Given its increasingly strategic importance within sports business, it is surprising how many rights-holders produce sub-standard apps. To try and solve this issue, I spoke to George Crabb, Managing Director at The Other Media. This well-established digital agency have a rich history in working with rights-holders to create mobile applications of the highest quality. We collaborated to refashion the Arsenal app a decade ago but usage, connectivity, monetisation and the art-of-the-possible have moved forward rapidly since then. In this extensive podcast, we delve into the most basic questions in the field, explore how rights-holder should approach the development of their offering and what could be coming in the future Why do you need a specific app? "The answer lies with the growth of mobile use and functionality." For the clubs, it is about fan engagement and revenue The benefit of keeping fans in your ecosystem and the data play Why the app is the centre of the ecosystem now "Yes clients still come demanding a replication of the website" The key tool of push notifications Has ticketing via an app made a big leap made in lockdown and will it persist? What strategic issues does an organisation need to have in mind when starting the app process The problem of connectivity in stadia Bugbears - linking social media with your app, apps as a set of webpages - and ways around them Free, data and sign-up models Personalisation and segmentation of content - what is the state of the art? Integration with CRM systems The importance of content Price George's examples of best practice Creating community