Sports fans love to watch games live, but most of us don’t have the ability to fill a stadium seat on a regular basis. However, the television viewing experience need not be disappointing – it has its own benefits, thanks to several innovative companies re-inventing the world of competitive sports, especially spectatorship.
Currently when we as fans watch a sports broadcast, we only have a 2-D perspective, but new technologies offer at-home spectators (as well as teams and officials on the field) unprecedented game viewing experiences.
Read on for a summary of the state of sports tech, specifically video, and what the future holds.
Who’s pressing play? The Need
Sports content is considered one of the most lucrative content types for broadcasting. Consider that:
- Global viewership of sports is constantly reaching and breaking records.
- Over 70% of the adult population in the US (or 169 million people) follow professional sports. These fans spend an average of 7 hours and 42 minutes every week watching sports.
- Unique, high-quality content increases revenue via pay-per-view channels.
Aside from viewership, consider the coaching aspect. Technology plays an important role in the way coaches lead and train their teams. From the micro perspective, coaches are analyzing and reviewing each individual player’s moves in order to improve technique. Alternatively, macro-speaking, tech helps coaches to review team tactics and plays, as well as study those of competing teams.
And then there’s officiating during the live game: technology, especially slow motion replay video technology has been able to increase the fairness of games by substantially reducing referee mistakes.
So what’s next? Fans will have a richer, more complete experience in spectating the game. The future of virtual reality in the context of the sports arena is actual immersion in the game. Rather than traditional viewing, fans will be able to actually participate in their favorite sports from a variety of viewpoints such as placing and moving an avatar anywhere on, above or around the field.
Who’s in the stands? The Market
From an investment perspective, the sports broadcasting market is certainly one to watch. According to a report by Deloitte, the global sports broadcasting market reached over $24 billion in revenue in 2014 equaling a 14% rise over the previous year.
Going further, there’s the virtual reality market angle. According to a study by Digi-Capital, the AR market will generate $120B and the VR market $30B in revenue by 2020. A more focused analysis into the Consumer VR space by KZero Worldswide estimates VR consumer software revenue at over $2.5B by 2018.
So where’s the next home run? A Solution
Video technology companies seeking to revolutionize the way we consume and advertise have been around for a while. Virtual reality has been making headlines for a number of years as well. OurCrowd has a fantastic view of the startup stadium, a great ringside seat for seeing what’s trending right now and finding the best investment opportunities there are to offer.
To find out more about these investment opportunities and others on our investment platform, contact our Investor Relations team or visit our website.
