CBSSports.com opens fantasy sports platform to app developers

CBSSports.com is opening its fantasy sports platform to third-party developers and content providers, additionally rolling out CBSSports.com App Central, a storefront offering free and premium fantasy team management applications.

CBSSports.com offers fantasy sports services spanning football, baseball, basketball, hockey and golf. The new Fantasy Platform Development Center touts APIs providing access to almost all CBSSports.com Fantasy Games data as well as related tools and resources necessary to build customized fantasy apps integrated directly into CBSSports.com gaming solutions, enabling users to customize league drafts, analyze statistical data, follow real-time player news and talk trash with competitors.

Launch partners including MLB.com, Bloomberg Sports, RotoWire, Advanced Sports Media, StatSheet and Ziguana have already signed on to market fantasy sports apps via App Central, slated to launch on Jan. 31. Publishers can offer apps for free or priced at 99 cents and up. CBSSports.com will offer developers 70 percent of gross revenues. It is unclear which mobile operating systems the store will support.

Close to 30 million gamers across the U.S. play fantasy sports according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Seventy-two percent play fantasy football, almost double the number of fans who play fantasy baseball. CBSSports.com gamers spend an average of 1 hour, 41 minutes per session on its platform and return four times each week to research and optimize their rosters; six in 10 boast an annual household income of more than $75,000, and two thirds are college-educated.

For more:
- read this release

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