Sports media brand theScore is among the first brands to utilize Facebook’s newly launched Messenger Platform, which houses chatbots capable of generating everything from automated subscription content such as weather and traffic to customized communications like receipts, shipping notifications and live automated messages.
TheScore chatbot will enable the sports media company to push real-time scores and news to the approximately 900 million people who use its Facebook Messenger product.
Riaz Lalani, vice-president of product for theScore in Toronto, said the chatbot would serve up sports-related content in a way that is “totally native and conversational.”
When someone first interacts with theScore in messenger, the chatbot will ask them to indicate which teams they want to receive scores and news from. It will then send real-time information via the Messenger platform.
“It’s a totally opt-in experience and users can manage what they receive at any time through settings,” said Lalani. He said the company would continue to refine the product to make it more conversational and improve the AI.
TheScore, which is the main challenger to the U.S. sports giant ESPN on mobile, is the first sports media brand to build a messaging bot, with Lalani saying bots represent the next phase in how consumers can interact with brands and publishers online.
“There can be a lot of friction when it comes to contacting a brand,” he said. “You might have to download an app, send an email or telephone a 1-800 number and wait…and wait. With a bot, you just go to Messenger and type ‘Hello.’ For media outlets like us, it’s a new way for people to consume content and request it on-demand.”
Lalani said it’s “too early to speculate” on if and how theScore would attempt to monetize the chatbot through advertising.
“For now we are focused on creating a best-in-class sports bot on this platform that provides a rich user experience and introduces theScore and its content to a whole new set of fans,” he said. “That said, there are few companies in the world as adept monetizing mobile users as Facebook, so there could very well be opportunities in the future.”
While much of theScore’s chatbot information is already available via its hugely popular mobile app, Lalani said the new product was designed to provide it in a more conversational and seamless manner. However, he said the app, along with new properties including theScore esports and QuickDraft, remains the company’s “top priority.”
Lalani said the company also expected people to one day be able to “pull” theScore chatbot into private group conversations, where it could potentially settle arguments such as who was a better player.
Lalani called bots a “natural extension” of the company’s core mission of providing sports scores and information to fans wherever they are. “As a sports media company with a heavy focus on technology, we’ve always played at the forefront of emerging platforms,” he said.
TheScore currently has more than 2.7 followers on Facebook, with Lalani telling Marketing its weekly engagement is comparable to some of the leading sports media brands in the U.S.
