Sports fans are open to the idea of leveraging the capabilities of large data sets and artificial intelligence to unlock new ways to watch their favorite athletic competitions and teams, but they still expect sports broadcasts of today to closely resemble the production they’ve grown used to over the past few decades, according to the findings of a new consumer survey.
The report, from Hub Entertainment Research, notes sports broadcasters are looking at unique ways to blend in-game data and AI capabilities to enhance the sports viewing experience, but should be cautious about the approach so it complements whatever sport is being played, rather than distract from it.
Remember FoxTrax, the experiment that Fox launched in the mid-1990s when it had the rights to certain National Hockey League (NHL) games? The idea behind FoxTrax was that a glowing hockey puck would make it easier to “track” the action on ice, at a time when most hockey fans were watching games on standard definition TV sets. Then, most hockey fans were conditioned to follow the players on the screen to determine where the puck was, since the low resolution of the games at the time meant it was difficult to see the puck on the ice; FoxTrax sought to make things better by using computer graphics to overlay a “glow” and a trail on the puck as it was moving across the ice. While it did make it easier to spot the puck, it also distracted from the overall experience of watching a hockey game on TV; it was widely panned, and Fox abandoned the experiment after a while.
That wasn’t the only tech-related blunder in sports broadcasting: There was the 3-D sports channel launched by ESPN in the 2000s that failed to gain traction, and an experiment during a Wimbledon tournament that saw IBM’s machine learning tool Watson deliver color commentary during matches — which also missed the mark.
Today, most novel uses of AI tools involve data — using statistical analysis and historical context to provide enhanced coverage of a live athletic event, and to show the development of a particular play or outcome moments after it occurred.
That is how Amazon utilizes its quantitive data and AI capabilities, which powers its Prime Vision feature during Thursday Night Football and similar events on Prime Video. More than half of football fans told Hub they recall being exposed to Prime Vision features during a Thursday Night Football game, and 70 percent said they were “positive” about those features. More than one-quarter of football fans said they “loved” Prime Vision and found it made the game “more immersive.”
One major reason why Prime Vision stands as a success in the utilization of AI and data through Amazon’s NextGen Stats to enhance a sports broadcast is because it actually adds value to a game, rather than coming across as a gimmicky way to attract and retain viewers, opined Hub Entertainment Research founder Jon Giegengack.
“Many ‘enhancements’ in the past haven’t added value, or worse, have gotten in the way of the experience,” Giegengack said. “But Prime Vision appears to elegantly thread the needle, improving the experience for fans who choose to use it and instilling confidence in fans about Prime as a ‘home’ for sports content in the future.”
Another potential reason that wasn’t cited in the report: Football fans who don’t like Prime Vision can, for the most part, tune it out. Over the past three years, Amazon has offered at least two distinct feeds for its Thursday Night Football coverage: One that offers something akin to a typical TV broadcast, and an alternative feed loaded with Prime Vision stats.
The alternate feed uses a squeeze-back style window to deliver real-time player, team and game information using an “L-style” graphics bar, while also overlaying spots on the field to show the precise position and movement of all players involved at a given time. That can be particularly helpful for those with fantasy football teams or sports betters who have taken a position on the outcome of a particular play or game. By comparison, the main feed of Thursday Night Football largely resembles a traditional TV broadcast, with references to Prime Vision occasionally mentioned during the game.
Amazon’s approach to utilizing data and AI capabilities through Prime Vision has sports fans excited to see what streamers can offer up next, with 82 percent of sports enthusiasts who engage with Prime Vision telling Hub they’re excited for more sports content to become available on streaming services. By comparison, only 56 percent of sports fans overall — those who watch sports on streaming, and those who don’t — expressed the same optimism about sports on streaming.
