Global sports over-the-top (OTT) platform DAZN has experienced marked growth in the past 12 months, and was the world’s top-grossing sports app in May, according to a study by the data analyst Sensor Tower.

Gross user spending across the month shows that the OTT service’s digital app brought in close to US$11.5 million in revenue – more than nine times its income for May 2018.

US subscribers represented 35 per cent of DAZN’s consumer-based revenue through its mobile app, while Japan made up 6.5 per cent of its market income. The Japanese service recently set a new viewership record as the men’s national soccer team took on Chile at Copa America.

DAZN has launched services in the US, Italy, Spain and Brazil since May 2018, which partially explains the revenue growth, particularly in the American market.

The streaming service’s income saw it top all sports app in the Sensor Tower’s study, which includes revenues from the iOS App Store and Google Play. The findings do not include revenue from Android stores in regions including China.

ESPN was the second highest grossing sports app worldwide last month with close to US$$4.7 million in user spending, which represents 5.6 times its revenues in May last year.

Almost three-quarters of that revenue came from the US, followed by Canada which represents 1.6 per cent of gross user spending on the ESPN app.

Meanwhile, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) MLB At The Bat and the National Basketball Association (NBA) apps also trailed behind DAZN’s, while onX Hunt, an offline GPS-driven app used for hunting, made up the top five for the month.

The revelation comes as DAZN announced that it has secured rights to the Chinese Super League (CSL) for the 2019 and 2020 seasons for its Italian service.