ORF launches the Ski-WM Schladming 2013 app

The concept

It seems currently that the whole industry is talking about multitasking and second screen. In this context, ORF wanted to find out if Austrians were ready for real interactivity in their daily lives. Their idea was thus to launch an app to provide, via mobile devices, additionnal information on TV programmes. And what better occasion to test this new app than the FIS (International Ski Federation) World Ski Championship, which is one of the most important sporting events in the country? ORF therefore decided to launch the Ski-WM Schladming 2013 app (Ski World-Cup App) available on iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets. A major premiere in Austria!

Through this new ski app, ORF delivers viewers professionnal content that the broadcaster’s research department collected around the championship. Indeed, users can access background information about the athletes, portraits, statistics, weather information and many other details about the races. The ORF also offers live streams from two additional (race) cameras, highlights videos, results, medal tables, etc.

This initiative was a real success! From the launch day (3 days before the event started) until the last day of the World Championship, the app was downloaded more than 220,000 times and about 26 million page impressions were generated, making this the most downloaded app in Austria.

Why does this matter for egta members?

This creative idea proves once again that second screen integration and mobile interactivity enhance television. The quantitative results clearly show that the app was used in parallel to the races shown on TV: an increased TV reach meant that the number of page impressions went up. Furthermore, when races were over, the audience immediately switched to the highlights available on demand via the app. Users were much more involved and returned regularly. And it did not appear to lead to any cannibalisation, neither with TV nor with the web page. The ORF sold the app to one of the main sponsors of this sporting event, the insurance company Uniqa.

The sponsor was integrated in the so-called splash-screens which were displayed while the app itself was downloading. In total, more than 3 million of these splash-screens were delivered to customers. A great sponsorship opportunity!

On a similar topic, you might be interested to have a look at a research project developed by Eurosport on the following topic “Sport & Media: New consumption patterns” (please see the "Background info" section on the right).