PokerStars PlayAlong

High Level Overview

The PokerStars PlayAlong app allowed users to watch the European Poker Tour shows on Channel 4 and challenge their friends live in the app.

Objective

Too few poker viewers were signing up to PokerStars who viewed our TV content. We sought a solution to this by creating a fun experience with an incentivised CTA at the end of the show. 

Teamwork

I was part of the team responsible for scoping and planning the app, along with members of the PokerStars TV team, and UK’s Channel 4’s. We created the strategy and PoC, and built that app.

VOD Flexibility

Audio watermarks in the TV content were used so that users could enjoy using the app when watching the tournaments back as VOD. This was also available on the same shows on pokerstars.tv.

Cross-Company Effort

Aligning requirements across all involved was fundamental, so that the app was properly promoted on web and as part of the content itself, and the commentators also plugged it as part of the shows.

Play Along

Audio watermarks would alert the app when an action was upcoming, prompting it to sync with the show.

Social Play

Players could play against their friends and compare who had the highest score at the end of the show.

VOD Compatibility

Users could enjoy the experience of using the app even while watching Channel 4 poker content as VOD.

Leaderboard

After each turn users would be shown a leaderboard where they could compare their results to those of their friends.

Cashout

Players could cashout their winnings to compete in real online freeroll tournaments on PokerStars.

Guest Mode

Users could download the app and play as a guest, before being prompted to open an account so as not to lose their chips.

During the first episode after launching the app, The PlayAlong app enjoyed 16,000 downloads, with a conversion rate of 26%.

Some more information…

Background How it was Built My Scope

Could more European Poker Tour viewers be encouraged to choose PokerStars?

It was evident that a lot of the viewers of the European Poker Tour on the UK’s Channel 4 were not choosing PokerStars as their poker home of choice. So the TV Team joined forced with the Mobile Team (mostly me for this one) to seek a potential solution to this challenge.

We sought to understand the value and market appeal of a second screen app. We hosted focus groups and surveyed a select group of users to identify if there would be enough interest in a play-along app, to lead poker fans who enjoy the show, but had not signed-up, to join PokerStars.

The concept was exciting to a lot of the users we tested and surveyed, and the consensus was that the engagement in the poker hands the viewers were watching motivated them to want to continue playing after finishing watching the EPT.

What does it take to build a product that watches TV with you?

We kicked-off work on a PoC with the development teams and tested this internally with staff on the mobile and TV teams. Once the concept was approved and signed off by stakeholders, we moved forward in developing the MVP.

This consisted of creating reliable and responsive gameplay mechanics, social features including Facebook Connect and leaderboards to compete against your friends and the general population, as well as the ability for the viewer to cashout their chips at the end of the show, attribute these to their new account and use them to play in a real money freeroll tournament on PokerStars.

What were my main areas of focus?

Strategic

  • Working with a number of key stakeholders in defining the strategy for solving the problem of converting EPT views into new sign-ups.
  • Defining & supporting the creation of an intuitive, robust and responsive second-screen app for the EPT shows.
  • Defining app release and update strategies and schedules.


Product

  • Defining and owning the product roadmap and prioritising features.
  • Turning data insights into product features with actionable outcomes to the customer.
  • Prioritising and refining the feature backlog for assigned products, balancing the requirements of stakeholders and customers.
  • Translating product roadmap features into well-defined product requirements including features, user stories, and acceptance test criteria.
  • Working with cross-functional teams and stakeholders including: design, security, engineering and testing.
  • Managing the strategic third-party relationship with Channel 4.
  • Working closely with Development Teams to understand challenges on the go, and seeking to resolve these as quickly and efficiently as possible.


Testing

  • Assisting internal QA Teams with testing.


Reporting

  • Reporting on the ongoing development process.
  • Presenting feature demos to stakeholders.
  • Presenting the receipt of the app and it’s success to key stakeholders.


Academic

  • Understanding in detail second-screen technology and assisting in adapting this to create the play-along functionality based on audio watermarks within the app.