LGU+ 'Spoky' Surpasses 30 Million Cumulative Users...Innovating Sports Fan Experience

LG Uplus announced on the 19th that its integrated sports community platform, ‘Spoky,’ has surpassed 30 million cumulative users, receiving high praise from sports fans.

Spoky is a core ‘play’ platform of U+3.0 that provides the latest news and popular YouTube and broadcast videos for various domestic and international leagues across sports such as baseball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, golf, and billiards.

An LG Uplus model using Spoky.
[Photo by LG Uplus]

Since its launch in October last year, the platform exceeded 15 million cumulative subscribers in May this year and continued its rapid growth by surpassing 30 million in December. During the professional baseball season, the monthly active users (MAU) averaged about 4 million. The NC vs. KT game on July 2 recorded approximately 285,000 views, and the LG vs. KT Korean Series Game 3 on November 10 recorded about 568,000 views, marking the highest viewership for the regular league and postseason, respectively.

LG Uplus explained that the increase in users was mainly due to innovating the experience for sports fans by providing entertainment all year round. Previously, U+ Pro Baseball and U+ Golf, which focused on broadcasting KBO and KLPGA leagues, had difficulty offering consistent entertainment due to clearly defined seasons. However, Spoky integrates these and significantly expands the range of sports to include overseas soccer, basketball, volleyball, billiards, Go, bowling, and more, offering elements that can be enjoyed throughout the year.

In particular, the real-time game comment feature called ‘Cheering Talk,’ which reflects the communicative nature of sports fans, has gained great popularity, surpassing 1 million cumulative comments as of August. The average number of Cheering Talks per game increased by 71% during the season, from 1,677 in April when the KBO season started to 2,879 in September, and surged to 8,292 per game during the postseason.

For baseball fans, the ‘Record Room’ feature was introduced in October this year. It allows users to check detailed statistics from the inaugural professional baseball year of 1982, including batting averages, earned run averages, and detailed indicators such as each player’s contribution to team victories. Users can analyze new recruits by team, remaining free agents, hitters’ batting styles, and pitchers’ pitch type and course strategies, making it more enjoyable to follow the stove league. This service has become a steady favorite among baseball fans even during the offseason.

To thank customers who supported professional baseball with Spoky throughout the year, LG Uplus is holding the ‘Goodbye 2023’ event until the end of December. Users who set their cheering team on Spoky and write a Spoky Talk with a hashtag (cheering event) will be automatically entered into a draw. Thirty winners (three per cheering team) will receive baseball caps, and 100 winners (ten per team) will receive coffee vouchers.

Customers who wish to use Spoky can download the ‘Spoky’ app from One Store, Google Play Store, and Apple App Store, or use the web version.

Goh Kwang-ho, Head of Sports Platform at LG Uplus, said, “We are very pleased to receive higher-than-expected interest in Spoky’s first baseball season,” adding, “We will continue to enhance service convenience such as broadcasting and communication, and through partnerships with baseball teams, we will create opportunities for customers to meet offline, making it an indispensable service for baseball fans.”

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