs such as Everton FC and Celtic FC have launched major new digital platforms to meet their changing needs, Urban Zoo has been their partner of choice.
Craig Johnston, Head of Digital Marketing at Celtic FC, commented: “We have a great long-standing relationship with the team at Urban Zoo. They have become a valuable extension of our digital team, providing essential expertise and strategic guidance as we look to take the club to the next level in the digital space.”
Urban Zoo’s Chief Customer Officer, Stuart Vose, added: “Just as important as the technology itself is the relationship behind it. We believe in building true partnerships — rooted in openness, collaboration and constant innovation.
“This is not a client-supplier engagement, but a shared journey to push the boundaries of what a modern sports platform can achieve. Working closely with our partners, we deliver a digital ecosystem that is engaging, data-driven, commercially powerful and continually evolving, setting a new global benchmark for fan-centric digital sport.”
The evolving needs of clubs, leagues and federations, as they contemplate the ever-changing expectations of fans and sponsors, together with numerous technology integrations and the on-set of the AI revolution is at the heart of Urban Zoo’s mission.
Their goal is to deliver ROI focused, engagement-led digital platforms for professional sports. The Gamechanger® ecosystem helps to boost fan interaction, drives revenue and powers the online presence of clubs and leagues across major sports.
Wycombe Wanderers’ Head of Media & Communications, Matt Cecil, said: “The Urban Zoo team are on hand around the clock to offer not just troubleshooting advice but also best practice guidance from other clubs, and their rapid growth as a business – coupled with the impressive development of their digital products – matches our aspirations to become a highly innovative, digital-first and data-led football club.”
Urban Zoo’s Chief Commercial Officer, Rob Moore, adds: “Being a sports-centric business it is always a challenge to stay at the front of client demands but we believe in developing partnerships, not client-supplier relationships. Much like the sports world, we do not simply cover 9-5, Monday to Friday. We are aligned to, and in tune with, the club football world.
“Through our owned and operated CMS – Gamechanger®, and our owned and operated video solution – Streamline, our club and league partners have an opportunity to consolidate suppliers, improve technology, enhance the fan experience, increase monetisation potential and offer a reactive solution to the ever-changing needs within the business.”
The unrivalled experience at Urban Zoo has been accumulated through working extensively across English and Scottish football and now enables the team to bring the same level of excellence to clubs, leagues and sports organisations across Europe and the United States. This is why there is a genuine excitement at Urban Zoo about expanding into new international markets and continuing to grow their community of clubs and sports organisations.
Urban Zoo will continue to expand their offering, inspired by the needs of clients, leaning into meaningful integrations and continuing to be a trusted partner at the intersection of sport, content, data and technology. The mission is clear – to build a fan-first digital destination and to support each of their partner clubs on how they distribute and amplify their content, how they activate and engage their fans across multiple digital touchpoints and how they leverage data as the foundation for stronger and more sustainable monetisation.
If you would like to discuss your digital roadmap and find out how Gamechanger® can help your club, please contact us via: Email: robmoore@urbanzoo.io Tel: +44 (0)844 330 1443 or visit: www.urbanzoo.io
Images: Urban Zoo
