Brit newspaper renews sponsorship deal with fantasy team

The Mirror newspaper in the UK has renewed its deal with Fantasy iTeam, the fantasy football mobile app, for Euro 2016 and the 2016/17 Premier League and Champions League season, following a successful initial outing.

The partnership saw major traffic on the opening weekend of last year’s Premier League season with 20 million page impressions and over a million app start-ups, according to a statement this week.

The Mirror Fantasy Football iTeam app is free for players to download and create their own iTeam in order to challenge friends by setting up private leagues. Mobile users can also take part in head-to-head challenges, join regional mini leagues and enter a range of competitions.

The app features real-time transfers, a live and interactive newsfeed, as well as instant scores and squad news.

UK gambling group Ladbrokes has signed up to be the official betting partner of the app.

The Fantasy iTeam statement claims that it has one of the world’s biggest fantasy football communities, with thousands of 5 star reviews on the App Stores and more than 1.2 million users.

The Mirror Fantasy Football iTeam app had more than 600,000 unique users during the 2015/16 season and aims to break the one million user mark in 2016/17 through promotion in print and digital channels in The Daily Mirror, Irish Mirror and several regional titles, including: Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, Birmingham Mail, The Chronicle, South Wales Echo, Western Mail and Belfast Live.

Phil Shaw, commercial director, Fantasy iTeam, said:

“We had a really successful first year with The Mirror. With Leicester lifting the title, 2015/16 was such a unique season, and that saw a big boost in our player retention numbers.

“It’s now about building on the momentum we’ve already achieved and we’ve got some exciting plans for the Mirror Fantasy iTeam app this season.”