The Telegraph monetises fans with fantasy game
Team talk
A major UK-based publisher, The Telegraph has run a fantasy Premier League game for over 20 years. But with more fantasy contests available than ever, it needed evolve to maintain its broad national appeal.
The Telegraph wanted to take its product to the next level, aiming to drive better fan experiences and more revenue opportunities for itself and its partners.
The Telegraph’s brief:
- Reinvigorate and modernise Telegraph Fantasy Premier League
- Create a frictionless UX to attract and retain fans
- Drive revenues with new sponsorship activations and highly-visible ad inventory
Tactics
Telegraph Fantasy Football hands fans a £50m budget to pick a team of 11 players, with points awarded based on how well they perform. A £10,000 prize pool is up for grabs at the end of the season.
First, we built a custom new game platform, suitable for both web and app, including a bespoke points scoring system and a slick front-end UX.
To help the publisher monetise, we built-in programmatic ad inventory and bespoke sponsorship space, from odds promotions to logo placements, which Bet365 leveraged in the 2020/21 season.
We also created a dynamic ‘Assistant Manager’ feature, allowing fans to purchase the chance to enter more teams and prize leagues, and access enhanced stats and score projections.
Final result
Telegraph Fantasy Football’s user experience significantly improved, while maximising Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and delivering exceptional value for sponsors like Bet365 over the course of the season.
- 100% product uptime
- Over 100,000 active players
- Over 10m user sessions per season, with an avg. dwell time of over 5 mins
“We couldn’t be happier with Telegraph Fantasy Football’s performance in recent seasons, from the fan experience to how we’re able to attract and drive value for our partners.”
Steve Stiles, Director Sports & Comm, Telegraph Media Group