The Athletic is a subscription-based sports news app providing long-form journalism, podcasts, and daily puzzles for iOS and Android.
Product velocity
Maintenance
Daily rank 🇺🇸
#191
Sports · free
Sentiment
4.8
288k reviews
Nemesis
Fragmented field
The App DNA
What makes this app unique?
Users hire The Athletic for deep, investigative sports analysis that standard score-tracking apps lack, prioritizing expert insight over real-time data.
For Sports fans seeking in-depth analysis, long-form journalism, and expert commentary beyond standard score-tracking apps.
What does it look like?
Key features
Access to long-form articles and analysis from a newsroom of over 400 sports journalists.
In-app audio player for proprietary shows like The Athletic Football Show.
Daily word-grouping puzzle game focused on sports terminology.
How much does it cost?
Subscription-first model focused on gated access to exclusive editorial content and proprietary audio.
Velocity
Maintenance developmentperformanceopaqueShow more...
The Athletic currently maintains a low-frequency release cadence, with only one update recorded in the provided history. The latest release provides no specific feature information, relying on generic 'General fixes and updates' messaging. There is no evidence of live-ops content or new feature development in the recent release cycle. Development appears focused solely on stability and maintenance at this time.
Who built it?
The New York Times Company
10 apps tracked · Sports
The Athletic: All Sports News
NYT Cooking: Quick Tasty Meals
NYTimes: US and Global News
NYT Crossplay: Play and Spell
NYT Games: Wordle & Crossword
纽约时报
NYT Cooking: Quick Tasty Meals
NYTimes: US and Global News
NYTimes - Chinese EditionUser Sentiment
What do users think recently?
Recent user voice shows a frustrated sentiment. Users appreciate in-depth sports journalism and investigative reporting provide high value for dedicated fans of specific teams and comprehensive tournament coverage keeps casual followers informed during major international sporting events like the world cup, but report persistent technical failures with notification deep-linking prevent users from navigating directly to articles or comments.
How are ratings & reviews evolving?
Weekly average review rating
What users say, by theme
- In-depth sports journalism and investigative reporting provide high value for dedicated fans of specific teams
- Comprehensive tournament coverage keeps casual followers informed during major international sporting events like the World Cup
- Persistent technical failures with notification deep-linking prevent users from navigating directly to articles or comments
50 of 50 recent reviews analyzed · high confidence · Frustrated overall
Read the full review analysisUnlock 2 more frustration themes and 1 user request, each backed by review evidence.
Access the full report for freeCompetition
Competitive landscape for The Athletic: All Sports News
How's the Sports market?
The Athletic maintains a strong grossing presence, ranking #34 in US Sports Grossing and #19 in Canada Sports Grossing this week. The gap between its high editorial reputation and the negative sentiment regarding ad-interruption suggests a misalignment between the premium price point and the current ad-heavy user experience.
Read the market outlookThe rivals identified
Unlock the deeper market read.
Access the full report for freeThe Analyst's Read
Key takeaways for The Athletic: All Sports News
Where is it heading?
The market for sports news is shifting toward personalized, audio-first experiences. The Athletic's reliance on static long-form content leaves it exposed to rivals that integrate real-time audio and better feed personalization, so revenue growth hinges on fixing the ad-interruption friction for paid users.
- Persistent notification deep-linking failures erode the daily habit, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.
- Recent updates focused on stability, no feature expansion, leaving the app vulnerable to competitors with faster feature-release cadences.
The SWOT
- Investigative newsroom depth functions as a defensible barrier against generic score-tracking apps
- Native text-to-speech integration would capture the high-value commuting segment currently underserved
Next best moves
Remove video ads for premium subscribers because ad-interruption is a top subscriber complaint → increase retention
+ 1 more prioritized moveThe counter-intuitive read
The Athletic's high grossing rank is its primary vulnerability…
Read the full takeSince the last report: The report reflects a more precise competitive assessment, highlighting specific international grossing rankings and a clearer strategic focus on audio-first features to counter social aggregators.
Bottom line
The Athletic wins on editorial depth, but its failure to remove video ads for subscribers and persistent navigation bugs threaten long-term retention, so the PM must prioritize ad-free reading and notification stability to protect the subscription base.
Unlock 2 critical frictions, 1 market threat, 1 more prioritized move and the analyst’s take.
Access the full report for freeSources
Report last updated