October 31, 2021
Bleacher Report is a company that was acquired by Turner Sports in 2012 for $175 million. Bleacher Report started off as a blog site among friends, in which they wrote their own takes on sports. It has grown to be a powerhouse in the sports media world over the last decade and a half. Bleacher Report has both a website and an app. Both are free and have the same material. The benefit of the app is convenience as well as receiving notifications because of breaking news, score updates, and relevant articles to teams, leagues, and topics that users have selected they want to follow. Bleacher Report values speed and quickness. With this, it allows for viewers to see things before they would on other websites or apps such as ESPN. But, it also means these notifications may contain errors. Once in a while a notification may be incorrect with a wrong score, or there may be an initial injury update stating a wrong timeline. There will then be another notification reading “correction.” This is bound to happen with the emphasis on quickness that Bleacher Report wants but it is one fault in their system. Another fault that comes with Bleacher Report is the fact that they have hundreds of different writers they get their articles from. This can lead to some articles contradicting each other or being similar. It does, however, allow for more opinions to be shared on the app. Bleacher Report also lets its viewers be more engaged than other media platforms. There are comment sections on every article where viewers can argue and give their opinions on the article and its topic.
One thing Bleacher Report has succeeded in, is the engagement on that app. According to Digiday, Bleacher Report’s 3 million monthly users typically spend 151 minutes on the app in one month. This ranked highest among major sports publishers. It is also massive on social media where they post clips and highlights. Bleacher Report has 16.9 followers on Instagram and 10.2 million followers on Twitter. The reason for this is due to the articles, information, and original content on the platform. Bleacher Report often gets athletes to do one on one interviews with their journalists live on their platform. Just this past week, journalist Taylor Rooks interviewed Raiders tight end Darren Waller, about his past struggles with drug addiction.
This platform that is directed at young adults, shined a light on how addiction can start and be treated. It showcases the power of the athlete and the app to have influence on viewers across the globe. Another original way Bleacher Report works is the subsections across the platform. The search bar at the top allows for users to search for articles and scores related to the team or league they search for. Also, the app has other subsections for fantasy football advice, nba or nfl draft news, and “Kicks,” where users can see what athletes were wearing on their feet as well as when new shoes come out. All of these original sections are a large part of what makes people use Bleacher Report instead of ESPN or other sports media platforms. Bleacher Report has come a long way and with some improvements, it can become even better.