The Challenge

Ice Hockey is one of Canada’s most popular sports, and National Hockey League (NHL) fans are an incredibly passionate group. Millions tune in across the country every season to watch the games live and cheer for their teams.

But in 2020, Sportsnet  - one of Canada’s largest TV and radio broadcasters - were facing a cancelled schedule and the long-term prospect of restricted fan numbers at games. Without the buzz of weekly games, they needed a way of delighting and nurturing old fans whilst attracting new ones.

The Insights

• More than a quarter of Canadians have access to a smart-speaker (Statistica, 2020); offering a new opportunity to bring the world of NHL directly to fans in their own homes
• Games and Trivia are incredibly popular use cases for voice. 2 in 5 reported playing voice games & trivia at least daily during lockdown (VoxlyInsights)
• Credibility is important when it comes to trivia: using a recognisable influencer could help increase trust whilst broadening the appeal.
  

Learn more about SportsNet NHL Trivia on Rogers Canada

The Solution

Sportsnet NHL Trivia: The ultimate hockey trivia games for hockey fans!

Working closely with the team at Sportsnet, we developed a hockey trivia Voice Game to engage new and super fans alike.

Hosted by Jeff Marek (Torontos most well know Sport Radio personality) from the Jeff Marek Show and the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sportsnet NHL Trivia is the ultimate challenge for hockey fans of all ages and backgrounds.

Sportsnet NHL Trivia is a daily game you play via a Voice Assistant. To access the game, you simply need Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant on any voice-enabled devices – you can even play with those apps on your phone!

The game format is simple. Just answer one question and earn a bonus question … but be warned, the questions have been created by the Sportsnet Stats team and those folks know hockey. We can guarantee there will be some seriously challenging trivia. There’s a new question every day!

We also gave fans a way to brag about their hockey knowledge. Fans can get an email scorecard of their results - all activated by voice.

Available on Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant the voice-game is optimised for voice-only and screen-based devices. We also developed a bespoke CMS to allow the Sportsnet team to upload weekly questions themselves following launch.

The Results

• 10k's of thousands of users and quizzes completed since launch.
• A large proportion of users are coming back repeatedly, showing high service retention.
• Long sessions times are above benchmark, showing good engagement.