49 HAPPENING SportsPro Live
portsPro Media continued its series of sports technology and broadcast events with the annual SportsPro Live conference, held at London’s O2 Arena last month. The event featured discussion panels, one-on-one interviews and lectures on the intersection between technology and the sports industry. The conference kicked off with an interview with Formula One’s MD of commercial operations, Sean Bratches. Speaking to CNN sports anchor, Amanda Davies, Bratches addressed the ongoing digital evolution of F1 under the ownership of Liberty Media and how its OTT platform is going to be used to build new audiences. A particularly fascinating presentation followed with Red Bull Media’s chief innovation officer, Andreas Gall, outlining some of the new technologies the action brand has been using to bring audiences closer to the action. Gall’s team has been given free reign to play with a host of new technologies and is driven h by an ethos of experimentation.
Gall demonstrated tests in which biometric sensors are used to track and present data about an athlete in the midst of the event, allowing viewers to monitor the heart rate of an athlete racing down a mountainside or ramping over a dirt motorcycle course. The team hit upon audio as an unexplored avenue in presenting data to audiences, and found that translating the athlete’s heart monitoring data directly to sound information – the thump of a heart beating – delivered an even better audience response. Other experiments included carefully placing microphones to record an athlete’s experience during an event. Accurate representation of the sound of a mountain bike negotiating a treacherous trail, combined with point-of-view video, produced a stunningly realistic experience for viewers. “Reactivate the audio in your content,” urged Gall. “A huge amount of information can be carried through audio.” The Red Bull Media team is also experimenting with technology from Munich-based Kinexon , which delivers
highly accurate movement and orientation data that can be used for imaging, tracking and monitoring athletes in motion. “Most GPS systems are not accurate,” said Gall. “We detected deviations up to 38m off the true track.” Red Bull hopes partnerships with companies, such as Kinexon will revolutionise how they present sports coverage. REIMAGINING THE EXPERIENCE A session called ‘Reimagining the fan experience through digital transformation’, featuring speakers from Imagen, World Surf League, Sail GP and AEG (the company behind host venue The O2) saw opportunities in the new digital ecosystem. AEG is now building its venues, including massive stadium projects, with its integration into the digital media sphere very much in mind. New online tools are allowing niche sports to reach global audiences directly though their own channels. But being able to harness the big social platforms,
LIKE A PRO The SportsPro Live conference at the O2 featured interviews and lectures from industry leaders
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