The Times launches promotional World Cup app for Amazon Alexa

The Times is working with Amazon to explore the possibilities of using the Alexa virtual assistant as a means of promoting its sports coverage.

Timed to coincide with the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the Times Sport Alexa add-on is designed to provide users with audio excerpts of its match reports and sports analysis, with the aim of encouraging them to buy a newspaper or visit the Times website or app.

Football fans will also be able to directly access the Times' World Cup Podcast by asking Alexa to play the broadcast. In doing so, the publication hopes to bring its editorial content to a wider audience.

Alex Kay-Jelski, sports editor for the Times, told The Drum that Alexa is seen as a "marketing tool" rather than a viable medium for providing full access to Times content. The performance of the new app will be analysed at the end of the World Cup to assess its impact.

He said: "Publishers always have to look at new things, journalism is not going to stay the same. Things that involve voices will become increasingly a big part of what we do."