Tuesday 10 July 2018 11:04, UK
With the sporting summer landscape expanding - including Test matches, the Tour de France and British Grand Prix, the consumption of sporting content is increasing while at the same time the available time that fans have to consume that content is facing increasing competition.
This year there is also the World Cup with the final on the same day as the men's Wimbledon final and an athletics World Cup event in London over the finals weekend. And the battle for specific tennis content is just as intense. Wimbledon's competition for fan engagement is everywhere, with global media organisations, as well as other partners such as Evian and IBM keen to create their own content.
The technology landscape is also very dynamic with disruptive solutions like AR and VR providing new opportunities to consume content and enhance experiences. With only one opportunity to "go-live" a year knowing where to focus and what solutions to adopt is not simple. Within the context of the premium brand that Wimbledon is, should they be first adopters or best adopters?
With the golden age of tennis greats like Roger Federer and Serena Williams potentially coming towards the end of their careers, it means new stories and heroes need to be found. Die-hard tennis fans and those brought up with its unique history will always tune in to Wimbledon, but attracting and growing the broader fan-base requires a compelling proposition.
Today's audience is time poor and their attention needs to be earned. As more and more content becomes increasingly accessible via TV, mobile devices, digital and social media, both in real-time or on demand, it is ever more important to deliver unique and timely content to get their engagement.
"To connect with their fan-base Wimbledon are starting to think and act like a data-driven media business to help them continue to be one of the best sporting events in the world," said IBM's Drew Crisp, a digital leader for the technology partner that has helped Wimbledon since 1990.
This is where IBM comes in. They capture the building blocks for all sports stories - data. From the 4.8m data points they capture each year nuggets of information appear to support the stories the commentators and journalists want to tell. This year IBM are providing a data science team who are using agile techniques to source stories for the Wimbledon editorial team before they happen. Significant milestones and records about to be broken are shared with editors so that Wimbledon are ready to break the news first.
Increasingly they are also using their ground-breaking Artificial Intelligence platform Watson to help turn real-time data for other sources, like expectant fans, into content. No stone is left unturned by Watson - even the crowd noise of fans and the body language of players is analysed to distinguish the most exciting moments on court.
But why are Wimbledon thinking and acting more like a media business?
Wimbledon want and need to challenge fans' perceptions of tennis. They need to be able to tell the stories of the phenomenal athleticism of the players, the gladiatorial nature of the matches and find the sporting narratives that will cut through to their audience. And they want to do this more directly with their fans, not just via traditional broadcasters. It is also essential to place content with fans where they want to consume it and acknowledge the ever-increasing focus on video and new content formats in social media.
To compete effectively and stay at the forefront of fans' attention, Wimbledon are addressing this challenge by starting to think and act more like a data-driven media organisation rather than simply a sporting event. They are setting up Wimbledon Broadcast Services to deliver all TV output and look at content being delivered in a tailored but integrated way across all outputs and formats.
For further information go to www.ibm.com/wimbledon
