How can Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport make the best use of new technologies, ever-increasing Internet connectivity, and social media growth, to offer more to audiences?
I'm Matthew Clark, Senior Technical Architect for Future Media Sport.
As I wrote in my , it's been a busy year, due to a plethora of new features made in time for this summer's Olympics. With the Games now over, it's time to consider what's next: what is the future of online Sport coverage? How can we make the best use of new technologies, ever-increasing Internet connectivity, and social media growth, to offer more to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's audiences? That's a big question, so it's excellent timing that we have the to help.
The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Connected Studio programme has its own with all the details, but here's a summary:
Over the course of the year the programme works with ten Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Online product teams of which Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport is the 6th. You can attend as an individual or a business/organisation, and there's some financial support available for the later stages. (See the for more.) To give you an idea of Connected Studio's ambition and what has happened so far you can have a look at , Programme lead on Connected Studio going through all the current pilots.
So, on to the brief for Sport. You can view it , but here's my take.
We're focusing on live sporting events - moments where major sport events are happening and large numbers of people are following it online. What can be done to make this a more rewarding experience? In particular, we're looking at two scenarios:
1. Moments when major sporting tournaments are happening. These include Wimbledon, Glasgow's Commonwealth Games, the Winter Olympics, and the World Cup (all of which the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ will have online video coverage for). These events often overlap - for example, there will almost certainly be days in 2014 when Wimbledon, the World Cup, Formula 1 and cricket are all on the same day.
2. The football season. Every Saturday, millions follow football games throughout the country (and the world). Most games aren't televised live, but there's plenty of coverage through radio, online, and studio TV coverage such as .
For both scenarios, the question is: what can be offered that makes following the sporting event better? Ideas can be pretty much anything, so long as they cover either or both of these scenarios. It has to be an online product, but that doesn't just mean web pages - interactive apps, perhaps for phones or internet-connected TVs, are encouraged too.
Not got an idea? Here are a few topics to whet the appetite:
• Choice: How does the audience want to choose and interact with multiple concurrent sporting events?
• Interaction: Can the audience be further engaged whilst watching live events?
• Second screen: How best should handheld devices work alongside TVs?
• Social engagement: How should use of social media drive a live sporting experience?
• Accessibility: How are more interactive experiences offered to those using screen readers or other accessibility tools?
• Companion data: What and how should information be added to video to make it more enjoyable and accessible?
• Varying audiences: Do people of certain age ranges, or sporting interests, prefer different experiences?
• Audience behaviour: How does real-time analysis of site interaction shape what should be on offer?
• UX: How can an interactive experience be built, for all size screens, without impacting the live video and detracting from the main event?
• Data mining: Can sport stats, user behaviour, and social data be analysed to provide new insights?
• Technical speed and scale: Can you deliver real-time updates to millions of users, whilst still staying reliable at key moments?
So, are you interested? If you've got innovative, creative, original ideas for online Sport coverage, . It doesn't matter whether your idea is big or small, or how thoroughly prepared it is. Get your skates on - the 'creative' day, where ideas are developed and pitched - is on the 21st November.
Matthew Clark is Senior Technical Architect, Sport, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Future Media.