News Corp Australia's Melbourne daily the Herald-Sun will turn Aussie Rules football into a lottery by gamifying the first 'ball call' of a match.
Subscribers will have the opportunity to pick the first 'holding the ball' call and go into an interactive competition.
The contest opens tonight using signage at the MCG to cue entries, which are then made via the newspaper's website.
Victorian consumer sales and marketing general manager Kammeron George says the "never-before-seen" gamification was likely to increase engagement with the brand fourfold. "And we also enjoy a strong conversion-to-subscriber rate from competition data," she says.
The contentious 'ball call' is typically made within the first 11 minutes of a match, and the competition will feature at 44 home and away matches, plus finals, played at the MCG this season. News claims the competition could reach an engaged audience of around 38 million footy fans throughout the season.
The iconic MCG has a secure high-density wifi network, through which fans can interact free. Entrants will be in the running to win a weekly prize and be in the draw to win a grand prize at the end of the season.