Real grew through sports fan pages and shareable game stats

Real’s first 1,000 users were friends who ran meme fan pages, some with hundreds of thousands to millions of followers. The app began with NBA coverage and expanded to 18 leagues, with creators encouraged or paid to use Real scoreboards in game-related content.

Real also turned the top three stats from a game into graphics designed for sharing. Users share or screenshot stats to praise or criticize players, a practice described as helping the app grow.