Gamification-based fan engagement startup LiveLike will begin offering crypto fan tokens to its sports industry partners through a new partnership with Chiliz, the parent company of the Socios fan token platform. LiveLike has become the first company to receive funding to join Chiliz Chain 2.0, the new blockchain ecosystem offered by the Maltese company.
LiveLike has previously worked with teams and leagues such as the NBA, Golden State Warriors, NASCAR and La Liga, as well as broadcasters such as Madison Square Garden Network, Fox Sports, Turner Sports, Canal+ and Sky Group. Trivia, polls, prediction games, watch parties and leaderboards are some of the features LiveLike integrates into its partner apps. Fans earn points for participating in these features, and now LiveLike can integrate Socios Fan Tokens to further support the fan loyalty program.
“We’re going to their [Socios’s] Independent partner and said LiveLike will provide you with an audience engagement platform to help you create communities within the apps you own and operate, it will help you better engage your fans, create loyalty programs,” LiveLike CEO Miheer Walavalkar told SportTechie: “Fan tokens are the end of that journey. So in this way, we can bring it together and find partners together. “
Socios has created Fan Tokens for some of the biggest football teams in the world, including FC Barcelona, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Juventus, where token owners receive exclusive access to rewards and firsthand experience. The LiveLike partnership will enable the Socios Fan Token ecosystem to expand beyond the Socios app and directly into the collaborative Teams app.
“The point of greatest value for future Fan Tokens depends not only on the size of the Socios.com platform, but also on how many different domains, apps, websites, retailers, entire ecosystems of outlets — can you do that? Insert this A single digital membership, and earn from it?” said Max Rabinovitch, Chief Strategy Officer, Socios.
Socios also has deals with 27 NBA teams, 26 MLS clubs, 14 NFL teams and 13 NHL teams. To date, however, the company’s U.S. partnerships have primarily focused on marketing and fan rewards programs that have not yet involved Fan Tokens.
“[In the U.S.] It’s almost a very binary experience, whether it’s tokenization at team level, league level, yes or no,” Rabinovitch said. “You don’t go to Barcelona in pieces like we do in Europe, You can just go to Paris Saint-Germain. You don’t have to ask the respective league’s permission to do something with the team. “
