Pundit Arena, the Irish sports analysis website, has raised €650,000 in new funding and is about to embark on a programme of expansion into UK and other markets.
The site was founded three years ago by UCC students Ross O’Dwyer and Richard Barrett and has built its success to date by focusing on long form articles and analysis of a number of key sports including soccer, rugby and MMA.
It is currently attracting 1.5 million unique visitors a month with 45 per cent of those originating in the UK. The business attracts revenue through online advertising and draws original content from a team of almost 300 writers who are ranked according to the popularity of the content they post.
Colm Lyon of Fire Financial Services and Conor Mallaghan of Carton House are reported to be two of those leading the way with investment which will be used to expand the existing workforce and make a concerted effort to crack the lucrative UK market.
MMA and the rise in popularity of Conor McGregor has been a major boost to the site, one of the few who spotted it from an early stage and concentrated resource on providing good deep coverage of the sport.
Over the last three days the site has posted a dozen stories concerning the UFC, none of which are featuring anywhere else on mainstream media in Ireland and which together have attracted over 125,000 views.
“We have been covering MMA intensively for over two years and while a lot of coverage is geared towards McGregor our writers have a much broader interest, just like the fans, and we cover it as a serious sport in a serious fashion,” co-founder Ross O’Dwyer told Sport for Business.
Trying to cover all sports with match reports, team news and results would be challenging given the resource of the major news websites that are the default for most online readers but creating niche content, serving it consistently and building a base of dedicated readers is clearly working for Pundit Arena.
The call for submissions on the website makes the point clearly. “We do not accept match reports or generic news pieces. Everyone else writes them so why should we?”
Sport for Business and the founders of Pundit Arena are working on an exciting project to take shape through 2016 and we will be following their continued strong progress with interest over the coming months and years.
