Here are Grabyo’s favorite content production ideas from around the sports and broadcast industry over the past weeks.
Reports are showing that people are consuming more video content with increased time at home. With the lack of live events, there have been some innovative content pieces from across the APAC region. A result of the pandemic news consumption has increased. Network 18 launched 16 new Alexa Amazon Alexa skills, allowing customers to stay more connected than ever before. As sports and events are returning to action, digital and social teams have the opportunity to produce live content. Football, basketball, and baseball have all returned. To make the players feel as though they have supporters, robots have been placed in the stadium at NPB team Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The robots performed a dance, usually done by supporters before the game.
News on Alexa
As news is becoming a more prominent part of daily life, one of India’s leading news channels, Network 18 launched 16 new Amazon Alexa skills. Customers can now ask Alexa to read them the news with live updates as they happen in 12 languages. The skills will be available in both video and audio formats, making news more accessible for everyone using a simple voice command to access the content.
eSPL
The Singapore Premier League is launching its own esports tournament, the eSPL. Partnering with Redd+E Sports, Zenway Productions and The Gym, the league will begin in a pilot phase before a full rollout. The league will be played on Pro Evolution Soccer 2020, adding some competition for EA’s established FIFA game.
Singapore Premier League launches esports equivalent, eSPL – Esports Insider https://t.co/YF3ENGX2c4 pic.twitter.com/RvbuWPU8GN
— Esports Global News (@EsportzGlobal) July 26, 2020
Stadium Robots
Due to the absence of fans at sports matches, NPB team Fukukoka SoftBank Hawks had an innovative idea. To keep the pre-match routine as similar as possible from a world without fans, 20 dog and human robots were used to perform the pre-match dance. This dance is usually performed by Hawks’ fans before the game.
#AOTennisSeries
Tennis Australia launched its #AOTennisSeries to give fans their match play fix. Australian players joined in from their homes to battle it out against each other on AO Tennis 2, a leading Tennis video game, which uses match data from decades of tournaments to ensure it’s as life-like as possible.
Chinese Super League
As the Chinese Super League resumed play fans were able to get involved without attending the matches. Images and sounds of fans were beamed into stadiums to screens positioned around the pitch to emulate fan presence, while fans joined from the safety of their homes. To further support the initiative, banners and flags were draped over the empty seats to enhance the viewer experience of those watching online.
When players of Wuhan Zall entered the pitch before the kickoff of their CSL opening game vs Qingdao Huanghai in Suzhou, captains of other 7 teams playing in the city formed a guard of honor. In official narrative Wuhan is a heroic city and Wuhan citizens are heroic people. pic.twitter.com/eiHCBppxTl
— Titan Sports Plus (@titan_plus) July 25, 2020
Basketball is back
The Chinese Basketball Association was one of the first to resume their respective leagues since the shutdown of sports. The sport is drawing large online audiences, with over 1 million online viewers as well as the “CBA rematch” being one of the most frequently searched terms on Chinese online platforms.
Chinese Basketball League (CBA) restart after a 5-month suspension: in the 1st game between Zhejiang Lions and Nanjing Monkey Kings held in Qingdao, all players and staff members made a W-shaped gesture to pay respects to medical workers in combat against Covid-19 before tipoff. pic.twitter.com/Cjj2cbeyOC
— Titan Sports Plus (@titan_plus) June 20, 2020