The Biden administration is seeking input on the competitiveness, or lack of it, in the mobile app marketplace.

The public notice announcing a request for comment by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, the White House’s chief communications policy adviser, suggests there is an issue that needs addressing.

"Restoring competition in the American technology sector is a critical priority of the President’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy," the notice starts off.

NTIA said the info gathered will help shape the administration's policy agenda, including for a report to be submitted to the head of the White House Competition Council.

Also: FTC, Justice Seek Input on Big Tech Mergers

Separately, the Biden administration has been collecting input on the competitiveness of online companies in general with an eye toward potentially revamping merger guidelines to prevent what some see as Big Tech’s efforts to buy up to monopoly by gobbling up smaller competitors, or potential competitors, before they become big enough to trigger antitrust concerns from the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission. ■

Tunity, a startup that has built an app that lets users hear live audio streams from muted televisions, has hired two execs who are late of Nielsen and MGM.

Bruce Tuchman is on board as president of sales, and Paul Lindstrom has been named head of research. They are joining Tunity on the heels of its $12 million "A" round.

Tuchman, a vet of the media and entertainment industries, has previously been president of AMC Global & Sundance Channel Global, president of MGM Worldwide Networks, and GM of Nickelodeon Global Network Ventures. 

Lindstrom is a long-time Nielsen exec who helped to design and develop a range of tools, systems, studies, and measurements for new media outlets, and directed sales, operations and strategy for Nielsen Strategic Media Research and Nielsen On Location. At Tunity, he’ll head up the creation of new data products and help the company develop a “new metric” based on Tunity’s traffic, tuning and attention data.

Both Tuchman and Lindstrom will be based in Tunity's New York City office.

Tunity says its app currently supports more than 100 channels in the U.S., including Fox, CBS, and ESPN.

Its app and cloud-based platform, targeted to consumers who are watching muted TVs in venues such as sports bars, airports, waiting rooms or gyms, streams a channel’s synced-up audio feed to the smartphone. Tunity also uses A.I. and deep learning techniques to determine the correct live TV channel and establish the video-audio synchronization.

RELATED: Tunity Tunes in Out-of-Home Viewing (subscription required)

Tunity founder Yaniv Davidson said recently that the company is experimenting with its business models and exploring future revenue opportunities, including some based on targeted advertising.

Apps are largely driving digital media consumption on mobile devices, but it’s becoming more difficult for programmers and other media companies to entice consumers to give new ones a spin.

That’s a key takeaway from a new study from comScore, which found signs that the industry has reached a “peak app” phase as consumer interest in new apps starts to wane.

Per the company’s 2017 U.S. Mobile App Report, app users across all age segments access 20 or fewer apps each month.

Despite concentrated usage, apps are clearly the main driver for digital consumption on mobile devices.

In a look across the top 500 mobile apps and the top 500 mobile web properties, comScore found that the average user spent 16 times as much digital media time with top apps than with top mobile websites, though the mobile web still tends to capture bigger audiences.

Digital media usage time on mobile devices is led by smartphone apps (50%), then desktop apps (34%), tablet apps and smartphone web access (7% each), and web access via tablets (2%).

Smartphone apps are more concentrated among younger viewers, as two-thirds of viewers age 18-24 spent their digital media time on smartphone apps, versus a 50% average among all age groups.

A big challenge for media companies is getting consumers to try their apps, comScore found, as the majority of smartphone users don’t download any new apps in a given month, and the average user downloads just two. The most common app discovery channel remains app-store searches (20%), compared to word of mouth (15%) and advertising and marketing (10%).

Consumers age 18-34 are also more willing to pay for apps, as one out of five downloaded an average of one paid app per month, and nearly half made five or more in-app purchases on an annual basis. The study also found that Facebook, Google and their associated properties own the top six (and eight of the top 10) most-used apps. By time spent, the top category is entertainment and communications (20%), followed by music (18%) and multimedia (10%)

ESPN said a new “Watch” tab is featured in the 5.10 release of the ESPN App for iOS and Android mobile devices.

The new version adds personation features into the home screen carousel, enabling users to focus on info tied to their favorite teams, as well as ESPN3 replays (complementing existing highlights and other long-form video), as well as a 10-minute live stream preview for non-authenticated users (i.e. those who are accessing the app without pay TV credentials).

RELATED: ESPN Adds ‘MultiCast’ to its Apple TV App

ESPN said it’s part of an effort to weave more live and on-demand video content and personalization into the app.

“Today’s ESPN App update is a continued step forward for our video experience,” Ryan Spoon, SVP of product and digital media at ESPN, said in a statement. “Over the last few months, personalized and live video has made its way to the App’s home screen – and billions of videos have been viewed. Today, video gets its own home with a new ‘Watch’ tab. It’s a curated experience that showcases live video, replays, video clips, and content collections. Considering the vast collection of games, shows and clips, it’s an example of something only ESPN can do.”

DirecTV has issued an update to its TV Everywhere app for iOS and Android that lets subscribers download purchased and rented TV shows and movies, complementing a feature that lets customers download DVR-recorded content to smartphones and tablets.

The latest app also lets DirecTV customers purchase movies and TV shows and access them so long as they remain a DirecTV customer. Those customers can also download purchased and rented movies for offline viewing.

RELATED: DirecTV Adds Electronic Sell-Through Option

DirecTV issued the updates, spotted by Android Police, on Monday (June 26).

Notably, DVR streaming and downloading requires that DirecTV customers have an internet-connected Genie HD DVR model HR44 or higher. To download DVR-recorded content, those customers must be in their home and be connected to the same WiFi network that is connected to the DVR/receiver.

Per the FAQ, most programs downloaded from a DVR to a mobile devie will expire after 30 days from the last time the customer opened the DirecTV app, though some content may remain for up to 60 days. However, customers can download content again so long as a movie or TV is stored on the DVR itself.

DirecTV is the latest in a string of others that have enabled a download option for offline viewing. Comcast, for example, lets customers download some TVE content and allows X1 subs to check-out/download shows to mobile devices that have been recorded to the DVR.

Among other examples, Epix, Showtime and Starz allow downloading on their apps, as does Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.

RELATED: Hastings: Netflix Download Option Having ‘Small Impact’

WinView, a startup that has built a free mobile app that lets users win cash prizes by making situational predictions during live TV sporting events, said it has raised a $12 million “B” round from a group that includes Graham Holdings, Discovery Communications, LionTree Partners, and Ted Leonsis’ Monumental Sports & Entertainment.

WinView said the funding round was led by former TiVo and NBC exec Tom Rogers, who is also executive chairman of WinView. With the new round factored in, WinView has raised about $20 million.

WinView said it will use the funding to drive further development and marketing of its skill-based mobile app for a wide range of pro sports, including baseball, basketball and football.

WinView Games, an ad-supported, free app, covers sporting contests via in a live studio by a team of producers based on what is happening in real time. As an example, users can predict outcomes of a football game, including propositions such as the opening coin toss, outcomes of field goals, and placing wagers (in the form of points) on whether a running back might fumble the ball during the current quarter.

“It’s an incredibly skill-oriented game,” Rogers told Multichannel News last year when WinView announced it had raised about $6.5 million, and a $3.4 million “A” round led by Rogers and former Cablevision Systems (now Altice USA) vice chairman Hank Ratner, who is now president and CEO of Independent Sports and Entertainment, a New York-based firm that represents more than 300 athletes across several major pro sports.

RELATED: Betting on the Future of Enhanced TV (subscription required)

WinView currently offers apps for iOS and Android. The company said it has a portfolio of 40 “foundational patents” covering the synchronization of the second-screen with TV broadcasts and commercials. 

The new investors “is a major validation of our live TV sports prediction platform and its upside potential to engage TV viewers in a new way to enjoy televised sports," Rogers said in a statement. "The WinView Games app fills a sports culture void by converting fans and TV viewers from spectators into play-along-live participants. Following last fall's successful start, these investments will enable us to take a significant step forward toward reaching our mobile, social and gaming business goals while capitalizing on fan excitement across virtually all professional sports including basketball, baseball and football. We also will strive to be part of the in-stadium experience, enabling fans to predict plays from their seats."

"WinView's products complement Discovery's goal to reach and engage our superfans around the world and across all screens,” added David Zaslav, Discovery’s president and CEO.

Roku said it has launched a new version of its mobile app for iOS and Android devices that that freshens up its look and remote control and search features, supports one-tap access to apps like Netflix and Hulu, and adds a new “What’s On” tab that enables users to browse and access an array of “hand-picked” movies and TV shows that are available for free, for rent, purchase

The 4.0 version of Roku’s free mobile app, which emerges in the wake of a new “TV” app from Apple for smartphones, tablets and Apple TV devices that aims to unify access to streaming video apps, also lets consumers share photos and videos on the TV screen.

RELATED: Apple’s ‘TV’ App Goes Live

Roku is adding the one-tap access feature because “[w]e know that getting to the channel you want is only the first half of streaming the content you want to watch,” Roku senior product manager Matt Wee explained in a blog post. “To make this transition easier and faster, once you launch a streaming channel the remote control will automatically appear on the app giving you a seamless experience to find the show you were looking for. Now you can quickly go from deciding where you want to watch to finding what you want to watch without additional taps.”

The app’s revised remote tab now more closely lines up with the buttons on the Roku device remote hardware, with the buttons and directional pad moving closer together to make it easier for users to press the on-screen buttons with one hand, the company added. 

Google has launched an updated Fiber TV App for Android and iOS devices that includes new recommendation features and another that helps with binge-viewing.

The app, for Android and iOS mobile devices, will be updated for all  Google Fiber TV subs in the coming weeks, Jared Nusinoff, product manager at Google Fiber, said in this blog post.

Among the app’s new features, the next episode of subscriber favorite shows appear and can be played back with one tap when the app is launched.

The app also supports remote recording to the DVR and personalized recommendations for live TV.

RELATED: Google Fiber Brings ‘Cast’ to Pay TV Platform

The Fiber TV mobile app update follows a recent upgrade of the service’s TV interface that include a new recommendations and search engine.

Citing U.S. Copyright Office data, MoffetNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said Google Fiber ended Q2 2016 with 68,715 video subscribers, up 66.6% year-over-year, with Google Fiber responding that it is “very pleased” with its pay TV growth.

Synacor said it and AT&T have agreed to push back the launch of a next-gen desktop and mobile portal service to the first half of 2017.

When the contract was signed, they originally estimated that initial, limited deployments would be underway by Q4 2016, but revised that plan after teams from both sides began to craft more detailed development and deployment plans.

RELATED: Synacor Shares Soar 119% on AT&T Deal

“Given the size and expanded scope of this project and our prior recent joint planning, we've pushed back the official launch date,” Synacor CEO Himesh Bhise said Monday on the company’s Q3 earnings call. "The teams are working very well together."

The current plan is to launch new desktop and mobile apps in the first half of 2017, and then ramp up to complete the deployment through the rest of the year.

Bhise stressed that the overall financial expectation of the AT&T contract is “very much on track,” reiterating that the annual revenue run-rate from the project is still targeted for about $100 million once full deployment is reached.

“We remain pleased with our progress to date,” he said.

On that point, he noted that AT&T and Synacor have already introduced a beta of the new AT&T Live 2.0 mobile app for Android. The beta app, last updated on November 9, provides a curated news feed, breaking news alerts, and trending videos, among other features. So far, the beta app has received a consumer rating of 4.1 out of 5.

Synacor has also adjusted its Q4 guidance to reflect the revised timing of the contribution from the AT&T contract. The vendor, which specializes in customized portals, advertising, video streaming and TV Everywhere authentication technologies, current expects Q4 revenues of $34 million to $38 million, and EBITDA of up to $1 million.

For Q3, Synacor posted revenues of $31.7 million, up 20%, and above guidance of $29 million to $31 million. Advertising revenues rose 38% year-over year. The company also posted a net loss of $3.4 million due to product development investment for the AT&T project.

On the TVE front, Synacor said its Cloud ID business won deals with an SVOD service from a public telecom company and with an also yet-to-be-named regional cable provider.

Synacor also noted that it’s supporting the deployment of Apple’s Single Sign-On platform for video apps and cited its ongoing work for industry-wide standards with CTAM and the OATC (Open Authentication Technology Committee).

RELATED: Synacor: Our TVE Authentication Angle ‘In Alignment’ with CTAM Guidelines

In an interview, Bhise said “several” Synacor MVPD customers are now live with SSO on the Apple platform. “Our job is to make it easier for those operators that decide they want to participate on the Apple platform.”

Synacor also announced it had filed a shelf registration statement aimed at providing the company “with flexibility to access the capital markets in a timely manner.”  Per the shelf registration statement, once declared effective by the SEC, Synacor may from time to time issue common stock up to an aggregate amount of $40 million.

“As we continue to accelerate our growth strategy and identify opportunities for expansion, we recognize that potential access to additional capital and the ability to provide opportunities for institutional investors to access Synacor stock could be beneficial, and we have filed this shelf registration to give us that optionality,” Bhise said in a statement.

“As one can surmise from our current financial performance, we do not have any present plans to issue securities under this registration statement,” he added on the Q3 call.

Synacor ended Q3 with $15.0 million in cash and cash equivalents, versus $16.3 million at the end of the prior quarter.

Synacor also said an initiative called “3/30/300” -- with a goal of generating $300 million in revenues and $30 million in EBIDTA in three years – is also on track.

Comcast Ventures has been helping to bankroll several virtual reality startups of late, but it has also earmarked some cash for new company focused on online pet care services.

PetCoach, maker of a digital pet healthcare platform based in Wayne, Pa., said it has secured $2 million in seed funding led by the Comcast VC arm.

PetCoach, led by former founder and CEO of Pet360 and the former chief digital officer of PetSmart Brock Weatherup, said it will use the funds to accelerate a business that helps pet owners (or “Pet Parents,” in the company’s parlance) receive direct advice from certified vets, trainers and other pet care experts.

PetCoach runs its service on a Web site as well as apps for iOS and Android devices. PetCoach is also backed by DreamIt Ventures and Maveron.

“Comcast Ventures provides great strategic insight, access to resources we couldn’t get on our own and deep support as we transform the way Pet Parents think about and engage in the care and wellbeing of their pets,” Weatherup said in a statement.

“We are thrilled to be assisting PetCoach in accelerating its growth and mission within the online pet healthcare industry,” added Sam Landman, managing director at Comcast Ventures. “The team at PetCoach is well-positioned to become the leader in omni-channel pet care.”

PlayStation Vue, Sony’s OTT-TV service, has followed through with plans to launch an app for Android smartphones and tablets.

Sony, which announced earlier this month that an Android-powered mobile offering was in development and nearing launch, booted up the app Wednesday (June 29) on Google Play. It requires Android 4.4 or higher. 

The addition expands PS Vue’s array of supported devices. PS Vue also offers a mobile app for iOS devices, and has extended its service on Roku players and Roku TVs, PlayStation 3 and PS4 consoles, Amazon Fire TV boxes and the Fire TV Stick, and is optimized for the Google Chromecast.

Sony has not announced PS Vue subscriber figures, but Bloomberg reported yesterday that the service now has more than 100,000 of them, with a rise in the rate driven in part by Sony's recent launch of a set of “Slim” pay TV packages that give PlayStation Vue a national reach.

TiVo chairman Tom Rogers and Cablevision Systems vice chairman Hank Ratner have led a $3.4 million series A round in WinView, a company that is working toward the commercial debut of a free mobile app that enables users to win cash prizes by making situational predictions during live TV sporting events. 

In the case of football games, those “propositions” could include predicting the outcomes of individual plays, whether a running back will fumble the ball during the current quarter,  and if a challenged play will be upheld or overturned.

WinView said it  has raised $6.5 million total and that, as part of their investment, Rogers and Ratner have been appointed co-chairman of the WinView board of directors.

Rogers and Ratner are backing WinView amid big changes underway at their respective companies.

Rogers stepped down as CEO of TiVo to become non-executive chairman effective Feb. 1, 2016. TiVo is now in the process of merging with Rovi.  Ratner is also former CEO of The Madison Square Garden  Company. Ratner’s current company, Cablevision Systems, is in the process of being acquired by Altice Group.

WinView said the  proceeds of the investment will be used to complete development of the WinView Games app and time the launch with the start of the 2016 professional football season. It tested the app during the 2015-2016 football season.

According to the  WinView site, a tournament held during Super Bowl 50 offered a prize pool of $1,000 that paid out the top 10 winners, with first place coming away with $400.

WinView, which claims to have a portfolio of 26 “foundational” patents that enable the synchronization of its app with TV broadcasts and commercials, noted that it is based on an ad-supported  business model, and that all games covered by its service are produced via a live studio and producers that track select sporting events in real time.  Its app was by European firm Ex Machina Group and is based on that vendor’s “PlayToTV platform.”

"Completion of this financing led by industry notables Tom Rogers and Hank Ratner will help drive the development and growth of WinView Games,” WinView founder and CEO Dave Lockton said, in a statement. "Live sports is premium programming with a massive captive audience, and it is one of the last bastions to engage millennials. “Technology and market conditions are now converging and giving rise to position our app, which is uniquely synchronized with live TV, to be a huge mobile engagement and revenue generation opportunity for the networks, leagues and advertisers involved, especially those seeking the coveted young adult male audience.”

"Playing along on a second screen while watching TV sports live is all the rage in Europe, having reduced fantasy sports to also-ran status,” Rogers added. “Millions of people in the U.S. are already using a second screen, checking stats while they watch, which has set the stage for this next big leap in sports television, enabling the viewer, unlike fantasy, to play along in real time with the live game itself.”

“Both Tom and I were involved with Dave when he pioneered the second screen play-along with TV programming category at his earlier company, Interactive Network,” Ratner said. “Now, with our involvement combined with our relationships with all the constituents in the sports television industry, including the leagues and networks, the stage is set for WinView to take off and scale this fall by tapping into sports fans' inherent desire to engage with this next-generation TV sports entertainment experience."

WinView also announced that its board has been expanded to include investors Steve Goodroe, former VP of Global Customer Marketing of Procter & Gamble and CEO of Dunnhumby USA; and Bryan Jacoboski, managing partner of Abingdon Capital Management. In addition, John Costello, President Global Marketing and Innovation of Dunkin Brands, Inc. and Global Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association, is joining the WinView advisory board. 

Verizon has rolled out a new version of its authenticated Fios Mobile app that allows video subs to search for TV shows and movies with their voice.

The updated app, spotted by ZatzNotFunny, was launched May 11 for Verizon's Fios mobile app for Android and iOS devices. The new app also provides a “More Like This” TV and movies recommendation feature, refreshed keyword search and integrated Rotten Tomatoes ratings.

Verizon has yet to integrate voice search for its Fios TV remote control – something that Comcast now offers with X1 – but the telco is working on a next-gen video platform called “Mallard” that will use some of the OnCue technology Verizon acquired from Intel Media in 2014, according to Variety.  People familiar with Verizon’s original interest in OnCue said soon after the acquisition that a key strategic goal is to secure more control of the hardware and software products and tech roadmap that will underpin a next-gen IP video platform – something along the lines of what Comcast has accomplished with X1.

Verizon hasn’t commented on plans for the Mallard project, but Variety said the current plan is to start testing this summer and deploy it to one market by Q3 or Q4. Last month, Light Reading made note of a new IP client box for Verizon Fios making its way through the FCC.

WGN America has launched a new mobile app supporting its Underground-Railroad drama series Underground. Features in the app -- launched on the Apple and Android platforms -- include behind-scenes video, character and cast information, links to watch full episodes (if verified) on the show's home page and a channel finder for people trying to locate the Tribune Media-owned network on their TV lineups. The series, revolving around the "Macon 7" group of African American slaves who escape a Georgia plantation seeking freedom north of the Ohio River in 1857, is midway into a 10-episode first season. The sixth episode, "Troubled Waters," airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

READ MORE: Bringing Underground to the surface: an interview with executive producer John Legend.

WGN America calls Underground the No. 1 social program on cable on Wednesday nights, and the app contains sheareable content. It is averaging 3.1 million viewers on a live plus seven day viewing basis, according to the network.

As players head into Spring Training, MLB Advanced Media said it has added an array of enhancements to its subscription-fueled, multi-platform At Bat app.

New features in the 2016 version include portrait and landscape orientations (only for the iPad), multi-tasking split view and picture-in-picture streaming for live video and highlights (select iPad models). Also included are app redesigns of the app’s Gameday, News Reader and Sortable Stats functions (for the iPhone and iPad).

On the Android side, the app bakes in a new UI for league and team news readers.

MLBAM also added features for Sprint Training, including access to more than 275 live streams (to subs with an MLB.TV premium subscription), video closed captioning, live Spring Training radio broadcasts, and a batter-by-batter tracker for all Spring Training games.

Heading into the new season MLBAM will look to build on results from 2015, including 13.1 million downloads (a 21% year-on-year increase) and  1.7 billion app starts (up 40%), and 8.4 billion minutes of “engagement” with the app.  Last year, At Bat for the Apple Watch generated 26 million “glances” for elements such as live game scores, standings and other stats.

ESPN says it launched a new ESPN Fantasy Baseball app designed to make playing faster and easier. The app is available for free for IOS and Android mobile devices.

Fans can use the app to create leagues, create teams, draft, trade and manage multiple team roster with a swipe across the stream.

The app also delivers live scores, team alerts, news, columns and video from ESPN’s fantasy baseball analysts.

Read more at B&C. 

Hitting a self-imposed deadline to have it rolled out to all FiOS TV subs by mid-December, Verizon said it has completed an update to its FiOS Mobile App for iOS and Android devices that lets customers access DVR-recorded shows and movies while they’re away from home.

Per Verizon, customers with both FiOS Quantum TV service and FiOS Internet service can stream “nearly all” of their DVR-recorded shows from outside the home anywhere they have a broadband connection.

Additionally, the new software update lets FiOS customers watch their full live TV lineup via the app when they are connected to the home network – something that  Comcast currently provides to X1 subs via its Xfinity TV app for smartphones and tablets and Web browsers. Comcast also offers a cloud DVR that provides out-of-home streaming access to recorded shows and a download option. Cablevision Systems’ network DVR, which lets customers record up to 15 shows at once, is currently limited to the set-top box.

Verizon, which enables subs to record up to 12 shows at once by combining the functions of  two six-tuner Arris-made Verizon Media Servers, began to make the new FiOS Mobile app features available in several FiOS markets, including Philadelphia, last month. At the time, the company said it expected to complete the rollout by mid-December.

"The latest innovations of the Fios Mobile app are how today's consumers want to watch TV and view content," said Susan Retta, vice president of consumer marketing, Verizon, in a statement. "These new features allow our customers to take their home Fios TV experience with them and to enjoy it whenever and wherever they go."

The Weather Channel is storming iOS with a revamped app that bakes in several new features, including a personalized home screen and a “narrative” that presents more meaningful data on weather conditions, including how long a rain storm will last, and will drive visitors to hourly forecasts.

The new app also includes 15-day forecasts and support for “3D Touch,” a navigation feature in iOS9 that’s determined by the amount of pressure the user applies to the screen.  The Weather Channel said its use of 3D Touch allows users to enter the app through four different screens – such as radar or an hourly forecast.

Other features include The Lift, the mobile morning show hosted by Al Roker that debuted October 15.

The Weather Channel offers a free, ad-supported version of the app, and an ad-free version that costs $3.99 per year.

The video below shows the new app in action:

Earlier this week, IBM has struck a deal to  acquire The Weather Company’s B2B, mobile and cloud-based web properties, including WSI, weather.com, Weather Underground and The Weather Company brand. The Weather Channel will not be acquired by IBM, but will license weather forecast data and analytics from IBM under a long-term contract.

When this year’s National Football League season kicks off in September, a number of networks and digital players will be betting heavily that greatly improved fantasy football offerings will help them run up some impressive audiences and digital revenue.

Much is at stake in those efforts, which are particularly focused on improved mobile apps, cross-platform features and expanded fantasy football programming. With sports rights already well into stratospheric levels, a passionate fantasy sports fan base has helped create larger audiences for televised sports and digital platforms, executives say.

Overall there are some 56.8 million fantasy sports players in the U.S. and Canada today, double the 28.4 million that played in 2009, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Its research shows that football is by far the most popular fantasy sport, ranking as the favorite among 73% of the players.

“I like to call fantasy sports the greatest second-screen product of all time,” said Marc DeBevoise, executive VP and general manager of CBS Digital Media at CBS Interactive (CBSi). “We have millions of people coming to the site on a monthly basis and we have millions of people playing fantasy sports on the platform.”

While CBSi is one of the few players focused on subscription products, fantasy players also have a major impact on the digital traffic and advertising that supports most offerings. “About 40% of the people who come to our sites and apps play fantasy sports, but they drive 70% to 80% of the engagement,” DeBevoise said. “Fantasy players view seven times more pages than non-fantasy users and they spend seven times more time using our products. It has a huge benefit for both our subscription and our transaction and ad media businesses.”

Others agree. “Fantasy football is a very important part of our overall digital business,” and for the NFL’s overall popularity, explained Cory Mummery, VP of business services for NFL Media. “If you have a member of your fantasy team playing on Monday night, you might watch a game with two teams you might normally not be interested in. It means they are consuming more content, which is definitely good for the league.”

To build on the recent growth, all the major players are putting much more emphasis on mobile as a way of reaching fans. “Three years ago, mobile was used more as a way to follow your team,” said Mummery. “But in the last 18 months, we’ve seen a large transition of activity from desktop to mobile,” which he adds has helped boost engagement and activity.

Such cross-platform efforts have also moved onto connected TVs, where players can increasingly access fantasy sports apps on the big screen. The NFL’s alliance with Microsoft’s Xbox One game console, for example, allows “players to watch the content we are delivering to the platform at the same time they are following their fantasy match,” Mummery explained. “We are really trying to push the boundaries on connected devices and synching up next-generation stats to improve the viewer experience.”

Meanwhile, companies such as ESPN, CBSi, Yahoo and the NFL that provide fantasy football platforms are also ramping up their programming relating to fantasy sports.

ESPN, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 1995 launch of ESPN Fantasy Football, is debuting a new “Fantasy Football Kickoff” episode each Tuesday. Like other players, ESPN has added a number of new features on its app, which has been downloaded more than 16 million times.

While all of this has increased competition, the NFL’s Mummery stressed that the rapid growth in fantasy football has been great news for both the league and the various networks that televise its games. “Our competitors, Yahoo, ESPN and others do a great job of growing the overall fantasy fan base, which we think helps the league as a whole,” he said.