Bild, an Axel Springer-owned German tabloid, is experimenting with Facebook Messenger as a news platform, reports Nieman Lab. Initially, Bild is limiting its news and updates to the German soccer league and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here, a German reality TV show. Interested soccer and celeb fans can sign up for updates on Facebook.

Bild’s updates aren’t exclusive to Facebook Messenger posts, says Nieman Lab. The same information is also accessible on Bild’s other platforms, though that could change.

“Bild has to be where its readers are,” Bild’s editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt said in a statement. “About 30 million people in Germany experience their daily digital routine on Facebook. That’s why we engage in Instant Articles and that’s why we, together with Facebook, look for solutions to deliver our peerless content faster and smarter to our readers.”

In a separate Digiday article, Reichelt said the tests are “performing well,” but Bild has not yet disclosed how many fans have signed up to receive updates.

Insider Take:

Facebook Messenger has 800 million monthly active users, and along with Facebook-owned WhatsApp, that user base continues to grow as instant messaging becomes more popular. Are these apps a viable tool for publishers to use to reach their respective audiences? Maybe. We see pros and cons.

Pros: Facebook Messenger as a publishing platform could be a useful tool for publishers to reach niche audiences or share specific types of news like breaking news or live sports scores. Because news would be shared instantly, it seems the most successful opportunities for publishing would be updates that are time sensitive and that users want alerts for (e.g., Super Bowl score updates, storm news, etc.).

Cons: Other platforms already exist for these types of updates, including text messaging, RSS feeds, and news feeds on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, among others. Users already choose what news they want and where and how they’d like to get it.

What advantage will Facebook Messenger have over other platforms? Will users be able to interact directly with the publishers and brands they give Messenger access to? It seems publishers would have to offer something unique via Messenger to entice users to be willing to accept one more intrusion into their already message-heavy lives.

From the publisher’s perspective, this is one more platform they’d need to consider as they manage their multi-channel marketing and outreach strategies. Is there enough ROI to make Facebook Messenger worthwhile as a publishing platform, and does Messenger offer any analytics to measure engagement?

Though we are initially skeptical about the usefulness of Facebook Messenger for publishers, we like the innovation and ingenuity that Facebook continues to show. Publishers with tech and social media savvy teams may be able to use Messenger in ways we can’t yet envision. Bild may be among them, and we’re eager to see how they use it.