Wednesday 31 August 2016

8 Ways fans will consume sports in the future

Sports Business International

How innovations like 5G, object-based broadcasting and embedded product placement are transforming the presentation of live sport



Stats on shirts

As part of their official sponsorship of MLS and to promote the Opta-driven stats service, Audi Performance index, the automotive brand hosted a celebrity and press soccer match at Chelsea Piers Golf Club, New York (August 02).
During the game, Opta data was collected live by members of Perform’s New York-based data collection team. Claimed as a first, the players’ performance score, calculated form the live Opta data, was displayed electronically on the front of their shirts. Player performances were also ranked live on large pitch-side screens, allowing spectators and the players themselves to keep track of how their performances compared to opponents and team members.
According to Simon Denyer, CEO, Perform, “This is an innovative example of live Opta data powering big-budget digital and experiential sponsorship activations, in a way that effectively complements the brand’s commitment to innovation and technology.”



TV and OTT in synch

Viewers following a live game on a tablet while they or friends also watch the game on TV currently find themselves caught out when a goal is scored. The way video is streamed over the internet mean delays of 30 seconds or several minutes behind the TV broadcast.

Sweden's Net Insight has developed software that synchronises OTT frame-accuratley with broadcast signals. Trialled at the 2015 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, F1 media body the FOA could introduce it across all races next season for rights holders including Sky Sports.

“It means that when F1 cars go into the first curve, viewers can see the the view from the driver's helmet-cam on a companion app and the main camera angle chosen by the show producer on TV simultaneously,” explains Per Lindgren, Net Insight's co-founder. “This makes for more of a 'game like' experience, as if using an iPad as a virtual steering wheel.”

The breakthrough, not limited to F1, has some far-reaching implications. The best example is the concept of 'swipe to TV' where users watch a live stream on a tablet but then swipe the stream to view on a larger TV screen. It eliminates the edge that Tweets from broadcast viewers have over those watching OTT, for example, warning that a penalty was missed before you'd seen it taken, and opens up multi-screen opportunities for presenation where the TV and a laptop are treated as one.


In-stadia streaming solved
Fans at stadia often find accessing the internet, let alone viewing video, a frustrating experience because mobile networks are drained of capacity in crowded areas. Sports venues can go some way to alleviate this by working with telecoms providers and handset manufacturers to stream video to apps using a souped-up version of the 4G network called LTE.
Numerous venues have trialled LTE, including Ajax and Wembley. Arguably the most advanced took place at Valencia's Mestalla stadium for the club's final home game of the season (May 17, 2015) against Celta de Vigo.
“Broadcasting five HD channels simultaneously with flawless playback set this apart from previous trials,” says Daniel Ayers, consultant for VCF digital agency Seven League. “This is considered to be around two years away from mainstream consumer devices.”
Content included a four-hour live broadcast from multiple cameras around the stadium; a separate Behind Scenes channel; an analysis channel with tactical data overlays; a channel built around fan video uploads from match day, and a social media channel curated through fan, player and pundit tweets and Instagram posts. La Liga data was used to power a stats channel, including player performance.
“When you’re looking to attract fans internationally you’re competing in a much wider field of clubs, and without the benefit of any hereditary following,” says Ayers.
“Particularly in Asian markets where football is as much a part of youth entertainment culture as sports culture, aligning with tech innovation to deliver a fan experience that brings the user as close as possible to the match gives people reasons to choose Valencia CF.”



5G makes everything possible
Even with 4G LTE, the significant expected increase in mobile traffic will inevitably cause network problems in the next few years. The answer lies in the fifth generation of mobile connectivity, or 5G. It promises massive increases in bandwidth for video delivered with imperceptible latency.

“If 4G, 3G and 2G were, generally speaking, about speed improvements and providing mobile data for the first time, 5G will expand what digital communications can do in almost every direction, and beyond recognition of what exists today,” says Nokia’s head of innovation marketing, Volker Held.

Applications include mobile broadcasting of 4K – four times HD resolution - and near instantaneous downloads of large video files. 5G will also make possible virtual and augmented reality, both of which need both high bandwidth and very low latency to work.
Demonstrations of 5G are planned at the 2018 Winter Olympics South Korea, FIFA World Cup Russia, and 2018 Glasgow-Berlin European Athletics Championships. The first 5G standards are due by 2019 with 2020 earmarked for commercial deployments in Europe.

MLB advances on-field data

While on-field data is often outsourced to specialised agencies like Opta Sports or IBM, MLB Advanced Media, the digital wing of Major League Baseball, has been able to lead because of its control of media production for all 30 teams.

Some data comes from optical capture (cameras and graphic analysis systems), some from radar capture, and some is extrapolated from the data samples. It is extremely granular with pitching measurements for perceived and actual ball velocity, and spin rate. Metrics tracking runners between bases are honed to lead distance, acceleration, maximum speed, and home-run trot. There's an even data illustrating the speed of the base runner's first step and route efficiency.
Further ahead, MLBAM will look at how beacons can detect fans at a ballpark wearing a smartwatch. If a pitcher throws a fastball to end the inning, the fan could potentially use the watch’s glance action to instantly review the speed and path of the pitch.


Be your own director
Object-based broadcasting is a potentially seismic shift which destroys the 80-year old notion of sending just one set of pictures and sound to a TV set.
This new approach conceives of a program “like a multidimensional jigsaw puzzle,” according to BBC R&D which first demonstrated it at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Every part of a scene – such as foreground, commentary, or view of an athlete - is reconstructed at the viewer's receiving device in a variety of ways permitting entirely new forms of personalisation.
As soon as next year we can expect object based audio to come to homes as part of BT Sport and Sky Sports' Ultra HD services. Object based-audio was trialled at the UEFA Euros 2016 and will, among other attributes, allow a user to hear enhanced atmospheric audio, listen to a specific race car driver communicating with the pit crew, or choose between a home or away team commentary.
The technique is predicated on a wholesale switch of the infrastructure for producing and delivering video away to internet protocols. This change is already well underway.


Incorporating social in the game
Formula E allows fans to influence the outcome of the race, making it unique in major professional sports. FanBoost gives three drivers with the most votes on social media prior to each race a 5-second power injection per car, per driver, temporarily increasing their car’s on-track performance from 150kw (202.5bhp) to 180kw (243bhp).
“Viewers don’t just passively watch. They influence the outcome from second screens,” says Ali Russell, CMO of Formula E Holdings.
Drivers are encouraged to interact with fans too. One of the most active, China Racing’s Nelson Piquet, Jr., won the inaugural championship.
The novelty has found particular succes in China where “fans don’t have any of the preconceptions that fans in Europe might,” says Russell.
Formula E latest social innovation is to integrate with the growing esports community. At the season finale in London it debuted a online ePrix – a esports competition which took place simultaneously with the real race.


Embedded product placement
UEFA has experimented with embedding audio watermarks in the audio track of its main coverage, enabling rights holders to experiment with marketing strategies across second screens.
“For example, a Lionel Messi goal would be watermarked linking the match action to a series of relevant additional content available on the viewer’s second screen,” says UEFA digital media solutions manager Olivier Gaches. “Further information about the player or an opportunity to view a selection of his previous Champions League goals, or an Adidas e-commerce promotion could be a call to action.”
“The need to convert users into customers is becoming an integral part of the online video offer for sports rights holders,” says Carlo De Marchis, deltatre which managed the proof of concept for UEFA.


Monetizing Virtual Reality
Next month, Sky will launch a Virtual Reality app which can be downloaded to smartphones or VR devices like Oculus for viewers to watch select recorded and live streamed content in 360-degrees including Formula 1 and boxing.
Fox Sports in the US has already streamed NASCAR, horse-racing, NBA and US Open golf in VR, the latter sponsored by car maker Lexus. Pay-per-view 'virtual ticket' events will be trialled by Fox Sports technology partner NextVR.
While production issues and revenue models are being worked out, sports producers view augmented reality – the overlay of graphics onto a real world or live streamed view aka Pokemon Go – to be the next big leap.
“AR and VR is still in its infancy but AR has great potential to be able to help viewers understand complex rules and action from UFC to rugby by allowing explanatory commentary from pundits or animations to pop-up over the live stream,” says De Marchis. Microsoft has demonstrated how its hololens technology could give viewers a simulated perspective of watching a game live from anywhere on the pitch.





Posted by at

1 comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)