Flashscore CPO Tomáš Pondělík: “Why Sports Apps Must Evolve to Keep Pace With Fans’ Demands”
2 hours ago
You were previously at Sky Betting & Gaming and William Hill. How does that experience compare to working at Flashscore, a live scores app with an affiliate model?
My earlier roles were primarily in gaming. At William Hill, I worked between sportsbook and gaming, focusing on shared modules such as navigation, user accounts, payments, analytics, and cross-sell—basically how to move users from betting to gaming. This understanding of which bets and promotions drive acquisition and cross-sell is very transferable. It’s also relevant because bookmakers now increasingly offer basic scores services. It’s not directly competitive, but it does gently push us to expand the information we provide—such as adding more valuable, personalised notifications. The contacts I built in Gibraltar and the UK also help align our roadmap with our key partners—especially ahead of major events like next year’s World Cup.
Is the line between results services and bookmakers becoming blurred?
From a broader view, I see the two as complementary. Live score platforms help with acquisition, branding, and audience growth. Similar examples include LiveScore feeding into LiveScore Bet, or FanDuel using fantasy sports as its base for converting users into bettors.
What inspired Flashscore to launch the Follow Player feature?
It was driven by multiple factors: user feedback, competition, and our persona research. Two of our five core personas are younger audiences more interested in players than teams. The market is also shifting—more people track individual athletes. Follow Player adds a new engagement layer by feeding users into Player Match Stats and improving retention. We’ve had this feature planned for years, and now it aligns with our strategic vision. This October we’re adding basketball and ice hockey, making Follow Player a true multi-sport experience.
How will Follow Player change fan engagement?
One major change is the introduction of new notification types. This year we’ll add transfer notifications. Next year, we’ll launch news notifications, giving users a full 360-degree view of their favourite players.
Any insights from early adoption?
Over 1 million users already use the feature. On average, each user follows around five players. Globally, Ronaldo leads as the most followed, then Messi, Mbappé and Neymar.
We’re also seeing strong adoption of national players within local leagues, which shows it’s not just a team-substitute but a deeper personalisation tool.
Will retired players like Ronaldo remain in the app?
Yes. Retired players will still have news notifications. And honestly, with Ronaldo, I’m not sure he’ll ever retire!
Where do you see Flashscore in the next two to three years?
We’ll continue being the easiest place to follow live sport. Our focus is quality data, strong pre-match and live coverage, and tailoring depth based on user preference—simple by default, complex on demand.
Football remains the priority due to next year’s World Cup, but we’ll expand deeper into tennis, basketball, and ice hockey. We also want to broaden content types and make notifications smarter.
On monetisation—does the affiliate model remain the core?
Affiliate remains our primary revenue stream, though regulations are changing.
This year we launched Flashscore+, our ad-free experience—faster and cleaner. We’re also expanding into non-betting partnerships, such as our recent successful collaboration with DAZN for the Club World Cup.
Even with ads, our goal is that everything feels native and seamless within the product.