The Second-Screen Revolution: How Clubs Can Bring Matchday Debate Back Into Their Own App

The notion of the “second screen” is nothing new in the world of sport. The first screen is the game itself, and the second screen is the phone fans use to chat and react. The vast majority of clubs could own these conversations, but lost them to social media or in messenger groups.

Imagine: whenever fans want to discuss referee decisions or a striker’s performance, they open the club’s app instead of X or WhatsApp. Fans feel part of a community and stay connected to their team, which increases time spent and other club app metrics. The club can better understand fans’ wishes and mood, offer a safe space free from social media fraud and harassment, and use this to promote digital products and services. For the modern club, such socialisation is no longer optional; it is becoming essential to fan engagement.

Moving Beyond the Passive Club App

For the majority of clubs, the app is still seen as a utility – a place where fans can check the team news, buy tickets, or check the league table. But once the whistle goes, the app’s role is often reduced to the odd push notification and live scores.

Meanwhile, the fans are expecting more than a passive feed of news and updates. In the middle of the game, they can use apps as a second screen to the event broadcast where they

• react in real time to every moment,
• see how the other fans feel,
• follow the mood and the story of the game

Simply speaking, when the app of their team turns into a second screen to the broadcast, the app turns into a digital stadium.

Making the app into such a space also changes the app’s role. It is no longer a one-way channel of information; it is now a social hub with a constant interaction within a community of soulmates. It also allows the club to maintain its own “social graph” of supporters. The club no longer has to pay other people’s platforms to access the same supporters again and again. Every reaction, answer, or emoticon stays within the club’s own space and can be linked to real people, rather than being lost in someone else’s statistics.

Giving Fans Instant Context Inside the App

Fans often go to social media during a match because they need more information: a statistic, a comparison with the past, an explanation of a rule they don’t understand. If they don’t get this information within the app, they will leave the app and go to a search engine or a random social media thread.

This can be achieved within the app with a simple sports assistant and basic data visualisations. Such an assistant could:

• answer the fan’s questions in real time,
• show the player’s scoring history against a particular rival,
• give the fan an explanation of the rules they don’t understand,
• remind the fan how many home matches the team has won consecutively
• invite influencers to comment on the games and support the team together with fans.

The more answers and opportunities the fan gets within the app, the fewer reasons they have to leave the app and go to other places. Watching the match, reacting to it, and understanding it all happen in one space rather than being scattered across multiple services. Communication also is not just an additional feature, it is a necessary tool which digital audience perceive as a

Turning Emotion into Action

Discussion always leads to action: buying a new shirt, upgrading a membership, voting for Player of the Match, supporting a prediction. If the discussion takes place within the in-app community, the action can be right next to the discussion.

The mechanisms of copy-dealing make this clear. The fan can broadcast what he or she is doing — purchasing a shirt, picking a level of membership, supporting a prediction — and others can see it. With one tap, they can repeat the same action. Simple social tools can transform ordinary conversation into a conversion engine rather than simply a flow of messages.

In this fashion, the second screen can also function as part of the club’s product funnel. The same energy that drives chants in the seats can now power action inside the club’s own world.

Keeping the Digital Stand Safe

Of course, bringing this conversation inside the club’s own app also brings responsibility. Big-stakes games can evoke big emotions, and some messages will inevitably cross a line. A safe digital “sector” must be part of the solution from the beginning, rather than tacked on as an afterthought.

Fortunately, modern tools can help keep the digital stand safe without sucking the energy out of the atmosphere. For instance:

• Intent-based filters. These can help differentiate heated, emotional debate from direct harassment. The energy level can stay high without becoming abusive.
• Automated protection. The ability for the application to remove or anonymize personal details, phone numbers, email addresses, and payment information helps keep the community safe without requiring a team to monitor all interactions.

This is a space the club can proudly show off to the various leagues, sponsors, and associations they work with. It is a space the fan feels comfortable speaking out in without the threat of hate overwhelming the conversation.

How Clubs Can Bring Matchday Debate Back Into Their Own App

Bringing the debate back is not only about features. It is also about how the club directs its fans on matchday. A few simple steps can make a difference:

• Create clear matchday rooms. You have a list of games to schedule, don’t you? Add chat rooms to every game, and open them a bit before the start. Allow users to exchange their predictions and support a team together.
• Link external channels to those rooms. Use links from social media posts, QR codes in the broadcast, and mentions in email or match previews to point fans directly into the in-app match room instead of to external chats.
• Start the debate from the club side. Let club staff or trusted hosts ask the first questions, pin key topics, and respond to early messages so the room feels active and worth joining.
• Gradually shift attention away from external groups. Over time, invite fans who are active in unofficial chats to move their matchday talk into the official app, and make the in-app room the default place the club reacts to big moments.

Step by step, the habit of “we talk about the match somewhere else” becomes “we talk about the match in the club’s own app”.

Bringing Fans Home

Second screens are not a phase. The question is which platform benefits from the fan’s attention. Ideally, it should be the platform the fan can use to discuss the team’s decisions, ask the assistant for instant information, and mimic the actions of other users within the official application. With the help ofhttps://watchers.io/, the club can bring their fan base home and keep them within the application. This way, the club does not miss out on the best parts of the game on other networks. The club keeps the minutes — and the revenue they bring — inside its own world.

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