If you had told the pioneers of football in Europe that by 2024, China would have the second highest viewership numbers, they would have thought you were insane. Yet this is the reality we find ourselves in today, where any sporting event can be viewed from any device around the globe.

As sporting events have evolved into a global phenomenon with increasingly blurred boundaries, many new regions are showcasing their unique connections and fervent passion for them. Africa's passion for football is unmatched, and the continent has a deep connection with the sport. Asia is a powerhouse in sports viewership growth, especially in countries like China and India. Sports like Football, Basketball and eSports from the English speaking part of the world have particularly exploded in China. Additionally, The German League, Bundesliga and the NBA have particularly strong followings in the region, with leagues investing heavily in localization strategies to cater to Chinese fans. 

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Along with newer geographies, sports entities also have to cater to newer demographics. Gen Z and Millenials, who are digital-first, are crucial to shaping the future of sports consumption, especially through digital platforms like social media, OTT services, and streaming apps. These audiences prefer short-form content, highlights, and real-time interaction on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.

However, the buck doesn’t stop at this. Sports consumption on digital platforms comes with its own challenges where it competes for attention with other categories of engaging content, driven by algorithms designed to cater to individual preferences. When was the last time you noticed yourself endlessly scrolling on Instagram Reels? Or got an ad on facebook which eerily shows you the exact product you’re looking for to send you down the rabbit hole? Or had a perfectly curated playlist automatically generated on Netflix and Spotify? 

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Sports had it easier in a linear TV-first world, but with the shift to digital, they’re competing with a broader set of content categories. Streaming platforms, social media, and content apps are at an advantage due to access to granular data, driven by sophisticated data models to track user behavior, such as viewing history, likes, and interactions, to serve personalized recommendations and keep users hooked. Combined with the era of multiple screens, if the sports content isn’t engaging enough, the eyeballs look away. 

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It is a war for the attention of every individual person across the globe and sports needs to    rally its forces by launching personalized content strategies that outsmart the competition and capture fan engagement in the digital battlefield.

Status quo: Current landscape of personalization in sports

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There is an existing understanding in the industry that the way to level up the way fans consume sports is by making it personalized, interactive and bespoke to what they want. The big players have already started making headway in this space. There’s another important distinction in the discussion about personalized and localized content and ads: How is broadcast different from OTT media? And how are they different from DTC apps in terms of the extent of personalization possible?

To answer these questions let’s look at some innovative tech being put to use in the industry- 

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1. Bundesliga x Supponor AIR - Go local for global growth

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Bundesliga approved a purely software-based system for live versioning of virtual ads for the first time through “Supponor AIR” from the British provider Supponor (now acquired by TGI Sports). It can be implemented entirely from the central production location where the DFL generates the international transmission signals for broadcast of all Bundesliga games.

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This system enables more flexibility in ad placements for different geographies without needing additional hardware, significantly reducing costs. 

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2. NFL x Genius Sports - Personalized content is a data game

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The National Football League (NFL) worked with data specialist Genius Sports to create data-driven on-screen graphic overlays and visualizations that bring the live action to life in real time for its NFL+ direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service. 

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They are enabled by Genius Sports’ AI technology, which in turn is powered by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats player tracking data platform, built by Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) machine learning algorithms and cloud infrastructure.

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There are many more instances in the industry where fan data intelligence companies like Stellar Algo, EngageRM, Kore Software are helping leagues understand their audience and tailor content.

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This prompts us to consider what lies ahead in the realm of personalization within the sports industry, and how will emerging innovations transform the way fans engage with their favorite teams and athletes?

Innovations on the horizon: The future of personalization in sports

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As we look ahead, several groundbreaking innovations are set to redefine how personalization shapes the sports experience-

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AI-Driven Personalization

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Artificial intelligence can help capture the nuances that make sports fandom so unique across different cultures and tailor content further to hyper-personalize. 

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Let’s look at the different and exciting ways AI is making a difference -

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1. ESPN+ SportsCentre

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Developing and launching the full DTC version of ESPN is the broadcaster’s main focus at present. The new service will combine ESPN’s flagship channel and ESPN+, integrating a suite of digital, ecommerce, betting and personalisation options. If a user is within the ESPN environment, they can geotarget, recognise where the user is and serve local, in-market games. Specifically, AI could identify clips and bundle them together, using generative AI to narrate them.

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Ahead of the launch in 2025, ESPN has added a new ‘where to watch’ feature that provides listings and links to broadcasts from other broadcasters.This desire to be at the centre of sports fans’ digital lives and adapt to changing consumption habits could eventually lead to tailored versions of SportsCenter based on individual sport, team and player preferences. 

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AI-Driven Language Adaptation: Beyond Translation

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Language is a powerful tool and AI is showing us that to personalize sports is to not merely translate but to adapt to reflect local dialects, slang and expressions that resonate with the audience along with relevant pregame and postgame content. 

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There is increasing demand from big sports leagues to translate their broadcast to Portuguese, German, Arabic, Spanish, French and of course Mandarin among other languages. Few companies who are offering such cutting edge technology are Gladia.io, , elevenlabs.io, camb.ai, Lingopal.

We at Spectatr here are working towards incorporating AI backed personalization options in our end to end media management offerings both by incorporating virtual ad replacement and language translations for the highlights and content generated. 

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Stay tuned for more updates and if you found the newsletter interesting go ahead and follow the space to never miss another edition of SocialScoreBoard! 

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