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Emily Wilford

APAC digital news round up

Read about the most interesting and unique content ideas from around the APAC sports and broadcast industry these past few weeks.

With fans staying at home, online viewership among multiple sports is on the rise with the IPL seeing record figures for their recent matches. Manchester United is also showing strong promise for its future with the opening of their first set of sports experience stores, firstly in Beijing, China. The eSports industry is also continuing to grow as more people increase their online presence, this was reflected with the takeover of DouYu by Huya to create a $10 billion juggernaut.

Theatre of Dreams

Manchester United has confirmed they will be opening several entertainment venues in partnership with Harves Entertainment, called The Theatre of Dreams. As fans seek fully immersive experiences across the globe, these venues will be a homage to the Old Trafford Stadium with interactive history sections, gaming and dining. The first venue will open in Beijing, China with other sites in Shanghai, Shenyang and Changsha set to follow.

2020 National Chinese Championships

The National Chinese Championships took place in October with several high-profile players competing. Chinese provinces compete against each other to win the National Championships. The event was live-streamed on the ITTF YouTube and Facebook channels globally so fans can watch the matches from their homes.

IPL viewer records

Star India have recorded the largest ever reach and viewership for the recent IPL matches. As matches were set to start up, some of the world’s more high-profile cricketers have joined the IPL to compete over the winter months, bringing with them a global reach and audience. A total of 269 million viewers tuned in, with a total increase of 15% of viewing time over the first seven IPL matches.

All Blacks are back

The All Blacks returned to action with fans in the stadium for a match against Australia. Despite some fans being present, there were plenty of fans at home wanting to feel part of the action. SkySportsNZ have created a new feature called Player Cam. The clip across digital channels focuses on one player whilst showing the match being played out at the same time on a small video screen in the clip. It allows fans to watch the match as if they were there, focusing on an individual and the game as a whole.

To learn more about Grabyo and how we are helping global broadcasters, rights holders and media companies overcome these challenges with our cloud-based video production and editing platform – get in touch today.

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Americas digital round up

Here are Grabyo’s favorite content production ideas from around the sports and broadcast industry over the past weeks.

As live events across the US continuewith reduced capacity, enhancing fan engagement and remote experiences has become g a priority for content producers.Sports bubbles have provided a unique insight into the life of sports teams, with the Phoenix Suns uniquely announcing team line ups using family members,

Ahead of the Emmy’s, media and entertainment outlet Variety has been interviewing high-profile stars such as Olivia Coleman from home, taking out the glamour of the red carpet but replacing it with an insight into their life at home. The US Open took place, providing tennis fans with the first major slam since March. The tournament ran a live daily show to ensure fans were up-to-date with all the action.

Phoenix Suns

As the Phoenix Suns resumed NBA action, it required the team to enter the ‘Disney Bubble’ move away from their family to Orlando. To give the players a glimpse of home, they used their friends and family to announce the line up. Each player had a friend or family member record a short clip alongside their name. These clips were played out at the beginning of the match, with high-profile players from other teams such as LeBron James calling out the Phoenix Suns for such a heart-warming piece of content.

Award season

TV and film award season is continuing despite cancellations and disruption earlier in the year. The Emmys will take place in the middle of September, but without the red carpet and star-studded guest lists. This provides a unique opportunity for content producers to take fans to the stars instead. Media and Entertainment news outlet Variety has been hosting interviews and short-forms chat shows on its digital channels. Discussing nominations and watch parties with Olivia Coleman and Helena Bonham-Carter, the stars have been joining from their homes ahead of the prestigious award ceremony.

Behind the scenes of the Detroit Tigers

As MLB action returned to screens across the world, the Detroit Tigers wanted to ensure its global fan base didn’t feel isolated from the action.. Speaking with fans via Zoom before the match, the digital team prepped the fans before they appeared on live streams during the game. Having fan reactions played out live during play replicated a sense of fans being present at the ballpark, and generated a new format of atmosphere. To further improve the viewer experience, the team used video game audio throughout the matches to replicate cheering and bring the game to life for those watching at home.

US Open daily show

The US Open took place this year as the first major tennis tournament since the start of the pandemic. To ensure tennis fans were as close to the action as possible, the USTA launched a daily, social-first live show. The Warm-Up was broadcast to Facebook, recapping the previous days’ action and taking a look at the upcoming matches for that day. The show was created remotely, and had guests joining the show from their homes.

Seven from Sunday

As the NFL returned the NFL 345 channel returned with its Seven from Sunday. The channel covering all things news for the NFL highlights the seven key statistics from the opening day of the season. Published on Twitter using images and graphics to display the statistics and also presented in longer form on the NFL website. The content gives fans an insight into their teams as well as the league as a whole, using historical data to create meaningful comparisons.

To learn more about Grabyo and how we are helping global broadcasters, rights holders and media companies overcome these challenges with our cloud-based video production and editing platform – get in touch today.

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EMEA digital news round up

Here are Grabyo’s favorite content production ideas from around the sports and broadcast industry over the past weeks.

Technology continues to enhance the viewing experience for live events constrained by current government restrictions. As audiences continue to watch from home, more is needed to increase and maintain fan engagement. SailGP have partnered with Acronis to enable real-time voice recognition and translation, allowing fans to feel closer to the action. Whilst Eleven Sports’ coverage of the Beglian Pro League features on-screen data visuals such as real-time heat maps and team statistics.

One of the highest-profile football announcements of the summer was completed during September, with Arsenal taking full advantage of their digital channels to live stream to a global audiencet. Ahead of the Emmy’s, media and entertainment outlet Variety has been interviewing high-profile stars such as Olivia Coleman from home, taking out the glamour of the red carpet but replacing it with an insight into their life at home.

Signing of the summer

Arsenal and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have been hinting all summer about the renewal of his contract with the club. Several cryptic tweets, instagram stories and public conversations with his teammates continues for months. To reveal the news, Arsenal took advantage of its full digital channels as well Aubameyang’s. The signing was revealed with a live stream on the Arsenal Twitter account behind the scenes at the Emirates Stadium, with teasers in the build-up including some clues such as the captains’ armband. The live stream followed Aubameyang onto the pitch where he went live to host a conversation with Ian Wright.

Live from the water

SailGP’s partnership with Acronis will allow for the on-board conversations of the F50 catamarans to be translated live. These live transcripts will be available to broadcasters in several languages including French, Japanese and Mandarin. Fans will get an insight into what is happening on each of the boats as the action unfolds. It adds another element to the fan experience and brings the fans closer than ever before.

60 second round up

With a majority of sports back in action, Sky Sports are bringing fans everything they need to know in 60 seconds. The short and snappy piece of content is hosted on their website in a written format as well as in video format on Twitter. The daily content piece contains news from the past 24 hours as well as light-hearted videos from around the sports industry.

Team stats

The Belgian Pro League’s media rights holders, Eleven Sports, are adding a new dynamic to its coverage for the 20-21 season. Working with Deltacast, coverage will now include live data and statistics. Graphics and overlays will be inserted into the broadcast in real-time, allowing viewers to have a different perspective of the games and enhance the fan experience. The information will include activity heat maps, free-kick maps, penalty statistics and team-line up statistics.

Award season

TV and film award season is continuing despite cancellations and disruption earlier in the year. The Emmys will take place in the middle of September, but without the red carpet and star-studded guest lists. This provides a unique opportunity for content producers to take fans to the stars instead. Media and Entertainment news outlet Variety has been hosting interviews and short-form chat shows on its digital channels. Discussing nominations and watch parties with Olivia Coleman and Helena Bonham-Carter, the stars have been joining from their homes ahead of the prestigious award ceremony.

To learn more about Grabyo and how we are helping global broadcasters, rights holders and media companies overcome these challenges with our cloud-based video production and editing platform – get in touch today.

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APAC digital news round up

Here are Grabyo’s favorite content and production ideas from around the sports and broadcast industry over the past weeks.

As stadiums and venues are at either a reduced capacity or without fans, the fan experience needs to be taken directly to consumers in their homes. In the J League, trials have been fun with ‘remote cheering’, playing noise from remote fans directly into the stadiums, bringing fans and athletes closer together.

Another challenge is also maintaining engagement around thoseevents that have been postponed, the Tokyo Olympics being the most high-profile. The Olympic Channel has been using a series of archive footage and exclusive to keep fans engaged until the games next summer. Cricket Australia has been running live panel discussions with remote participants whilst their team plays in England behind closed-doors.. The Thai League has had some fans back in at a reduced capacity but for those not lucky enough to attend there is a Facebook live show to keep fans updated with all the action.

Tokyo 2020

After the Olympics was postponed by a year, its digital team has been keeping fans engaged with a variety of content. The channel is using archive footage to run ‘on this day’ content as well as full replays of previous opening and closing ceremonies. The channel has exclusive rights to interviews and athlete news, all of which has been hosted on the Olympic channel. Running throughout the summer to keep fans entertained and fill the void until next summer’s games.

Remote cheering

Playing matches without fans is a new experience for players and fans watching from home. To try and make the viewing and playing experience more authentic, the J League is using remote cheering. Fans watching at home have their cheers and applause played out in real-time for the game they’re watching, enhancing the live experience with direct audience involvement.

Cricket Australia

To try and keep the cricket community in Australia connected, the Cricket Connecting Country series has been launched. The three part series is addressing some of the social challenges in Australia as well as celebrating the best of Australia. The series is made remotely with panelists joining from their homes, sharing their experiences.

Thai League

The Thai League is one of the first leagues to have fans attending live matches. As the games are being played in front of a reduced capacity there are still many watching from home. To ensure fans don’t miss out on any of the action, the league has set up a show on Facebook Live that discusses all the action from across the league.

To learn more about Grabyo and how we are helping global broadcasters, rights holders and media companies overcome these challenges with our cloud-based video production and editing platform – get in touch today.

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eSports: a close look at industry growth and future trends

While the eSports industry is enjoying a recent surge in global popularity, the concept is actually nothing new. Competitive gaming has been popular since the 1970s, with the first competitions taking place on black and white computers. However, fast forward 30 years, and with the creation of more powerful games consoles and high-speed internet, the evolution of online gaming supercharged the eSports industry with tournaments becoming global events in the early 2000s.

Now there are professional leagues and competitions with multi-million dollar prizes. The term eSports covers a wide variety of games across multiple gaming platforms. The industry is not just the virtualization of sports like football and golf. This broad appeal has removed the barrier for entry for many consumers, enabling eSports teams, federations, and games publishers to create global communities and networks.

The current state of the industry is expanding at pace, with big technology companies such as Facebook and Amazon entering the market to bring innovation and large scale investment.

Increased consumption

Since March 2020, Grabyo’s At Home Video Trends Report found that digital video consumption has increased rapidly, with consumers spending more time on streaming-enabled devices whilst staying at home. Meanwhile, while live events were paused, fans were getting their competitive fix through eSports. Sports federations, games publishers, and broadcasters began hosting global tournaments involving both professionals and celebrities to replace live sports and events. These were streamed directly to a host of social platforms including YouTube and Twitch. Some of these were also simultaneously broadcast to cable television networks, increasing the prominence of esports on mainstream video channels.

While raising the profile of the industry, these special-event eSports tournaments provided fans with an opportunity to connect with their favorite celebrities, professional sports stars, and eSports heroes. In a format never seen before, matches were live-streamed from home, allowing more intimate, exclusive access for fans.

EA and the English Premier League created a virtual substitute for football fans by involving professional footballers with the FIFA20 Stay and Play Cup. Live streams of matches included hosts and commentators to create a similar set up to something a fan would expect if they were watching a typical Premier League fixture. The formats were simple and had a competitive element to them, culminating in over 1 million hours watched by fans on Twitch.

Technology and Trends

Providing much needed in-home entertainment across the globe was a key play for eSports, but ultimately an acceleration of an already fast-growing industry. Marketing Hub found that overall awareness of eSports between 2015 and 2019 doubled, and is on track to hit nearly 2 billion people by the end of 2020. Increased awareness brings increased consumption, investment, and sponsorship. Games such as Fornite, Call of Duty and DOTA 2 break records year on year and are hard to miss on social platforms during the week of their annual launch.

Sports-based games resonate with both sports and eSports fans on social platforms. Games such as FIFA20, NBA2K20, and PGATour2K21 are promoted, endorsed, and talked about by some of the world’s most-followed stars, creating global trends for fans to follow each year.

Console updates are also major dates in the calendar for gamers and tech enthusiasts. Xbox and Playstation owning their annual launch dates with large-scale and big-budget product updates, accompanied by innovative marketing campaigns that tie in with eSports competitions. Gaming fanatics will also keep an eye on equipment sponsorship in other product categories such as screens, chairs, and headsets to name a few. Combine this level of exposure with large prize money at stake, the industry is only going to keep growing.

Revenue growth YoY

The bulk of eSports revenue comes from sponsorships and advertising. As the industry continues to grow, awareness has prompted investment from some of the major spenders in advertising such as Coca-Cola and Audi. Gamers typically represent a valuable market for brands: Males aged between 16 and 35. With this audience both highly engaged and accounting for a large majority of the industry’s audience, the ROI for brands is considerable, relative for example to a social campaign.

Sponsorship and advertising can be via typical digital routes such as pre-roll on a live stream, branded highlights on social media or a partnership with the game, or the console itself. There are also subtle in-game promotions. For example, on a football game, you could brand the advertising boards that surround the pitch, statistics, or player of the match awards. The selling of these rights allows the games to reinvest in the product, creating a high-quality user experience. In turn, the viewer experience is better, attracting more people to watch and engage.

Professionalisation of esports

eSports has evolved from competitions being played on black and white computers with a few hundred people at Stanford University to professional leagues, teams, and players. Competing globally and attracting thousands of fans both live arenas and large online viewership on Twitch and Youtube. It has become a lucrative business with increased sponsorship and partnerships available across the ecosystem.

Football as an industry has been quick to react to the professionalization of eSports with clubs and national teams signing their own eSports teams to compete against each other. Playing alongside major international football tournaments to increase exposure as well as attracting new fans to the industry. One of the biggest signings has been Manchester United and French International Paul Pogba, who has joined Verdansk FC eSports team to play Call of Duty. Signing a high profile sportsman has continually leveraged the popularity of existing stars to bring eSports to a new audience.

The Future of eSports

With continual innovation and growth, the possibilities for eSports are endless. There is no doubt that local lockdowns across the world increased the awareness of esports but year on year growth was already happening. Adapting quickly and sustaining growth through turbulent times, whether or not people are at home has been crucial to recent months. Inevitably, at some point, there will be saturation but there are no signs of this occurring in the near future.

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