The ATP (men’s) and WTA (women’s) top-tier professional tennis tours have joined forces to launch a combined mobile app, ATP WTA Live.
The app, announced today (April 20), will feature real-time match updates, scores, stats, and other information, as well as behind-the-scenes feature-style content from both tours.
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it will provide a way for fans to keep up with official scores and results across both tours in one location, while “fully customizable notifications will allow fans to tailor their experience around their favorite players”.
It will also feature “up-to-the-minute breaking news, results, and movements in the official rankings” and a library of behind-the-scenes content.
The app will officially replace both tours’ existing mobile applications from the end of this week (April 22).
Its launch comes as the latest example of the growing collaboration between the ATP and WTA tours, with the two bodies having merged their marketing teams in January 2021.
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By GlobalDataBoth tours have said that the app reflects “an acceleration towards on-the-go consumption of tennis” and have claimed that over 60% of web traffic on ATP and WTA sites comes from mobile users.
Dan Ginger, senior vice-president of marketing at the ATP and WTA, said: “The ATP Tour and WTA Tour are part of the same season-long narrative and share many of the same events. ATP WTA Live has been launched to make it easier for fans to follow the story of both Tours in one app.
“Our broader ambition is to make tennis a more unified, consistent, premium product that serves the modern tennis fan. Launching ATP WTA Live today is a significant step in that journey.”
The app can be downloaded both from the App Store and via Google Play.
The ATP and WTA officially transitioned to an integrated marketing operation in January last year, with Ginger leading the joint division, building on what the respective organizations called – at that point – an “unprecedented collaboration between the tours over the past 18 months.”
Through the alignment, the tours said that “key leadership roles across social media, digital and branding are now responsible for maximizing engagement through joint storytelling and creating efficiencies on key projects.”
The two parties also added that “collaboration across commercial and communications over the same period has further leveraged the unique appeal of both tours.”
The ATP and WTA have secured joint brand partnerships with TopCourt, the digital tennis learning platform, and the online game Tennis Clash.
Calls for the ATP and WTA to merge intensified in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted the sport, both in terms of its calendar and finances.
The unprecedented global health crisis has helped to forge closer ties between the sport’s main stakeholders.
The issue has been a major talking point in tennis with leading figures such as Roger Federer and Billie Jean King publicly calling for a merger and saying it is the right juncture to consider even closer ties.
Notably, Steve Simon, the chief executive of the WTA, also gave his support to a joined operation, admitting it “makes all the sense in the world.”
It is anticipated that a merger could make the process of securing broadcast deals and sponsorships easier for all parties by bringing commercial activity under one roof.
