When we first met over the iSport redesign a year and a half ago, it was clear to us that this change would not be a small one. The redesign of the second largest website of our publisher was a strategic investment, matching its media significance and the high expectations of its editors and audience. It brought a new look, new features and new monetisation options.
Over the years iSport has become one of the largest sports websites in the Czech Republic. Thanks to its rich content it built a strong base of fans, but with its growth the original structure began to hit its limits. We needed to adjust it so that the website stays clear and keeps working well at its existing scale. We introduced a better arrangement of articles, highlighting of exclusive content and simpler navigation both on desktop and especially on mobile.
iSport has the largest share of readers on mobile devices of all sports magazines, so we focused on making the website fully responsive and above all fresh and fast. We took great care to serve users the best content right on the first screen, both on desktop and on the phone.
In the redesign we drew on not only user and web data, but also qualitative interviews.
Stories, vertical videos and live results
When you watch a match on television, you expect the result on the website to update almost instantly. The old website lagged behind in this, and results appeared with a delay. So we embarked on a technological upgrade: the results section now runs on WebSockets, and updates happen in real time. Users no longer need to refresh the page to see a change in the score, and the delay compared with the live match is minimal.
New formats have also been added, for example Stories, which respond to the quick way content is consumed. We are also expanding vertical videos to be closer to the younger audience, while keeping the loyal fans of ice hockey and football who form the core of our community.
Video content is essential for us, so we keep expanding it. At the same time we try to make the website fit into the whole ecosystem around the brand, typically through greater interlinking of content and formats with popular projects such as iSport Fantasy or Tipovačka.
Traffic data confirms the success of the redesign
A redesign of any large website usually affects its traffic, at best only in the short term. We are therefore delighted that with the iSport redesign we managed to keep figures at the same level as before the change, and in some sections we are already seeing slight growth. The results suggest that the new website responds well to user behaviour and that the changes in structure and performance made sense.
A key factor in this success was close cooperation with the editorial team, which makes iSport every day and knows its content and audience. Quality content is the foundation, and thanks to editorial expertise the strengths of the original website were carried over into the new environment, giving them room to shine. The new platform now enables more efficient work with content, greater flexibility and clearer distribution of what matters most to the user.
Design, data and monetisation
The new design is visible at first glance. The original colour scheme is gone, and iSport got a more modern, fresh visual look that still refers to tradition.
Part of the change is also a uniform style for infographics, which we now use across the website, whether in article details or during major sporting events, such as this year’s Ice Hockey World Championship.
At the same time we created new spaces for native collaboration with partners, so that advertising is not only functional but also fits naturally into the website environment. Together with the sales team we prepared the basis for further meaningful monetisation, whether through infographics or native collaboration with shows such as Liga naruby, Zimák, Fight or Centerkurt. We are looking for ways to integrate partnerships naturally, without disrupting the reader’s experience.
Thanks go of course to the whole team, without which none of this would have been possible. Although she joined only partway through, my personal thanks go to Tereza Tišlerová, who considerably strengthened project management. Big thanks also to the whole editorial team, led by Lukáš Tomek and Petr Adam, who were part of all key decisions from the beginning. David Žák, Tereza Ejemová and Mária Čapková worked on UX and UI. Front-end development was handled by Martin Lipan, Jan Antoš, Martin Porjanda, Matúš Garay, Patrik Medek and Luděk Rájecký, and the back end by Michal Kubec and Ondřej Hájek.
This synergy of people across product, development and editorial worlds ultimately showed in a result that hundreds of thousands of readers see every day. It is for them that we keep building the website, and we are now working on, for example, more prominent content recommendations and other features that will hopefully score with our users just as well as the new design.
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