World Cup Effect Boosts... LGU+ 'Spoki' User Count Up 3.3 Times

Visit Count Up 250%·Comments Up 400%... Platform Strategy Hits the Mark

An LG Uplus model is introducing 'Spoky'. Photo by LG Uplus

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] LG Uplus’s sports community platform ‘Spoky’ has greatly benefited from the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup effect. Within about two months of its launch, the number of users increased by 3.3 times.

According to LG Uplus on the 20th, the number of Spoky users increased by approximately 230% during the World Cup period (November 21 to December 19) compared to just before the World Cup (October 23 to November 20). The number of visits and comments also surged sharply. According to LG Uplus, visits increased by about 250% and comments by 400% during the same period. LG Uplus’s platform strategy of increasing customer service usage to collect data and then using that data to increase customer retention proved successful.

Last month, Spoky secured the online broadcasting rights for the Qatar World Cup and launched the ‘2022 Qatar Pavilion’ in time for the opening, providing live broadcasts of World Cup matches. It showcased major match schedules, brackets, and highlight videos. Using artificial intelligence (AI) ‘ixi,’ it also offered an AI match prediction service based on international match data of the countries participating in the World Cup. Although the prediction accuracy was not very high at 54.7%, correctly predicting 35 out of 64 matches, it succeeded in attracting users’ interest.

Spoky provides services for all sports categories, including domestic professional soccer, overseas soccer, overseas baseball, basketball, volleyball, billiards, bowling, and fishing. Unlike previous individual sports broadcasting platforms where users sharply declined after the season ended, Spoky, which covers various sports, continues to attract new users steadily.

Especially since it was the first platform service launched after the announcement of the U+3.0 four major platform strategies in September, there is an assessment that LG Uplus CEO Hwang Hyun-sik’s innovation plan is progressing smoothly. CEO Hwang announced an innovation plan centered on four major platforms?lifestyle, play, growth care, and Web 3.0?in September. Spoky plays a pivotal role in the play platform.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.