Innovation Game: How Competition is Causing Broadcasters to Look for New Plays 🏈
The competitive drive among broadcasters in the NFL is bringing innovations to the market that might have otherwise lagged – creating a new level of fan experience for those watching from home...
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BIG IDEA
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Top tier sports rights are becoming increasingly fragmented.
Take the NFL, for example, where fans must navigate a maze of broadcasters including NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. This spread poses well-documented challenges for fans, such as difficulty following their favourite teams and increased costs from multiple subscriptions.
However, this fragmentation might also be fostering an unexpected boon: a hotbed of innovation – as each of these broadcasters’ bids to out-do one-another.
YouTube, for instance, who recently became the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket, want to work with the league to figure out how to integrate the player tracking data as a way to differentiate their experience.
“We just had an amazing conversation with them a week ago [about] all the things they want to do, and I think it's going to be good for everyone when they figure out how to do it,” explained Josh Helmrich (Senior Director, Media Strategy, Business Development and NGS at the NFL).
In the case of the NFL, much of the innovation around the broadcast product is only possible thanks to the Next Gen Stats (NGS) team, where Helmrich sits.
NGS uses player and ball tracking to capture real-time data for every player — on every play, anywhere on the field. As well as offering this detailed data to clubs for trend analysis and player performance evaluation, this data is used by vendors and broadcasters to enhance the game-day experience for fans, whether they're in the stadium, online, or watching on TV.
“We always had this hub and spoke model; the hub being the data, and the spokes being all the different ways we thought it could benefit the NFL ecosystem,” explained Helmrich, the latest guest to come on the Sports Pundit Podcast.
A key ‘spoke’ for NGS is to continue to fuel the demands of their broadcast partners, each of which is aiming to create novel experiences for viewers.
As well as the YouTube example already referenced, this has led to the launch of alternative broadcasts like TNF Prime Vision with Amazon, as well as Toy Story Funday Football with ESPN.
“This year we started to do things with Amazon, like predicting who's going to blitz or highlighting the open wide receivers. Just by putting a coloured halo under the different people, red for a blitz or green for an open target, [has increased engagement among viewers]. It worked so well in the alt-broadcast that they [have] brought some of that [over] to the main Thursday night production.”
Ultimately, for both the broadcasters and the NFL, there is a shared aim to cater to fan preferences. And as technology evolves, this becomes increasingly possible – especially with advancements in AI (and the right datasets).
“Interactivity, the ability to customise every viewer’s experience, I think that's definitely an area of focus for the future. You [will] see more of that,” claimed Helmrich.
“I mean, ESPN does a Manning cast, with Peyton Manning and Eli Manning and then the main broadcast. Amazon has done the main broadcast [as well as] ‘Prime Vision’ every week [and] they've experimented with other broadcasts [as they’re] figuring out what works.”
Helmrich envisions a future broadcasting landscape where personalisation even extends to what level of stats that are displayed, as well as customisation based on things like team preferences.
“Within radio, for example, you can listen to the home broadcast or the away broadcast. [In] television, there's not a home and away [broadcast], but there could be in the future. And figuring out what that is, and what that looks like, [is] exciting.”
This concept opens the door to tailored experiences for fans of specific teams, enhancing their connection to the game.
The NFL's collaborative approach here is critical as each partner's unique perspective and willingness to innovate is pivotal in pushing the envelope of what's possible. What Amazon or Google can bring to the table is different to that of Disney or Fox.
“The strategy of how many broadcasters and where [we broadcast] is not my area,” he cautioned, “but I can tell you [that] a benefit of that strategy is we get a lot of smart people that have a lot of different thoughts and they've all been [highly] engaged [in NGS], and they want to figure out how they can use it, and [how they can] use it better than the other people.”
“When something works really well, the other partners will tend to look to do something similar. They all have their own areas of focus and interest, but it's great to have all these smart, capable people.”
So, while concerns about access and affordability will persist, the competitive drive among broadcasters is undeniably going to bring innovations to the market that might have otherwise lagged – creating a new level of broadcast experience for fans watching at home, and pushing forward the industry in the process.
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THE PODCAST
Want to hear more from my conversation with Josh?
We discuss why Puka Nacua was only picked up in the 5th Round, going from pallet to player tracking with Zebra Technologies, the evolution of data collection, and the opportunities for data application, from scouting and coaching, to broadcast and betting.
Listen to the full podcast via the link below - and I’d love to hear what you think!👇
The Sports Pundit Social Club (SPSC) is designed to bring together a diverse collective of executives, founders, investors and athletes from across the sports industry.
This month, we’ve got two events coming up, one in Manchester (Weds 17th) and one in London (Weds 24th).
While both will follow on from highly attended conferences, please note that there is no official affiliation (yet).
RSVP for Manchester (Wednesday 17th April) 👉 Here
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P.S. Next month I’ll be heading over to New York as we relaunch the the Social Club in collaboration with Maxwell, a social club set in the heart of Tribeca.
I’m really excited to come out and meet as many of you as possible so please RSVP early and feel free to drop me a note if you’re around.
RSVP for New York (Wednesday 22nd May) 👉 Here
JOB BOARD
People Executive - The Premier League (London, UK)
Digital Content Planning & Strategy Manager - Formula 1 (London, UK)
Director, Strategy, IMG Media - Endeavor (London, UK)
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Director of Content - NY/NJ Gotham FC (New York, UK)
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The Big Idea is brought to you by the Global Institute of Sport!
The Global Institute of Sport is the leading destination for Master's degrees, executive education and professional qualifications in sport around the world.
They count world-famous stadiums and surrounding venues among their state-of-the-art campus facilities across the globe, including London's Wembley Stadium, Miami's DRV PNK Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Ready to master the global sports industry? Enquire today about their in-person and online courses.
