Where Are We Now Update: Audio and Sports

When last we spoke with TOK.tv, they were still predominantly focused on the international marketplace, namely soccer, despite being headquartered in San Francisco. Last weekend, TOK provided the experience for the latest version of El Clasico (Real Madrid v. Barcelona – think the Super Bowl but where everyone is fiercely devoted to one of the two teams) and announced a new round of fundraising to help expansion efforts here in the States.Before they were in the hands of Italian and Spanish football fans, TOK initially started as an app for baseball. “It’s hard to watch a three hour game of baseball every day. And if you’re doing it at a bar for the communal experience, it’s cost prohibitive and not the healthiest way to spend time,” joked TOK’s CEO Fabrizio Capobianco. “Plus there are all of these stats in baseball – on TV, you’ll get who’s up next and they’ll show the stats when they come up to bat, but then they’re gone. At the ballpark, all of this information is available for the entire at bat.” And if there’s one thing that’s been learned from the growth of fields like sabermetrics and their entrance into traditional baseball culture, it’s that fans love stats. “So from a user experience, it makes sense to be able to place the stats along with everything else.”From this initial domestic footprint came the international audience, netting TOK some of the biggest teams in Italian and Spanish football as clients. Their user base has grown, reaching 8 million fans in 12 months. They feel they’re best positioned to be the added audio social layer on top of existing apps. And they’re hoping that with this new round of income, they can land and expand with basketball and American football. With something like baseball, the MLB controls the entire app ecosystem with the one authorized MLB At Bat app. There is no official Mets or Yankees app, just At Bat. With basketball on the other hand, the Warriors and the Spurs and the Knicks all have their own official apps.College sports are the next target for TOK. Much like ESPN built their empire on college sports, Fabrizio is hoping that the college level proves to be a fertile one for TOK. Passionate alumni don’t necessarily live close to their campus, and if there’s anything to be learned from your average midtown bar during March Madness, fans are fans for life and will flock to be with their fellow alum for big name games. Adding in a social audio layer to something like the Big10 or Big East could help make alum feel more engaged with a team, “which of course helps with the school’s fundraising efforts.”For Capobianco, the future of TOK is back here in the States. If they can convert their penalty kicks into free throws and trade Football for Hand Egg, they’ll be well positioned to integrate themselves into the sports experience here and allow us to scream at and with one another rather than alone at our TVs on the couch.