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“ People have discovered Watch Together and social media are convenient ways to watch with their friends .” – Thierry Fautier , Harmonic
“ We do [ personalisation ] as part of our Match Day experience ,” says Hindhaugh . “ It ’ s always been part of BT Sport ’ s DNA about taking people to the heart of sport . It ’ s how to marry the two distinct things . Sport is a real social viewing experience , but also sports fans want to watch sport in the way they want to watch it in terms of personalisation . What we ’ ve tried to do with Match Day experience and everything we do , whether it ’ s the interactive timeline , down to our workings in 360 - and extending that to 8K and VR was part of our Match Day experience . All of the things we look at is how you can personalise the viewing experience , but still enable you to feel part of that wider social viewing experience . A lot of what we do around personalisation is around bragging rights , where people can see different views or interpret different things that inform their conversation with their mates when they are watching the live game .
“ It ’ s part of our key strategic roadmap as
regards innovation is around personalisation . It ’ s twofold : it ’ s about taking BT Sport further from not just being a purveyor of broadcasting live sports , to delivering match day experiences , and within that , enabling full personalisation . I think there is an appetite from sport audiences , especially around data , to be able to look at information and analysis that suits their expertise , but enable them to watch the live event at the same time as everyone else . Covid certainly helped push that with regards to what we launched last year . When you look at some of the capabilities that were launched , and as a package , the Match Day experience delivers on both : personalisation and social viewing experience .” TRENDS . “ Viewers are more accustomed to watching what they want , when they want and content providers are starting to cater to a more varied audience ,” notes Cerberus ’ s
Clarke . “ With changes in consumer habits and an increase in popularity of OTT services , there is a growing expectancy from sports fans to have relevant content available at the touch of a button . Trends are shifting from traditional TV viewing to VoD , which makes it easier to track and analyse viewer behaviours . Sports broadcasters need to leverage this connection with audiences and use it to deliver more supplementary content around the main event . Now with more affordable IP-based delivery methods available , contributing additional pre-match and post-match content has become commercially viable ,” he adds .
“ Multiview enables more personalisation , allowing users to pick which camera feed they want to watch , which can be very crucial when video assistant referees are not working perfectly , or when you want to follow a particular part of the action ,” advises Fautier . “ Pushing the envelope , we can now send a 4K stream and let people follow their favourite player with a user-controlled HD window ,” he says .
“ Stadiums and arenas are becoming more technologically-advanced and connected , enabling immersive sports technology integrations like Intel True View ,” observes Intel ’ s Carwana . “ Over the past few years , we ’ ve pioneered the development of
volumetric video , enabling fans to watch a play from any perspective — including through the eyes of a player on the field . True View uses a camera array that captures the action on the field , court , or pitch in multiperspective 3D known as voxels ( pixels with volume ). This gives content creators and broadcasters a unique set of capabilities to move virtual cameras anywhere through the scene . Immersive media technologies like this are inherently personal , as they allow fans to control the viewing experience and slip behind-the-scenes of the traditional broadcast , all while increasing their knowledge of the game and experiencing an intensified match experience . While the game broadcast remains the primary consumption point , fans are gravitating toward unique interactive and personalised viewing experiences to get more out of the sports they love ,” he suggests .
“ Fans are gravitating toward unique interactive and personalised viewing experiences .” – James Carwana , Intel Sports
CLOUD . “ It ’ s not just AR or virtual engagement fuelling personalisation in sports content ,” says Burk . “ Because of travel limitations , we ’ ve seen a greater adoption of cloud-based workflows . Centralised production in a cloud environment — along with LTN ’ s multicast IP network — has enabled live delivery to multiple locations with incredible reliability and low latency . Cloud environments allow for more content versioning : using the same content for unique distribution for multiple endpoints , such as graphical overlays to provide a unique experience for viewers across distribution platforms .”
“ We ’ ve been helping broadcasters and OTT platforms address some of the emerging use cases that have now become essential , such as real-time video , interactivity , and gamification ,” notes Lepke . “ Real-time interactivity opens up new possibilities for how viewers interact with the content provider and with each other . We ’ ve prioritised creating large-scale experiences where sports fans can compete with friends or interact with live and archive games through predictions , polls , and trivia . We predict that as laws change in the US , the door will be open for new business opportunities by adding additional layers of
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