A score app named "Yacine TV" hit 1.72M installs in just over three months: it bought the name of a pirated sports-viewing brand
What it is An ordinary football scores, fixtures, and news app, borrowing the name of North Africa / the Arab world's most famous pirated sports-viewing app, "Yacine TV," and earning from ads.
Why it took off People who want to watch games for free search "yacine tv" on Play. The original pirate app can't be on Play, so this one used a registered trademark to pass review, absorbed the complaints, and captured the traffic for that search term. Installs climbed in steps with the big match days.
CHow you could follow Stop crowding around names like Yacine and Koora. Find high-search brand terms whose real owners can't get into app stores, in a different region. File a US trademark first (about 13 months), then launch a clean, ads-only compliant version.
- Data (updated daily) · first launch 2026-07-25 · 11-07 installs 1,724,938
Android · Total installs worldwide Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.Android · Ratings count (cumulative) Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
An ordinary football scores app, listed on Google Play in Jul 25, reached 1.72M installs by Nov 6, and ranks near the top of the sports free charts in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Its product has nothing special about it. What's special is the name: "Yacine TV" is the most famous pirated sports-viewing app in North Africa and the Arab world. It holds a US trademark on the name, so it can catch everyone searching the term on Play under an "official" identity. Below: how it did it, who's competing with it, and what you can take away.
A review 182 people marked helpful
In Sep 2026 13, someone left a review on this app's store page:
I can't watch live premier league match, why? How do I navigate? (I can't watch Premier League games live, why? Where do I tap?)
By Nov, 6,182 people had marked it helpful, and the review was pinned to the top of the store page. The second highest (8-23,146 helpful votes) says "The app is good, but what about other matches?"; the third is just "too many ads."
These three reviews sum up the app: people came to watch games for free, installed it, found only scores with ads in it. The store description is clear: "Yacine TV is a football scores and information app. It does not provide TV channel broadcasts or copyrighted sports events." But nobody reads the description first. They searched "yacine tv" on Play.
How valuable the "Yacine TV" name is
The original Yacine TV was a pirate app that streamed paid sports channels like beIN. It's believed to have come from Algeria and spread mainly through APK download sites. In 2021, beIN named it specifically in its submission to the US Trade Representative: "Yacine TV is a popular pirate application... The brand is especially popular in North Africa, and many other pirates use the Yacine TV trademark."
The demand is still here today. Searching "yacine tv" on a search engine, the top results are nearly all APK download sites; searching on TikTok, "how to install Yacine TV" videos routinely get 100k–200k views (11-06, with the top single video around 226k). These videos push the pirated APK, not this Play version, but they keep building search volume for the name.
The original had one hard limit: Google Play. Pirate streaming can't pass review, so searching "yacine tv" on Play used to be empty ground.
How it held its ground on Play: trademark first
Using someone else's well-known name on Play usually ends in complaints and removal. There's a ready counterexample: a similar app called Yacine Football lasted only 32 days on Play this year, with about 2,500 installs (AppBrain).
This one took a different route. The developer is Yacine TV LLC, registered in Sheridan, Wyoming, USA. On Jan 16, 2022, it applied for the word trademark "YACINE TV" in the class for "downloadable video streaming / television programming apps" (Class 9). It was registered on Feb 14, 2023, registration number 6,979,438. The application states a first-use date of January 2021 (USPTO / Trademarkia). A figurative mark is also pending.
It then put up a full page on its website titled "Google Play Brand Ownership and Publisher Verification," published in June 2026. It lists: the trademark registration certificate, a USPTO assignment record, company documents, a statement that it does not offer unlicensed live streams, a confirmation from authorized representative Marouane Ait Salah, and a note that "the trademark owner and the Google Play developer are the same legal entity." The readers of this page are clearly not fans. They're the Google reviewers who handle infringement complaints.
With a registered trademark, the question "who is misusing this name" flips. And the name's original owners are pirate operators who can't sue.
The assignment record suggests the trademark may have been transferred from someone else. Whether today's operators are the same group as the 2022 applicant can't be seen from outside (unverified).
How installs grew
It produces no content of its own, and I found no trace of it buying ads (not found on Meta and other ad platforms doesn't mean it didn't). Nobody on X has mentioned it in nearly 60 days, and there's no press coverage. Nearly all installs come from search on Play.
The curve rose in steps (AppstoreSpy estimates): mid-August about 5k → 9-03 about 330k → 10-04 about 1M → 11-06 about 1.72M. Several big jumps came on 8-26 (+51k), 9-03 (+76k), 10-04 (+136k), 10-25 (+138k), and 10-30 to 31 (+214k over two days), mostly on weekends or near Champions League and league match days. I haven't matched specific matches, but the shape is "match on → people want to watch → search yacine tv."
The countries where it charts also fit the brand's audience: 11-06 is on the sports free charts in 19 countries, ranking #9 in Saudi Arabia, #13 in Hong Kong, #14 in the UAE, #19 in Nigeria, #21 in the Netherlands, #23 in Germany, #24 in France, and #39 in the US (Google Play charts). The Gulf states, plus European countries with large North African immigrant communities, are the old turf of the Yacine brand.
Where the money comes from
It runs ads and has no in-app purchases. Users who find they can't watch live streams mostly leave, but they open it a few times first and see a few app-open and interstitial ads. Acquisition is nearly free, so even high churn still makes money. No revenue figures have been published.
The ratings show a split audience: 5,817 ratings averaging 4.12, with 4,362 at 5 stars and 1,153 at 1 stars, and only about 250 across the three middle grades. Only 23 reviews have written text (Google Play, 11-06). Whether the ratings were incentivized can't be seen from outside (unverified).
The same developer has an earlier package, com.yacinetvllc.yacinetvapp (listed in June, about 36k installs; the verification page actually links to this one), and an iOS version (only 1 ratings in the French store). The second package is the one running now.
Who it's competing with
Its real competitors aren't Sofascore. They're the others chasing the same name:
| App | Approach | Scale (Google Play, 11-06) |
|---|---|---|
| YACINE TV(Yacine.tv ENTR,com.yacinetvapps.sportlive) | Same name, positioned as "TV & sports guide," earlier than it | About 7.93M installs, 7 days +380k |
| YSN TV (same family as above) | Close-variant names | About 950k |
| Alostora - Live Scores(Yacine Group) | Borrowing another pirate sports brand, "الأسطورة," 2023-10 listed | About 3M, growth has slowed |
| KoraSnap / Koora Live / KoraPlus | Scores apps using "Koora / Kora" (Arabic for "football") and similar pirate-site names | 3.84M / 1.91M / 470k |
| Yacine Football | Unregistered name-borrowing | Removed after 32 days |
Legitimate score apps (Sofascore 108M, Flashscore 105M, FotMob 56M, and Yallakora 2.14M for the Arabic market) are far stronger on features, but they don't compete on the "yacine tv" search term.
In other words, this traffic isn't being eaten by this app alone. The same-name Yacine.tv ENTR came earlier and is over four times larger. Its only edge is the trademark certificate in hand, which lets it hold its ground better when complaints come in.
If it were you
C: there's a play to learn, but copying it doesn't pay.
It proves one thing: when a brand term was raised by a pirate product and the real owner can't get into official stores, the search traffic for that term on stores sits empty. Whoever legally claims it first can capture traffic at no cost. But the Yacine term is already being eaten by at least two apps, with 6+ using similar names, and a trademark takes over a year to get.
Who it's for: small teams that already ship tools or sports apps on Play, know the store review and appeal process, and can wait over a year for a trademark. Best if you understand the fan culture and slang in a region with heavy piracy demand (Latin America, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa).
Who it's not for: anyone aiming for a serious scores product (you can't beat Sofascore or FotMob, and you have no brand-term traffic); anyone thinking of a live-stream wrapper (that's piracy, and the takedown and legal risk is yours); anyone trying to muscle into crowded names like "Yacine" or "Koora."
How to do it: change the region and the term. Look for brand terms with big local search volume where the original is pirate or already delisted, and where Play has no decent "same-name compliant" version. File a US word mark first (Class 9, roughly 13 months from filing to registration), and don't list under the name before you have it. Keep the content clean: scores, fixtures, standings, news, with the description stating plainly that there is no live streaming. Host a one-page brand ownership verification doc on your site, in the same format this one uses. Monetize with ads only, and put the app-open and interstitial ads in the first few opens.
How to get users: you don't need to acquire them, the search term is the channel. What you need is a store page title that exactly contains the term, with versions and pushes timed to local big match days (league weekends, Champions League nights, World Cup and AFCON periods), and a guarantee the app opens cleanly a day or two before each match.
How early you need to be: the 2026 World Cup is over, and the next big peak is the 2027 AFCON and the winter league transfer windows. But a trademark takes over a year, so if you're serious, file now.
Signs you're reading this wrong: ① this package, or the Yacine.tv ENTR one, gets delisted by Google under "misleading metadata" in the coming months, which would mean a trademark shield can't stop platform policy; ② rightsholders like beIN start filing complaints against same-name scores apps on Play, causing batch takedowns; ③ its weekly growth falls to a few thousand in non-tournament weeks, which would mean brand-term search is fading and the original piracy demand can't carry it.
Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report
- Competitors
Name Where Launched Scale How it differs from this one YACINE TV(com.yacinetvapps.sportlive,Yacine.tv ENTR) Android before 2026 (exact date unknown) About 7.93M installs, 7 days +380k Also riding the Yacine brand, positioned as "TV & Sports Guide"; earlier and bigger than this one, but I see no trademark shield The original Yacine TV pirate APK Other About 2019-2020 One of the best-known pirate sports-viewing apps in North Africa and the Arabic-speaking world; beIN called it out in 2021 The original really streams live but can't be on Play; it only has scores, yet it can be found on Play Alostora - Live Scores(Yacine Group) Android 2023-10 About 3M installs Rides another pirate brand, "الأسطورة"; growth has slowed (7 days +12k) KoraSnap / Koora Live / KoraPlus Android 2025-08 to 2026-08 3.84M / 1.91M / 470k Rides the names of Arabic sports-viewing sites like "Koora / Kora", no trademark backing Sofascore / Flashscore / FotMob / LiveScore Android 2011-2015 56M to 108M installs A serious scores product with much stronger data and features; it captures traffic only through brand terms Yallakora Android 2019-04 About 2.14M installs An official scores app from an Egyptian local media outlet, doesn't ride pirate brands - Where users come from
- Confirmed Store search intercepting the brand term: the app name is "Yacine TV"; top review (182 likes) asks "why can't I watch Premier League live"; charted countries overlap with the Yacine brand audience (Saudi Arabia, UAE, France, Netherlands, Nigeria)
- Confirmed Registered trademark as a review shield: USPTO YACINE TV Reg. 6,979,438 (2022-01 filed, 2023-02 registered, Class 9 streaming), the site has a dedicated Google Play verification page
- Confirmed Organic heat of the pirate brand (TikTok / YouTube / APK sites): "yacine tv" install tutorial videos on TikTok get 100K to 200K+ views, but they promote pirate APKs, not this app
- Confirmed Multiple packages for coverage + iOS: the same developer also has com.yacinetvllc.yacinetvapp (about 36k installs) and iOS id6774677543
- Inferred Paid acquisition: no record in the metaads library (the library only tracks listed products)
Why Yacine TV (com.yacinetvllc.yacinetv.livescores) took off
Bottom line: this is an ordinary football scores app. Its traction comes from the name, not the product. "Yacine TV" is the brand of the best-known pirate sports-viewing app in North Africa and the Arab world, and the brand itself has heavy search volume. The developer, Yacine TV LLC (registered in Wyoming), got there first by registering the "YACINE TV" trademark in the US, used the trademark filing to prove brand ownership to Google Play, then listed a compliant scores app under that name to catch traffic for the search "yacine tv", and earns from ads. Users came for free sports viewing, found no live streams after installing, so retention and word of mouth are polarized.
1. Basic data (googleplay library, 2026-10-29 to 11-06)
- First listed on the store 2026-07-25, Sports category, has ads, no in-app purchases, updated in versions 3.0.0,11-01 and 11-02.
- Cumulative installs 1,724,938; last 7 days +265,846 (library app_profile). On 11-06 it was on the sports free chart in 19 countries: Saudi Arabia #9, Hong Kong #13, UAE #14, Nigeria #19, Netherlands #21, Germany #23, France #24, US #39. Best rank by store in the library: Saudi Arabia #5, Netherlands #7, Nigeria #7 (chart_rank).
- Growth curve since launch (AppstoreSpy estimate, app_day_ext): 8-11 about 5K → 9-03 about 330K → 10-04 about 1M → 11-06 about 1.72M. Growth came in stepped jumps, with single-day spikes on 8-26 (+51K), 9-03 (+76K), 9-10 (+68K), 10-04 (+136K), 10-25 (+138K) and 10-30/31 (+214K, two days combined). Most of these days were weekends or Champions League / league match days. The exact match to big-match days is unverified, but the shape fits "people search yacine tv when they want to watch games."
- 5,817 ratings, score 4.12. The distribution is polarized: 5 stars 4,362, 1 stars 1,153, and only about 250 ratings in the three middle tiers combined. Only 23 reviews have text, so the share of ratings without text is high; whether ratings were solicited is unverified.
- Top-voted reviews on the store page (2026-09-13,182 people found useful): "I can't watch live premier league match, why?" Second (08-23,146 likes): "Amazing app but what's wrong with other matches". Another says "too much ads". This shows that many users came for live streams.
2. Why it took off
- Borrowed an existing big brand: "Yacine TV" is a pirate sports-viewing app made by Algerians, spread mainly through APK sites. In 2021, beIN named it specifically in its comments to the US Trade Representative (USTR): "Yacine TV is a popular piracy app ... likely operating from Algeria. The 'Yacine TV' brand is particularly popular in North Africa, and there are many other pirates that use Yacine TV's trademark" (regulations.gov USTR-2020-0041-0018). Searching "yacine tv" on Jina, the top results are all APK download sites (yacinetv.app, yacineapk.tv, softonic, etc.). On TikTok, "how to install Yacine TV" videos routinely get 100K to 200K+ views (TikHub, e.g. down_loader213 226K, hankalampi 210K, ethiodishinfo 186K). In short, the demand was already there, and no one who spent money on the official market was educating it.
- Used the trademark to get through Google Play review: the pirate app itself can't be on Play, which left a gap for "searching yacine tv on Play finds no official app". Yacine TV LLC filed the US trademark "YACINE TV" in 2022-01-16 (serial 97222032), registered 2023-02-14, registration no. 6,979,438, covering Class 9 "downloadable video streaming / TV programming streaming apps", with a registered address in Sheridan, Wyoming (trademarkia, Justia). On its website it published a full "Google Play verification" page with the trademark registration certificate, the USPTO assignment record (Reel/Frame 9233/0524), company documents, a statement that it "does not provide unauthorized live streaming", and an authorized representative, Marouane Ait Salah. It is also applying for a design mark (serial 99762790) (yacinetv.link/google-play-verification.html). This page is clearly written for Google's review team and infringement appeals. Using someone else's well-known name on Play carries the biggest risk of a takedown complaint; with a registered trademark, that risk largely shifts to the other side. Note: the brand's original owner runs a pirate operation and can't come forward to sue.
- Kept the content "clean": the app contains only scores, fixtures, standings, news, predictions, betting games, plus so-called "legal highlights". The description states plainly "no live TV streaming". That's how it stays on Play and can enter the category charts.
- Holds a spot in store search: the name is the exact term users search for, plus "live scores". It has charted in sports in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE), in European countries with large North African diasporas (France, Netherlands, Germany, Spain), and in Nigeria, matching the audience distribution of the "Yacine TV" brand.
- Monetization: ads, no in-app purchases. Users who came for live streams will still see a few ads before leaving, and cost per install is close to zero, so it can make money even with high churn.
3. Growth tactics (evidence)
| Channel | Evidence | Confirmed? |
|---|---|---|
| Capturing branded search terms in the store | The name is "Yacine TV"; top reviews ask "why can't I watch live"; chart distribution overlaps with the Yacine brand audience | Confirmed (the inference chain is complete) |
| Registered trademark as a shield | USPTO 6,979,438 (2023-02 registered, Class 9 streaming), the site has a dedicated "Google Play verification" page | Confirmed |
| Organic heat of the brand term (TikTok / YouTube / APK sites) | "yacine tv" install tutorials on TikTok often reach 100K-level views; YouTube has many "how to install Yacine TV" videos. But these promote pirate APKs, not content this app makes | Confirms demand exists, does not confirm it's the app's own paid acquisition |
| Paid acquisition | No Yacine-related advertisers in the metaads library (the library only tracks listed products, so absence doesn't mean no ads) | Not found |
| X / media coverage | x-radar: 60 "yacine tv" posts in the last 0 days; found no media coverage of this Play version | None |
| Multi-app coverage | The same developer also has com.yacinetvllc.yacinetvapp (Yacine TV Live Scores, first listed 06-11, about 36K installs). The verification page first linked this one, then they listed the current package, and also published an iOS version (id6774677543, with only 1 ratings in the French store). | Confirmed |
4. Competitors
The real competitors aren't scores apps, they're others racing for the same name:
- YACINE TV (com.yacinetvapps.sportlive, developer Yacine.tv ENTR, yacinetv.mobi): about 7.93M installs, +380K over 7 days, #12 on the UAE sports chart (googleplay library). Same playbook (the name is Yacine TV, the content is "TV & Sports Guide"), but earlier and more than 4 times bigger. The same company also runs YSN TV (about 950K installs).
- Alostora - Live Scores (developer Yacine Group, yacinetv.in.yacinetv): first listed 2023-10, about 3M installs. "الأسطورة / Alostora" is itself a pirate sports-viewing brand.
- Yacine Football (com.yacinetv.koora.live): in 2026 it lasted 32 days on Play before being delisted, about 2,500 installs (AppBrain). Riding an unregistered name gets you delisted, which is exactly the case for why the trademark shield matters.
- Yacine: Football Live 2026 (com.ibaks.football1, APKPure), KoraSnap (3.84M), Koora Live (1.91M), KoraPlus (470k, 2026-08 debut): all are compliant score apps named after Arabic pirate streaming sites (Koora / Kora means "football").
Legit score apps (doing the same thing without a brand name): Sofascore (108M), Flashscore (105M), BeSoccer (142M), LiveScore (85M), OneFootball (81M), FotMob (56M), with Yallakora (2.14M) in the Arabic-speaking market. There's also a large crop of generic-named score apps from small Vietnamese and Pakistani teams, like Football Live Score (Galixo, 9.08M, 7 days +500k) and SnapGoal (18.5M). Functionally it's weaker than all of these. Its only edge is the name.
5. What's the differentiation, and is it why it broke out?
On product it has no differentiation and looks like hundreds of other score apps. Its differentiation is at the legal and distribution layer: it holds a US trademark for "YACINE TV", which lets it legally use, on Google Play as the "official brand", a name that pirate products have already grown, without fear of takedown complaints. That's why it took off: traffic comes from brand-term search, and survival depends on the trademark. But it's not alone. The same-named Yacine.tv ENTR app is older and bigger, so it's competing for a slice of traffic someone else already eats.
6. How visible it is
No public revenue, and X, media, and the indie dev community haven't mentioned it. "Riding a pirate sports brand name for a score app on Play" is already crowded in the Arabic market (at least 6 above). But "register the trademark first, then pass review on it" is rarer, a play within a small circle.
7. What to borrow
- Find brand terms with large search volume where the real owner can't get into official stores because of violations (pirate IPTV, cracking tools, delisted apps), then build a compliant alternative that catches that search intent.
- To do this on Play, get the trademark first (about 13 months in the US, Class 9), then add a full "brand ownership verification" page to handle review and appeals. Survival odds are much higher than bare name-riding (compare Yacine Football, delisted after 32 days).
- Traffic is driven by "match days": search peaks around games decide installs, so versions and pushes should be scheduled around the fixtures.
- Monetization relies only on ads: user intent doesn't match the product and retention is low, so interstitial and app-open ads have to recoup the money in the first few opens.
8. Risks and uncertainties
- Legal and platform risk: the original brand's users (the pirates) or rights holders like beIN could file complaints. Google could also act under its "misleading metadata" policy (the listing is borderline: the app is called TV but can't stream live).
- Only 23 written reviews; whether ratings were incentivized is unverified.
- Whether the single-day jumps correspond to specific matches is unverified; whether paid acquisition exists is unverified (no record in our ad library).
- Whether the trademark applicant (Yacine TV LLC, 2022) and the current operator (authorized representative Marouane Ait Salah) are the same people: USPTO has one assignment record, so the trademark may have been bought, unverified.
- Ad revenue is unknown.
Sources
- googleplay library (agent-im server): app, app_profile, app_snap, app_day, app_day_ext (AppstoreSpy estimate), chart_rank, 2026-10-29 to 11-06
- Play store page: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yacinetvllc.yacine…
- Official site and verification page: yacinetv.link/, yacinetv.link/google-play-verification.html
- Trademark: www.trademarkia.com/yacine-tv-97222032, trademarks.justia.com/owners/yacine-tv-llc-6768245/
- beIN's comment to USTR: downloads.regulations.gov/USTR-2020-0041-0018/attachment_1.p…
- AppBrain (Yacine Football delisted): www.appbrain.com/app/yacine-football/com.yacinetv.koora.live
- TikTok search "yacine tv" (TikHub, 2026-11-06); x-radar search "yacine tv" (0 posts in the last 60 days); metaads library (no records)