First Ever Sports-Betting Broadcast: Telescope’s Predict the Game

With the ongoing legal changes in gambling in the US, the number of ways that fans can interact with live events is going to multiply exponentially giving content producers, gaming companies, and brands/sponsors new ways to engage and interact with their audience. In response to this, our friends at NBC Sports Washington have gotten out ahead of the curve by partnering Telescope to launch the new  Predict the Game interactive experience  on the Washington Wizards alternate broadcast. During the first activation, for a chance to win $500, fans were asked to predict different aspects of the game like, “Will the combined score at the end of the first quarter be odd or even?” or “Will Tomas Satoransky reach 20 points?”

In a landscape where content consumption is evolving rapidly, activations like Predict the Game give fans extra incentive to watch the event live and to stay engaged for its entirety…

In a landscape where content consumption is evolving rapidly, activations like Predict the Game  give fans extra incentive to watch the event live and to stay engaged for its entirety . This is obviously a selling point to sponsors who are debating buying ad space during the broadcast as fans are consuming the content without fast forwarding through the breaks or commercials. This type of activation also provides new sponsorship opportunities that are especially attractive to companies who will be providing products in the gaming space.

As the sports betting market evolves and diversifies, companies will be looking to provide people who have never set foot inside a casino a chance to experience sports gaming without having to actually put down money (at least at first). The influx of businesses looking to reach fans who enjoy interacting with a live event will generate multiple opportunities for sponsored content and play along experiences are an excellent platform to fill those needs as well as ease users into gaming.

For sports broadcasters, increased viewer loyalty will lead to commercial benefits from advertising and new sponsorship opportunities, especially with betting companies keen to sign up fans to wager from home as states legalize. In countries where sports betting has been legalized for years, live sports-betting, also referred to as “in-play” betting, is one of the most commonly played types of games and is a massive revenue generator.

…Predict the Game style promotions leverage some of the most powerful incentives for people to interact with an activation…

From Telescope’s  many years of providing fan engagement experiences  we know that Predict the Game style promotions leverage some of the most powerful incentives for people to interact with an activation – offering the chance to win a prize, providing them with a competitive play along experience, and giving the top scorers the chance to see their name and score on screen for fan notoriety.

Outside of traditional sports betting there are many other instances where a live play along experience can encourage fan engagement. Anyone who has made a “prop” bet at a Super Bowl party can tell you how much fun it can be to try and predict the length of the National Anthem or whether the halftime performer will sing a particular song. In the UK there was even a prop bet on which color the Queen’s hat would be for the royal wedding (if you guessed lime green you were a winner!). This concept is equally compelling for other genres like reality TV where predictions such as, “Who will be in the bottom three?” for NBC’s The Voice or “Which Masked Singer will be revealed tonight?” for Fox’s Masked Singer can drive fan engagement with their passionate viewing audiences. You can look no further than ABC’s  The Bachelor Fantasy League  to see this in practice.

With…the growing desire of fans to play along with the content, prediction style games will be instrumental in providing a platform to keep fans engaged…

With so many new opportunities for sponsored live games as well as the growing desire of fans to play along with the content, prediction style games will be instrumental in providing a platform to keep fans engaged, open gaming up to a wider audience, and to fill sponsorship needs of brands and gaming companies. It shouldn’t be too bold of a prediction (see what I did there?) that as this evolves, shouting correct answers at your TV could turn into winning a contest or earning the special recognition of seeing your name and picture on TV.