Reimagining the Digital Fan Experience
Discovery
Validation
Product Strategy
Overview
Rogers Media Group is one of Canada's largest media and entertainment companies, operating across broadcasting, publishing, and digital platforms. Sportsnet is its flagship sports media brand — the country's leading sports network, holding exclusive national broadcasting rights to the NHL and serving millions of fans across TV, radio, and digital channels. Sportsnet operates at significant scale, with the infrastructure, audience reach, and commercial complexity that comes with being the home of hockey in Canada.
As Project Director, I led the product vision & strategy of Sportsnet’s mobile app - an initiative commissioned by Rogers Media to future-proof their digital platforms and reclaim category leadership in Canada’s sports media space.
I worked with product, design, content, and tech teams to:
As Project Director, I led the product vision & strategy of Sportsnet’s mobile app - an initiative commissioned by Rogers Media to future-proof their digital platforms and reclaim category leadership in Canada’s sports media space.
I worked with product, design, content, and tech teams to:
- Set a new product direction informed by user behaviours and industry shifts
- Define the core experience and structure of the app ecosystem
- Drive a collaborative, insight-led design process from exploration through to implementation
The Challenge
The existing app was dated, functionally limited, and increasingly out of sync with how fans were engaging with live sports. New competitors were raising the bar in UX, features, content delivery, and personalisation.
The objectives were clear:
- Help Sportsnet decide what and which features to prioritise
- Set a new product vision informed by user behaviours and industry shifts
- Define the core experience and structure of the app ecosystem
- Drive a collaborative, insight-led design process from exploration through to implementation
“A fan experience that doesn't end when the final whistle blows. Built to serve in the moment — and built to last beyond it.”
Understanding the Fan
I took a ground-up approach to user research and audience segmentation. I interviewed real Sportsnet users, sent surveys, and engaged in online communities to understand the needs, attitudes and behaviours of Canadian sports fans and how they consumed their favourite sports online. Using the insight I was able to establish their core functional, social and emotional needs
Using the insight I was able to establish their core functional, social and emotional needs and develop a strong value proposition with three key themes arsing:
- Real-Time First: Users demanded immediacy—scores, stats, alerts—delivered with zero delay or confusion.
- Custom Over Generic: Fans wanted to shape their experience—follow their team, mute the noise, and get the content that mattered most to them.
- Beyond the Game: Many users were as interested in context—analysis, trades, long-form—as they were in live coverage.
Business Empathy
I took a ground-up approach to user research and audience segmentation. I interviewed real Sportsnet users, sent surveys, and engaged in online communities to understand the needs, attitudes and behaviours of Canadian sports fans and how they consumed their favourite sports online. Using the insight I was able to establish their core functional, social and emotional needs
What emerged wasn't just a clearer picture of the competition. It reframed the strategic question entirely. Sportsnet wasn't losing ground because of content — it was losing ground because the product experience couldn't match the habit-forming, personalised environments fans were used to everywhere else. That insight became the foundation for everything that followed: the shift from fragmented touchpoints to a unified system, from settings-heavy personalisation to smart defaults, from transactional use cases to designed rituals.
What We Found
The research revealed a clear gap in the market and a substantial opportunity. Sportsnet had the brand credibility, the rights relationships, and the audience — but was failing to translate these assets into a product experience that matched how modern fans wanted to consume sport.
We identified three distinct fan archetypes that shaped all subsequent design and prioritisation decisions. The window of opportunity was clear: a platform that could unify live scores, personalised content, social connection, and light betting — all inside one trusted Canadian brand — had no direct equivalent.
- 4 in 5 sports fans access content on their smartphone while watching TV — the second-screen opportunity is largely untapped
- 83% of fans want out-of-season content, yet most sports apps disappear between fixtures
- 73% say on-demand access is essential — the 24/7 fan is the new baseline
- 3 in 4 fans post on social during live games, creating a sharing behaviour that a platform can own
The synthesis identified a single, coherent strategic frame for the product: “The United Home of Sport.” Rather than competing on individual features, Sportsnet’s competitive advantage lay in becoming the one platform that connected all the things a Canadian sports fan cares about — community, scores, content, live action, and social sharing — in a way no rival could replicate.
Discovery Insights
The strategy was anchored around several core principles:
- Turn Fragmentation into Flow: Sportsnet had multiple disconnected touchpoints. We unified them under one clean, modular design system, with repeatable patterns across teams, leagues, and formats.
- Make Personalisation Effortless: We designed the app to meet users where they were—curated by sport, team, and context. No endless settings. Just smart defaults, adaptive content, and intuitive re-engagement.
- Design for Habit, Not Just Use: We focused on creating rituals—morning check-ins, live game companions, post-match recaps. The goal was to build daily relevance, not just transactional use cases.
- Build for Change: The backend ecosystem was being rebuilt in parallel. We made sure design decisions worked with flexible APIs and real-time content systems, rather than fighting against them.
“For modern Canadian sports fans who want to stay connected to the best stories in sport, our dynamic apps create a completely personalised experience that means you’ll never miss out on the moments that mean the most.”
Design & Prioritisation
We delivered a reimagined app experience that:
- Prioritises live action while remaining relevant outside game windows
- Celebrates fan identity with personalised feeds and content
- Balances utility, storytelling, and design coherence across sports and seasons
- Serves both audience needs and commercial objectives (ads, subscriptions, editorial reach)
Outcomes & Impact
We delivered a reimagined app experience that:
8
Weeks from blank canvas to prioritised direction
7
Features scored across desirability + feasibility
3
Concepts production-ready for development
Strategic outputs
- A fully evidenced product strategy framed around “The United Home of Sport”
- Fan segmentation model with three validated archetypes
- Competitive arena analysis mapping direct, indirect, and emerging threats
- Experience principles and product vision statement
- Feature prioritisation matrix (desirability / feasibility / viability)
- Clear ‘what not to build’ guidance to protect delivery focus
Design outputs
- Full UX concept designs for five core capabilities
- Personalised onboarding and feed architecture
- Interactive Game Hub with second-screen, live data, and social integration
- Friends Connect watch-party experience
- Betting integration framework and AI-assisted picks UI
- Social sharing mechanics and content amplification model