Driving Fan Engagement with Sky Sports’ Match Day App for Pubs
sky-sports-pub-challenge
Project deadline
3 Months
Role
User Research/ User Experience/
Tools
Pen, paper, Dovetail, Google Meets
Intro
Sky Sports has a large revenue coming from pub landlords (approximately £20,000 per year) . They pay a fee to broadcast the channel’s games in their venues (including Premier League games). For many years Sky Sports had little competition in this niche, until BT Sports began to operate, offering competitive prices and packages to pub owners.
Challenge and Goals
To remain competitive Sky Sports commissioned Sky R&D to research new opportunities that could benefit all involved in the engagement. The goal was to identify the needs of pub landlords and the football fans so we could provide meaningful services to them.
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Discovery Process
1. We selected what assumptions to validate based on the pub landlords and the football fans most relevant needs and behaviours.
2. The team created na inventory of services provided by Sky sports and tested what services were more relevant to the football fans before, during and after the matches.
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Pub Landlords
Based on landlord surveys over a period of 3 months, here are some survey highlights:
A. Attracting fans to pub matches, didn’t always translate in more sales on smaller games;
B. Beer and spirits were most sold during the games leaving meals and snacks with marginal relevance;
C. BT cheaper prices pushed some landlords to not renew their contracts;
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Football Fans
Interviewing also informed us that:
A. Fans decide ‘where’ to watch football shortly before the game started;
B. The majority of fans used Sky Sports app to get informed about the latest information on the games and to place bets;
C. Fans would often watch games together at the most convenient pub to the group;
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Sky Sports
The inventory of services Sky sports provided:
A. Provides a comprehensive, in depth information, about football affairs via TV programs;
B. Has an ecosystem of apps, website and TV platforms providing football content to fans all over the country;
C. Has a platform for posting Bets built in on its communication channels;
Based on the data collected we have decided to focus on the stages of the engagement before (or anytime), during and after the matches:
Anytime
The fan accesses the app to digest news, setup bets and invite friends to the next football match at the pub of their choice.
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On the way to the pub
On the way to the pub Fans could remind their friends about the match and setup further predictions.
During the match
The fan played-along football pub quizzes, banter and predict scores. Costumers also benefited of pub discounts and the winner received cash prizes, tickets and in-venue spot prizes.
Designing our prototype
Based on the data collected we have decided to focus on the stages of the engagement before (or anytime), during and after the matches:
