How Information Architecture Increased Content Discovery on Aparat Sport

Context & Goal

Aparat Sport had a large amount of sports and video content, but many users did not move far beyond the page they first visited. Important information and related videos were often separated across different sections of the website.

The goal was to create a connected experience that could guide users from one piece of content to another. By increasing content discovery and keeping users inside the platform, the redesign could support more video views and create more opportunities for advertising revenue beyond live match streams.

The comparison covered August 23 to September 22, 2026, benchmarked against the same period in 2025 and 2024.

Challenge

Before the redesign, users could miss related videos, team information, league details, and other sports content because the connections between these pages were not always clear.

The pre-live match experience had another important challenge. Only around 5% of users who visited a match page before a live game returned when the match started. This meant that a large part of the pre-live traffic did not continue into the live experience.

The challenge was to improve the information architecture without making the pages feel crowded. Users needed clear paths to more content, while the most important information still had to remain easy to find.

Research & Insights

We reviewed how users moved through the main content types on Aparat Sport, including sports, leagues, teams, and match pages. We also looked at the different stages of a match: before the live event, during the live event, and after it ended.

The main insights were:

• Users needed more direct paths between related sports content.
• A match page could continue to be useful before, during, and after the live event.
• Important team and league information could keep users from leaving the platform to search elsewhere.
• Related video rows could help users discover more content after their first visit.
• Pre-live users needed a clear reason and reminder to return when the match started.

This shifted the design direction from creating separate pages to building a connected content journey around each sport and match.

Hypotheses

We hypothesized that a more connected information architecture would increase content discovery and encourage users to continue watching beyond their first visit.

• Related video rows would help users discover and watch more content.
• Linking sports, leagues, teams, and matches would create more natural paths through the platform.
• A pre-live reminder would increase the number of users returning when a match started.
• Keeping team, league, and match information on the platform would reduce the need to leave and search elsewhere.
• A useful post-live experience would help maintain the viewing loop after the match ended.

Solution

We redesigned the main content areas and connected them through a new information architecture.

Home Pages

Relevant video rows were added to help users discover more sports content from the first page they visited.

Match Pages

The match experience was designed for three stages:

• Before the match: A reminder, team information, lineups, statistics, standings, and related videos.
• During the match: Live viewing supported by relevant match information and connected content.
• After the match: Match summaries, highlights, key moments, statistics, future live events, and related non-live videos.

The pre-live reminder created a small but meaningful lift of around 2–3 percentage points in return behavior. The increase was also supported by other product changes, including greater reporter variety.

Sport Pages

Sport pages, such as football, included popular league sections with standings, upcoming matches, schedules, and related videos. Additional rows helped users explore news, highlights, and other content from the same sport.

League Pages

League pages provided quick access to clubs and included team sections with standings, upcoming matches, and previous match videos.

Team Pages

Team pages brought together standings, league participation, highlights, match summaries, related videos, and links to other teams. This gave users more reasons to continue exploring within the platform.

Impact & Results

The redesign increased the average time users spent on the platform by approximately 48% compared with the previous experience. This reflected deeper movement through the site and more opportunities to watch live and non-live video content.

The percentage of users who returned from a pre-live match page when the match started increased from approximately 5% to 7–9%, representing a 2–4 percentage-point increase and a relative lift of around 40–80%. This result was influenced by the redesigned experience as well as content improvements such as increased reporter variety.

Tag Page Engagement

GA4 data showed a positive change in average engagement time per session across tag pages when comparing Shahrivar 1–31, 1405 with the same period in 1404 (August 23–September 22):

• All tag pages: +9.8%
• Team pages: +59.0%
• League pages: +3.3%
• Sport pages: −10.0%

The strongest improvement came from team pages, where connected information and related video content gave users more reasons to continue exploring. The overall increase across tag pages supported the direction of the new architecture, while the decline in sport pages showed an area for further iteration.

The redesign was also designed to reduce off-platform journeys, such as leaving Aparat Sport to check live scores, team information, league standings, or related content on another website. The final change in external navigation will be added once the data is confirmed.

By connecting match, team, league, sport, and video content, the new architecture created a stronger viewing loop and supported broader advertising opportunities across Aparat Sport.

Summary

The project turned Aparat Sport from a set of separate content pages into a more connected sports experience, helping users discover more, stay longer, and continue watching beyond the live match.