Having already announced changes in “Leagues” and a new “Mini” mode, FanDuel now offers a free DFS companion app called Scout.
he joins DrafKings in this department, who deployed DK Live last year.
FanDuel Scout brings internal research
Most frequent DFS users rely on a variety of websites for weekly information. FanDuel tries to streamline the process for its customers, especially the less experienced among them. Launched last week, Scout aims to allow users to do light research without leaving the FanDuel brand.
The data is provided by the sports analysis company numberFire, which has established itself as an essential resource for comprehensive player statistics. It was acquired by FanDuel in 2015, and its content is now available in Scout itself.
Senior Director of Communications of FanDuel, emily bass, developed on the game plan for the application:
FanDuel Scout is our way of making sure that you are not only up to date with the news, but also have all of numberFire’s moneyball-like information, analysis and insight right at your fingertips.
Plus, because it’s a native mobile app, we’ll be able to send all kinds of useful and highly personalized stuff right to your phone: weather, roster changes, starting lineups, etc.
A pre-game tool, mainly
Scout connects directly to users’ FanDuel accounts, allowing them to import queues and follow the players during the week.
The “News” tab is the main portal, providing league-wide updates. The application displays depth maps for positions of competence, too, with betting lines and meteorological data for each game.
FanDuel has positioned it as a way to help level the playing field for recreational users who may not be familiar with the resources used by seasoned DFS shredders. (Like numberFire, for example.)
A watchlist feature allows users to follow a group of selected players. And the “My players” tab automatically imports a list of active players from the user’s formation (s). There are correspondence notes and game logs also for each player.
Scout is available for NFL and MLB for now, while the app lists NBA and NHL like “Coming soon”.
However, other features are missing.
FanDuel Scout vs. DK Live
Scout’s release is FanDuel’s response to DrafKings‘ launch of its own “DK Live” application. The timing puts FanDuel a bit behind the curve; DK Live suffered important development since its launch.
DK Live data is already available for the four major US sports, plus Golf. Perhaps most notably, however, it does include some fantastic scoring information live in the app.
As with Scout, users can import the players they signed up for the week. But unlike Scout, DK Live tracks and updates fantastic scores in real time.
Real-time scoring allows DK Live to present a rich set of features. There is a color code “Big game” and “Red zone” notifications, as well as updates for scoring games that include point totals for players involved.
Users can also select an individual game to see the running fantastic totals for those two teams only. There is a “Driving tracker” to keep up with every possession in real time, too. It’s like having an interactive version of the NFL RedZone channel.
Here’s a look at the features of both:
| Characteristic | DK Live | FanDuel Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Integration of the parental application | Yes | Yes |
| Filter “My players” | Yes | Yes |
| News in real time | Yes | Yes |
| Short content | Yes | Yes |
| Long content | No | Yes |
| Video content | Yes | No |
| Real time score | Yes | No |
| Betting lines | No | Yes |
| Weather reports | No | Yes |
More development to come
Scout doesn’t have any of these features in the game. Not yet, at least. Another divergence from DraftKings, FanDuel has adapted its application to the pre-match process.
Bass says the launch is just the first step in a long grind, however:
One thing we always focus on is improving the experience for our players. Sometimes that shows up in things like new game formats like championships or new sports like WNBA, other times it’s completely new ideas like FanDuel Scout…
As the sports landscape changes and our users give us more and more feedback, we will be adding all kinds of cool new features to the app. We can’t say anything for sure, but the live score is definitely something we will see added to in the future.
Incorporating numberFire’s metrics is certainly a solid foundation to build on. Nonetheless, FanDuel will likely need to develop a few more features to make Scout as useful as expected. A live score would be a good start.
FanDuel Scout is available both on the App store and Google play.