Community, Author at iSportConnect

iSportconnect CEO Sree Varma Invests In LDN UTD

LONDON, July 20th 2020 – Chief Executive Officer of iSportconnect, Sree Varma, has become a minority investor in grassroots esports organisation, LDN UTD.

LDN UTD innovates by using gaming to draw attention to critical social issues and, in doing so, engages the grassroots gaming community of all backgrounds

Having already amassed 384,000 viewers online across physical and online events, and now with a League of Legends team competing in the UKEL, the company continues to accelerate towards exponential growth velocity.

Oliver Weingarten, CEO of LDN UTD, said “I am delighted to have Sree on board to support LDN UTD and our values. From the outset of our discussions, it was clear that Sree and I were aligned on how esports can be used as a positive mechanism to address societal issues at the same time as building out and engaging the grassroots gaming community.

“I’ve known Sree and been involved in iSportconnect events for a number of years, and have huge respect for his entrepreneurial skillset. I look forward to working collaboratively with Sree to build out LDN UTD’s investor and partnership roster; and also to see how he fares in a game of FIFA!”

Sree Varma, iSportconnect CEO, added: “By using esports to better the community LDN UTD are crafting a fantastic message that really resonates with the general public.

“I am delighted to become a part of the organisation as I believe there is a definite need for a company such as this, and I see huge potential for growth over the coming years, particularly as esports becomes a more central cog in the sporting world. The management team of Olly and newly appointed Chief Gaming Officer, Jacob Harrison, are poised to deliver on LDN UTD’s values, and I look forward to contributing.”

Adidas Becomes Official Kit Partner Of Leeds United

Leeds United have announced that adidas will become the team’s official kit partner from the 2020/21 season.

In a record-breaking deal for the club, adidas will produce both playing and training kit for all Leeds United teams over the next five years.

Adidas becomes Leeds’ official kit partner for the first time in our history, in what will mark a new era in the Premier League, following our Sky Bet Championship winning centenary season.

A global leader in football, adidas is the official supplier to tournaments across the world including the FIFA World Cup™, the UEFA EURO 2020™ and the UEFA Champions League and Leeds United joins some of the world’s top clubs, including the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus in partnering with the sports brand.

Along with our official playing and training kit, apparel from adidas will also be available both via our online retail website and at our Elland Road superstore, Leeds/Bradford Airport, Merrion Centre, Trinity Leeds and White Rose Centre stores, along with the adidas website and selected stores.

Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear said: “We are excited adidas has become our official kit partner.”

“We’re looking forward to our return to the Premier League with anticipation next season and partnering with adidas, who are one of the most recognisable names in sport, represents a new beginning for the club.

“At Leeds United we continue to grow on and off the pitch and this record-breaking deal is another important step for the club.”

P&G Announces Extended Olympic Games Partnership

P&G has today announced the extension of our Olympic Games partnership with the International Olympic Committee through Los Angeles 2028, including new global rights with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Paralympic Games. Over the last 10 years, we’ve used the global reach and relevancy of the Olympic platform to build our business, create customized programs with our retail partners and strengthen our brand and corporate equities. We introduced millions of people to P&G through our iconic “Thank You, Mom” Olympic Games advertising and we’ve used our voice as a sponsor to celebrate the journey athletes take on the road to their Olympic dreams and the many people who have supported them along the way.

As we look to the future, we want to build on this strong foundation and leverage our sponsorship to be a Force for Good and a Force for Growth. Recognizing the opportunity and the responsibility to use our sponsorship of the Olympic Games for broader impact, we are committing to a first-of-its-kind, Citizenship-driven partnership with the IOC. Together P&G and the IOC will commit to take action and to make meaningful progress in the areas of equality and inclusion, environmental sustainability, and community impact, using each of the next four Olympic Games to measure progress.

In the spirit of this new partnership, today we are launching The Measure of Greatness, which shines a light on Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls who have demonstrated what it means to inspire, not only with their greatness but with their goodness. While Tokyo 2020 has been postponed for a year, athletes are still committed to both following their dreams and helping make the world a better place. We were inspired by the many athletes who have put their own dreams on hold and their disappointment aside and instead stepped up to a different stage in 2020. In The Measure of Greatness, we tell the stories of some of these exceptional athletes who are leading their communities – not through their athletic performances, but through their compassion, humanity and love.

To mark the one-year-to-go milestone of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, we are also launching the Athletes for Good Fund, a joint initiative between P&G, IOC and IPC that will issue grants to the charitable organizations that Olympic and Paralympic Games hopefuls are supporting to advance important work against shared citizenship values. The Athletes for Good Fund will award a total of 52 grants over the next year—representing one grant for every week leading up the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Athletes who are working with organizations that are building and serving their communities in the areas of community impact (COVID-19 relief), equality and inclusion, and environmental sustainability are eligible to apply.

We are excited to kick off the next chapter of our Olympic Games sponsorship and look forward to driving meaningful change against shared values through our partnership with the IOC. Together we will step up as a force for good and utilize the Olympic platform to continue to be a force for growth for P&G and its brands, now and in the future.

European Tour And CANAL+ Announce Long-Term Partnership Extension

The European Tour and CANAL+ have agreed a long-term partnership extension, ensuring that CANAL+ remains the exclusive home of European Tour golf in France.

The new agreement extends a relationship that stretches back over 20 years and will see tournaments such as the Rolex Series – the premium category of events on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai – and World Golf Championships broadcast on CANAL+ channels and associated digital platforms.

The majority of live broadcasts will be shown on golf specific channel Golf+, with select coverage available on wider CANAL+ sports channels.

The agreement also includes coverage of golf’s greatest team contest, The Ryder Cup. This will include select free to air coverage following the success of The 2018 Ryder Cup, when Le Golf National in Paris hosted Europe’s stunning 17.5-10.5 victory over the United States.

Rufus Hack, European Tour Co-Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of European Tour Productions, said: “The European tour has enjoyed an outstanding relationship with CANAL+ for more than 20 years and we are delighted to further extend our partnership.

“CANAL+ are a partner who share our passion and vision to create world class golf content and bring that into the homes of our fans not only in France but across the world.

“We were proud to share the huge success of The 2018 Ryder Cup in their home country with CANAL+ and we look forward to moving forward with them as one of our key broadcast partners. It is a measure of the strength of the European Tour product when such important partners want to extend their agreements with us on a long-term basis.”

Thierry Cheleman, CANAL+ Sports Director, said: “CANAL+ is glad to pursue it’s long-running and successful partnership with European Tour. This partnership, which includes The Ryder Cup and World Golf Championships, once again shows the quality of the CANAL+ golf offering.

“We know how faithful golf fans can be and we are dedicated to giving them the best editorial content, thanks to our talented golf journalists and our famous experts such as Thomas Levet and Jean Van de Velde.”

Twitch Launches Sports Category, Collaborates With Four Major European Football Teams

Twitch is where millions of people from around the world come together live every day to chat, interact, and make their own entertainment together and today the company has launched a specific sports category.

Twitch stated: Recently, the company has seen tremendous growth in one of the areas with the most passionate fan bases of them all – sports. So today, we’re excited to introduce “Sports” as its own, standalone category and relaunch the /twitchsports channel to better align with the programming you will now see featured.

To kick things off, we are collaborating with four of the world’s biggest and most innovative football/soccer [per market] clubs. Real Madrid and Arsenal have recently started broadcasting on their newly-established Twitch channels, and they will soon be followed by Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. Each of the clubs will be producing exclusive, interactive content and experiences to bring their global fanbases closer to these iconic organizations and their athletes.

These top clubs will join a growing roster of leagues on Twitch including the NBA, NHL, NWSL, RFL, and UFC – which will be your favorite channel to watch? We also have top athletes streaming, whether it’s Los Angeles Charger Austin Ekeler, F1 talent Lando Norris, or WWE Superstars Rusev, Paige, and Cesaro, there’s truly something for every sports fan.

To celebrate, today we will be showcasing a long block of live and interactive sports related content with the entire Twitch community. Hosted by Major League Soccer star Jimmy Conrad, the NBA, Arsenal, House of Highlights, and the UFC will each use their two-hour time slot to take audiences behind the curtains to make their fans part of the content with live AMAs, polls, trivia and conversation between the hosts and Twitch Chat. So stop on by and tell us what you think! eSports

World Table Tennis Announces Four New Partnerships

World Table Tennis has today revealed four new partnerships, aimed at helping to elevate table tennis to the global sports elite.

After the recent unveiling of WTT’s Strategic Partnership with IMG, WTT is proud to announce its collaborations with the following partners:

160over90
Pumpjack Dataworks
Gemba
Superunion

“We are delighted to have on board with us a number of first-in-class partners, 160over90, Pumpjack Dataworks, Gemba and Superunion, who, together with IMG, are enabling us to drive table tennis to unprecedented and incredibly exciting heights. All of these partnerships will help us to revolutionise the player and fan experience around our sport, which is at the forefront of everything that World Table Tennis is striving to achieve. Now we have lift-off, we cannot wait to see how our joint journey evolves. The future of table tennis is brighter than ever.” – Matt Pound, Director at WTT

160over90

160over90, part of the Endeavor network alongside IMG, is helping WTT to formulate a global promotion strategy. This strategy will be built by completing detailed analysis of the existing table tennis fanbase around the world, as well as identifying new high-value markets, understanding how to attract new audiences to the revamped WTT events and digital offering.

The detailed market analysis will then inform specific promotional campaigns and the WTT brand experience, helping to develop a unique positioning that is reflective of WTT’s ambition to transform the sport.

“The 160over90 team is already enjoying working on what is a very forward-thinking repositioning of table tennis through WTT. The ability to identify future markets and build out the relevant campaign narratives for target audiences will give WTT a head start to engage in markets and expand their proposition. We are excited to be doing this alongside the role our colleagues from IMG are playing, bringing to bear the strength of the Endeavor network for WTT.” – Robin Clarke, SVP, International at 160over90

Pumpjack Dataworks

PumpJack Dataworks is helping WTT in its mission of enhancing table tennis fan engagement and the value delivered to passionate table tennis fans everywhere. This includes delivering personalised digital content to fans around the world and developing a global fan database to better serve fans based on their location, interests, favourite players and many other elements of their table tennis journey. WTT will provide opportunities for fans to follow every match, team and player, whether they attend live tournaments, tune in from around the globe, or engage with a robust video content offering including the best matches and moments with the global stars of table tennis.

Pumpjack Dataworks will provide two key components in this strategy: a customer data platform and a mobile application platform to provide new capabilities to generate intelligent content delivery, including transactional components: ticketing, merchandise and OTT subscriptions, as well as new capabilities to generate dynamic knowledge of the fanbase to support new opportunities for commercial partners to add value to the fans’ experiences and special offers or ‘money can’t buy’ experiences.

“We are extremely excited to be working with WTT on a project of this scale. The global reach and diversity of the table tennis audience internationally provides incredible opportunities to create bespoke and personalised experiences for fans of this fast-action sport, whether they are at the tournament or viewing at home. This is a classic case for data to support the true value of a sport that has incredible global reach and appeal with passionate fans around the world.” – Nick Goggans, Co-Founder and CEO at PumpJack Dataworks

Gemba

Gemba, a high-end consultancy providing insight and strategy to the global sport and entertainment industry, is supporting WTT with its sponsorship and media rights valuations.

With the remodelling of WTT’s event structure and also partnership structure, WTT needs to have a complete understanding of table tennis’ scale and identity in relation to other key sports in the global market.

Gemba was therefore tasked to independently assess:

market value of WTT’s commercial partnership rights under the new restructure;
potential market value of WTT’s broadcast rights;
insights into WTT’s broadcast rights strategy to maximise strategic and financial outcomes through broadcast.

The commercial partnership valuation was completed using Gemba’s purpose-built valuation platform, Turnstile. Since its launch in 2018, Turnstile has valued sponsorships for the world’s biggest leagues, clubs and events.

“The vision for World Table Tennis is both exciting and highly innovative. The need for robust market sizing and valuations to support its launch phase allowed us to deploy our global capabilities across both our Gemba and Turnstile teams. We are eagerly looking forward to watching the roll out of the concept in 2021.” – Rob Mills, Global CEO, Gemba Group

Superunion

Superunion is providing branding expertise to ensure that WTT benefits from a standout visual identity, which resonates with WTT’s core values and its audience.

The partnership with Superunion has already seen the launch of WTT’s eye-catching new logo, which emphasises how the WTT brand is bringing a new level of professionalism and authority to the sport, inviting the world to look at table tennis from a fresh, modern perspective.

Member Insights: How A Unique Idea Provided High Fan Engagement Success For Belgian Football Team KAA Gent

In our latest Member Insights, we look at a surprising tactic from Belgian football club KAA Gent raised €85,000 for charity and created high fan engagement with StriveCloud, Jente Vanhaesebroeck provides more detail. This article was first published on StriveCloud.

Let’s face it. As a sports club, you are competing over the attention of your target audience. With more and more competing content every minute, it has become harder to capture fan engagement and even more so to keep it. Since 66% of devoted fans go online at least once per day for sports-related reasons, clubs certainly have enough of an incentive to keep up with fresh, exciting experiences and content to hold fan engagement.

Meaningful relationships don’t begin and end with the sports season. On the contrary: fans need to be engaged year-round. During the football league suspension in Belgium for instance, KAA Gent’s chairman came up with the idea to organize a virtual football tournament for charity.

After a few brainstorming sessions with esports online community platform, Kayzr, and the gaming tournament platform StriveCloud, the “Samen Sterk” or “Stronger Together” fundraising was born! The campaign managed to raise €85,000 in support of Digital For Youth, a charity that provides underprivileged children with laptops for educational purposes.

But how did they do that?

We dive into what made the Samen Sterk fundraising campaign so successful, and how it mounted fan engagement for KAA Gent.

You will find out:

How a virtual match generates digital fan engagement
Why a reward system is important to initiate participation
What value a flawless payment experience holds
The power of tokens and digital currencies
How a lottery uses unpredictability as the backbone of fan engagement

Wildmoka Launch World-First Broadcasting Innovation With Altice France

Rolling news channel, BFMTV, reinforced its position today as France’s leading broadcaster on digital by launching ‘Live Vertical’, a new smartphone user experience that is a world first. Developed in collaboration with French start-up, Wildmoka, the ‘Live Vertical’ solution automatically converts the horizontal frames of standard TV streams to a vertical format better suited to smartphone screens.

‘Live Vertical’ is the first innovation of its kind in the world for vertical live streaming
The technology strengthens BFMTV’s leading position in digital
It is aligned with Altice France’s strategic prioritization of innovation

‘Live Vertical’, a world first

The launch of ‘Live Vertical’ is a world first. Developed in collaboration with French start-up Wildmoka, it revolutionizes the TV viewing experience on a smartphone. Thanks to a new way of managing live production workflows and the addition of a dedicated stream, the traditional horizontal format of television is automatically ‘rezoned’ into a mobile-friendly vertical format. Now, whenever BFMTV is viewed from a smartphone, the entire mobile screen will be occupied with content, regardless of device, brand or model. This is a major improvement on the standard approach which broadcasts a horizontal image into the vertical screen making it too small and difficult to watch.

Turning horizontal TV images to a vertical format represents a significant technical advance. It also responds to the central role smartphones now occupy in the consumption of news media. By being the first news channel in the world to offer vertical viewing on smartphones, Altice France and Wildmoka have defined a new standard for the industry. This innovation also overcomes the mismatch between the fact that most smartphone users naturally hold their devices in a vertical position, whereas TV content continues to be broadcast for a horizontal screen.

Wildmoka, based in France, specializes in real-time enrichment of digital media content and has exclusively developed ‘Live Vertical’ in collaboration with Altice France.

Technology strengthening BFMTV’s leading position on digital

Already firmly established as France’s leading news organization, BFMTV also is a trailblazer when it comes to mobile among news sites, particularly the ‘anytime, anywhere’ approach these devices have introduced. With ‘Live Vertical’, Altice France is making BFMTV the first channel to use all of the screen space offered by smartphones. This further widens the lead BFMTV has over the rest of the field in digital – not to mention BFMTV’s innovative use of easy-to-read graphics, lower thirds, on the ground reporters interaction and other crucial components of rolling news.

This enhancement of BFMTV’s experience on the smartphone screen increases the strength of the channel and its leadership on mobile. Already a frontrunner of the radio format on TV, this innovation will allow BFMTV to combine the professionalism of its editorial teams and the technical excellence of its image production crew at its Altice Campus studios with the responsiveness needed for news consumption on mobile.

Always ‘first on the scene’, this development helps BFMTV to further increase its lead by being the channel that offers the best viewing experience on smartphone.

Innovation – a strategic priority for Altice France

The partnership between Altice France and Wildmoka represents a shared ambition to innovate and improve not only the experience of viewing on mobile, but also the ‘real estate’ value of the space on mobile screens. As the only French group offering this global innovation, Altice France soon will offer ‘Live Vertical’ using Wildmoka’s technology on other group outlets such as BFM Business.

Thanks to the strength of this world first, and its impact in terms of audience engagement, Altice demonstrates it is making innovation a strategic priority.

Whether through the products and services designed by Altice Labs, or partnerships with start-ups like Wildmoka, Altice demonstrates its commitment to investing in network distribution and media innovation.

Arthur Dreyfuss, CEO of Altice Média, said: “It is a source of real pride to be the first TV channel in the world to offer an innovation that makes television the best way to get real-time news on a smartphone. Altice France is adding a new dimension to the medium of television, with a unique user experience that will further enhance the leading position of BFMTV and the group’s channels. This innovation is the result of our historical and eternal desire to explore new formats, to continue our investments, and to combine technical progress with editorial quality to present ever more accurate information”.

Thomas Menguy, President and CTO of Wildmoka added: “Wildmoka is proud to have gained the confidence of several Altice Group channels over the past three years and to once again be able to launch, within Altice France, a global innovation based on artificial intelligence and the latest cloud technologies. After assisting in the creation of sports content for RMC Sport, it is BFMTV’s turn to use Wildmoka’s unique expertise around AI and ML to verticalize its content for News in real time, in order to better respond to an increasingly connected and mobile audience.”

FINA Announces $6.4 Million COVID-19 Support Plan

FINA is pleased to announce a global COVID-19 support plan in excess of $6 million USD to assist athletes who will compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games next summer, through three distinctive programmes:

•    $4 million USD in grants for a minimum of 160 National Federations to provide support to athlete training, competition, and living expenses.

•    $460,000 USD in grants to the five Continental Organisations to enable supplemental resources to athletes.

•    $2 million USD to athletes selected to participate in the FINA Scholarship Programme, either at FINA Training Centres or at National Federation training facilities.

FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione, with the full support of the FINA Bureau, outlined a comprehensive programme to support elite athletes with medal prospects, as well as Universality athletes from developing countries.

“The primary objective of this programme is to provide direct assistance to athletes preparing to compete in Tokyo. FINA recognises the importance of support to all athletes, including elite athletes with medal prospects, as well as less experienced athletes from developing countries trying to attain Olympic qualifying standards,” said Dr. Maglione.

FINA has created and augmented these programmes to express its unwavering commitment to aquatic athletes who continue to endure hardships related to their training and competitive opportunities due to the pandemic. Previously, FINA made an extraordinary commitment to redistribute over a four-year period a substantial portion of its Olympic-related revenue. However, because so many previous plans by the National Federations and Continental Organisations cannot take place due to travel restrictions, FINA has enabled a high level of flexibility in utilisation of its financial support, with strong emphasis on direct assistance to athletes.

Additionally, the FINA Scholarship Programme will include 100 athletes from National Federations that do not currently have athletes with Olympic Qualifying Standards – 80 swimmers and 20 divers – and enable intensive training at FINA Training Centres in Senegal, Thailand, Russia, and the United States. Each athlete is eligible for up to $2000 USD monthly for living and training expenses, with world class coaches in outstanding facilities.

“FINA places great confidence and trust in the National Federations and Continental Organisations to develop creative and effective solutions for athletes who will compete in Tokyo. We have developed a simple and direct process for athletes to receive funding, and we know that this unprecedented level of financial support will enable aquatic athletes to reach their full potential,” concluded President Maglione.

Table Tennis England Partners With British Esports Association

Table Tennis England has teamed up with the British Esports Association to promote the importance of mental wellbeing and exercise.

The partnership brings together traditional sport with esports (competitive gaming) to explore the similarities between the two and promote the benefits of each other’s activities.

Table tennis and esports both offer a great brain workout, can improve cognitive functions, test reaction times and allow people to have fun and relax and socialise with one another.

Both activities have been proven to improve behaviour, concentration and attendance levels in schools, while also having benefits for those at the other end of the age spectrum, including those who have dementia or Parkinson’s.

Both organisations are committed to bringing more participation opportunities to deprived areas of England. They will help promote each other’s activities, help get young people active and push table tennis as a suitable social activity which helps develop key skills also used in gaming.

The campaign will utilise top stars in the fields of table tennis and esports to talk about their mental health experiences and struggles to help reduce the stigma surrounding it, as well as Olympic table tennis players’ thoughts on gaming as a stress-relieving activity.

There will be activations on social media, video platforms and more, with the intention to host physical events in the future when it is safe to do so.

Until then, both organisations will promote the partnership and generate buzz on social media, with a mix of both entertaining and informative content.

Table Tennis England Chief Executive Sara Sutcliffe said: “The importance of good mental and physical health has arguably never been in sharper focus than now, and the positive effects of both table tennis and esports are there for all to see.

“I’m particularly excited by the potential of this partnership to engage people of all ages and encourage them to seek out the benefits of an active lifestyle, both physically and mentally.”

British Esports Association founder and CEO Chester King commented: “We’re delighted to be partnering with a reputable governing body to highlight the positives that both sports and esports promote. We have lots of ideas and hope to get the conversation going around the importance of both physical and mental health.

“Table tennis is also a sport that’s close to my heart and I look forward to seeing us get involved with some exciting activations.”