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NHL preps for launch of redesigned app

One of the NHL’s biggest offseason media priorities was to redesign its iOS and Android app that league executives believed had grown old and tired.

A new app, which was designed in partnership with NeuLion, will be ready by next month for the start of the season. NHL executives say the new app should bring more revenue into the league’s coffers through advertising and GameCenter Live subscriptions. The app can be downloaded for free, but for access to all of the app’s features, users have to subscribe to GameCenter Live for $169 per season.

The basic app will be free, but all the bells and whistles will require a subscription to GameCenter Live, which offers streaming video of live games and on-demand replays.
Users will notice changes immediately, as the new app sports a cleaner design with easier access to video and news stories.

Changes apply only to the league’s mobile phone app. The NHL’s tablet app will remain unchanged this season, though it’s next in line for a redesign. “We want to focus our efforts on mobile, as the majority of our usage is on handsets versus iPads,” said John Pacino, NHL vice president of product development and social media.

The biggest change is in how the app is programmed; its focus will change throughout the day. From 6 p.m. to midnight, users will be defaulted to the scores and highlights section. Outside of that window, the app will push users to stories and videos about the league, its teams and players. The first page that users see when they enter the app is called “The Latest,” which is a photo-heavy site with links to stories.

“Our app for the last two seasons served its purpose by providing the basic information around the games with quick, real-time updates about what was going on,” said Stephen McArdle, the NHL’s executive vice president of digital media and strategic planning. “What we felt we were missing was the ability to change the look and feel of the app outside of the game.”

The changes allow the league to sell advertising and promote events more easily. The league has built ad units into its news feeds, with promotional banners at the top of its pages. Early in the season, that banner will be used to promote GameCenter Live. No advertisers have been announced yet.

While the old app had separate news and video sections, the new one will embed video players into the stories.

“It’s going to drive video starts, which leads to pre-roll and all the revenue associated with it,” McArdle said. “It’s going to provide us with a better way to promote initiatives that we are pushing and find important at the league level — whether it’s outdoor games or original content that we’re creating or subscriptions to GameCenter Live.”

GameCenter Live offers streaming video of live out-of-market, regular-season games, on-demand replays, and other features.

Users who don’t pay for GameCenter Live will have access to up to three minutes of in-game highlights per day — an amount that is restricted more for in-market users. “These all follow our in-market and out-of-market rules,” McArdle said.

The NHL designed the app to complement the league’s team apps, allowing users to move seamlessly from the league app to team apps and back again. The team apps operate independently from the NHL app.

“The new app gives fans access to watch, listen to the game, access the box score and statistics,” said Matt Restivo, the NHL’s director for product development. “We felt like this was the core functionality that fans looking for a quick hit would get the lowdown that they need.”

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