By Paul Nicholson
October 9 – Digital technology has revolutionised media, consumption of media and fan engagement outside the stadium. Now it is upgrading the in-stadium experience, on multiple levels.
EVS and Cisco are rolling out their “connected” content offering to clubs and stadiums. EVS is a specialist in broadcast technology and via its C-Cast cloud-based multimedia production and delivery platform collects and curates content, while Cisco provides the digital backbone and bandwidth that delivers that content to the fans’ devices or screens around the stadium.
With younger sports audiences now expecting greater connectivity when attending a match, and already engaging digitally where the bandwidth in stadia allows them, the C-Cast solution takes their engagement to a new level.
The result is a revolution taking place in how fans connect with the in-stadium match experience, and this in turn is opening up new revenue streams.
The basic proposition for rights holders is that C-Cast enables every piece of content they generate to be used and served to their fans – enabling the fans to be able to access multiple views of the game in-stadium. For example, a broadcast signal played out by a TV rights holder is a linear signal that is created from multiple cameras. The TV director chooses the images from the feeds he receives in the broadcast truck.
“A lot of content is left on the table,” said James Stellpflug, VP Sports Products at EVS. “There could be as many as 25 cameras at a match…retaining that content and creating a better experience for fans is generating what we call a ‘return on emotion’.”
And obviously the next step is to turn that into a return on the investment in creating the media ie money.
For the fan it most generally means the choice of multiple camera angles in the stadium, delivered to them on their phone or tablet. The technology is such that a fan who may be watching the match sitting high in the stadium but keeps viewing action from a low down camera angle on their device, could be sent a message offering them to upgrade their seat to a lower tier nearer the action.
Various sponsorship and the delivery of marketing messages directly to the individually identified consumer are similarly opened up.
The content that can be delivered is not limited to video feeds and replays, but can also include audio (commentary) as well as meta data (good old-fashioned text, like stats). Content can also be stored and reviewed later.
Delivery of content can be targeted to different screens in different areas of the stadium or via an app to a handheld device. And if the rights are retained, that app delivery can be taken beyond the fans in the stadium to a broader match day audience – paid of course.
The system was in available in Brazil for the World Cup where broadcasters could take a white labeled app from FIFA/HBS, brand it and deliver on average eight different live streams from a match with multicamera replays and an array of other interactive functions.
While generally broadcasters are retaining all rights within their broadcast contracts, for Brazil 2014 more than 30 licenses were issued for these multimedia rights.
Delivering this depth of interactive connectivity comes at a cost, and that cost is dictated by how much hardware and content creation the club/stadium/rights holder already has in place. But typically, assuming the hardware is in place and the cost is for the content collection and delivery using the software, price for a season could be anything upwards from €30-50,000.
At present the commercial logic works most obviously for the big clubs, leagues and rights holders with the largest fan bases, and EVS says it is working with a good number of the big clubs to deliver solutions. However, the company also says that the model does translate to smaller clubs.
Gil Scott Heron might have famously written that “the revolution will not be televised”. But this is one revolution that will be taking place on every screen, any and everywhere.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734855939labto1734855939ofdlr1734855939owedi1734855939sni@n1734855939osloh1734855939cin.l1734855939uap1734855939