Follow button for Moments

The follow button lets viewers follow players, teams, or competitions from within the content experience (for example, in the Moments player). Those choices support explicit personalization, such as customized widgets and prioritized feeds. Your app stores follow lists; the Experiences SDK only keeps an in-session copy for the UI.

What it does

• Follow control: Shows a follow/unfollow control in the Experiences player UI (Moments player; Stories and Videos planned).
• Entity interest: Lets viewers express interest in specific entities (players, teams, competitions).
• Callbacks: Gives immediate visual feedback and calls your app when the viewer follows or unfollows.

Current support: Moments player only on Web, iOS, and Android.

How it works

1. The viewer taps follow or unfollow. The SDK updates the in-session list and invokes your callback with the entity ID and new state.
2. Your callback persists the change in your backend.
3. On app launch, you load the follow list from your backend and pass it to the SDK (for example, setFollowedEntities).

The SDK doesn't store follow lists. Your app owns the source of truth and must keep your backend and the SDK in sync.

Which entity the button shows

The button shows one entity per Moment. The source depends on how the content was created.

Automated (WSC Sports ingested) content

Entity order comes from the WSC Sports publish pipeline and rules. SDK priority is Subject ID (when set by rules), then Player, then Team, then Competition/Property. You can configure the SDK to prefer players, teams, or a custom order. Subject IDs are players or teams only. Content managers can't change entity order for this content in Library.

Uploaded content

Content managers tag players and teams in Arena Library (Edit metadata). The first name in Players (or first in Teams for team follow) is the entity the button uses. Put the player or team central to the play first; Moments usually highlight one play.

See For content managers for steps.

For content managers

This workflow applies to uploaded assets in Library only.

Players

1. Open the asset > metadata > Players to see who's tagged.
2. Add the player viewers should follow. If several players are listed, the first is the follow subject.
3. To reorder, select Edit, uncheck all, select the followable player first, then add any others.

Teams

• Same pattern in Teams metadata. The first team is the follow subject for team follow.

Publish to Experiences when metadata is correct so the Moment includes the updated tags.

If metadata looks right but the button is missing, tagged entities may lack follow images. Coordinate with your WSC Sports account team on follow image mapping.

What you need

• Assets: Player headshots, team logos, competition logos (if used). WSC Sports configures a followImage appType and maps assets to entity IDs. Coordinate with your account team.
• Entity IDs: Use the same player, team, and competition IDs as your data provider and WSC Sports.
• Backend: Store and retrieve follow lists, load them on app launch and pass to the SDK, and persist follow/unfollow events from the SDK callback. If the viewer changes follows elsewhere (for example, in app settings), update the SDK so the UI stays in sync.

Implementation

Add the follow-button action to the widget or player configuration. On launch, pass the viewer's followed entities into the SDK. Implement the follow/unfollow callback and update your backend. You can use the callback for custom logic (for example, prompting sign-in for anonymous viewers). See Web SDK | iOS follow entities | Android follow entities.

Sample apps

For working reference code, see the Follow sample in your platform's sample app. Each one shows the steps above end to end, from passing the followed entities on launch through handling the callback and keeping your backend in sync.

See Android Follow sample | iOS Follow sample.

The follow button is also supported on Web, which has no sample app. For Web, follow the API reference instead: SDK class | global delegate methods.

For the full list of sample apps across platforms, see Sample apps.

Limitations

• Content type: Moments player only.
• Uploaded vs automated: Only uploaded content supports manual metadata control in Library. Automated content uses WSC Sports ingest order.
• Entity types: Players, teams, and competitions/properties only. Custom entities (for example, coaches, venues) aren't supported.