De Tune, a global industry-leading media and entertainment company, has selected Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, as the backbone of its next-generation broadcast viewing experience for live events produced virtually anywhere on the globe.

De Tune has been able to simplify its global production operations by consolidating multiple vendors into one cohesive media ecosystem with the help of Tata Communications’ end-to-end live video services.

Michael Thuney, Chief Executive Officer, De Tune, says “We are excited about our partnership with Tata Communications, which brings us the very latest in media and entertainment services to drive efficiencies, productivity, quality and endless scale. We are seeing a huge shift towards remote production across all kinds of content, but especially live events, and this partnership sets us up perfectly to deliver on that. This collaboration doesn’t just help us meet today’s requirements – Tata Communications’ technology makes us ready for the future of media and entertainment.”

Dhaval Ponda, Global Head of Media & Entertainment Services, Tata Communications, says “The media & entertainment industry is undergoing significant transformation. Our relationship with De Tune represents the powerful play of Tata Communications as a digital ecosystem enabler globally. We have helped massively reduce De Tune’s global vendor ecosystem to enable it to focus on what it does best – producing and delivering incredible content around the globe. With our vast suite of digital media solutions, we are well positioned to support the media and entertainment sector as it increasingly moves to remote production and streaming.”

De Tune is a pioneer in the field of worldwide, large-scale, remotely streamed broadcasting projects, including the rapid rise of esports. Leveraging Tata Communications’ Media Cloud, De Tune will automate its production workflow, along with video format conversions and online content delivery, by accessing Tata Communications’ transcoding services and Video Content Delivery Network (CDN). This next-generation media ecosystem enables De Tune to effectively collaborate, allocate resources, and allow for aggressive scaling in their operations with global reach.

Through Tata Communications’ media network and cloud services, De Tune can now transmit media content from multiple simultaneous event locations across the globe to its studio in Los Angeles with extremely low latency and reliability. Employees are able to collaborate more effectively on productions, while driving greater efficiencies and limitless scalability, ensuring the smooth delivery of content to its viewers.

De Tune specialises in storytelling by connecting communities and sharing human interactions with the world. It is a talented group of over 300 storytellers, all striving to generate authentic content and meaningful experiences that evoke deep emotional connections within communities.

After recognising the ever-changing growth and scope of online entertainment that was to come, De Tune pioneered the coverage of live esports, where viewers demand both the highest quality and lowest latency for the most technologically advanced sporting events in the world. As esports continues to grow rapidly, with revenue expected to grow from $974 million in 2020 to $1.598 billion in 2023, De Tune is ready to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding viewership from across the world.

The full suite of Tata Communications services adopted by De Tune includes the Video Connect Platform for media transfer, Media Cloud Compute for storage and compute, and Tata Communications’ Content Delivery Network to ensure seamless online content delivery.

The British & Irish Lions has appointed Goodform to drive fan growth and engagement ahead of the Tour to South Africa in 2021.

It will be the third consecutive Tour the sports data and insight agency will have supported the Lions on.

Goodform will provide an ‘always-on’, in-depth understanding of Lions fans through connecting fan data from various sources, and use that insight to deliver highly-targeted marketing campaigns to supporters across email and social. This insight-led approach is focused on driving commercial success for the Lions, via sales of travel packages, tickets and merchandise, as well as driving engagement with commercial partner content.

The Lions has already seen a significant response to its recent ticketing ballot and is fueling excitement with the announcement of a ‘home game’ at BT Murrayfield Stadium, with Goodform helping to maximise data capture throughout.

Working with The Lions, Six Nations, Premiership Rugby and The Rugby League World Cup 2021, Goodform has a deep knowledge of rugby audiences. Achieving 446% database growth and reaching open rates of an impressive 48% for the 2017 Tour of New Zealand, the Lions and Goodform has set the bar for fan engagement and aim to surpass it for 2021.

Shane Whelan, Director of Digital, Marketing and Communications for the British & Irish Lions, explains: “We are excited to partner with Goodform once again, having benefited from exceptional database growth and enrichment in 2017. We aim to communicate with fans in an insight-led and highly-personalised manner, and Goodform’s services will allow us to do just that.”

Alexandra Kyrke-Smith, Goodform’s Strategy Director, said: “We are incredibly proud to be a part of our third Lions Tour, and look forward to building on previous success. The Lions Tour represents the highest echelon of rugby, and we are inspired by this to provide industry-leading digital engagement and commercial value for the Lions and its stakeholders.”

SportTech Hungary, a new export development program has been launched in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA), Eximbank and the Startup Campus Incubator.

The goal of the program is to help for the most innovative sports technology companies of the country to enter and become more visible on the global market through collaborations with the most successful Hungarian professional athletes. 

Levente Magyar, Parliamentary Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference in Budapest on Thursday that the aim of the new initiative is to provide the widest audience for the most competitive Hungarian sports innovations with the help of Hungary’s most successful athletes and other international contacts. According to the announcement, SportTech Hungary will provide the best sports technology startups international visibility, mentorship and best practices to enter and grow on the global market.

Five companies have been selected for the program that offer an internationally validated, innovative product or service, or may already be selling in foreign markets. The program also includes Seyu – ‘Together for victory!’ a real-time, fan engagement, photo sharing solution that allows clubs to collect fan data, generate revenue and instantly distribute safe, user generated content on their existing digital platforms, including giant screens, perimeter LED boards and social media. The solution also helps sport industry partners to increase activation and generate more revenue on already sold commercial surfaces, building an emotional bridge between their brand and the fans.

Olympic champions and world class athletes among the ambassadors

According to the announcement, as ambassadors, Ádám Hanga, basketball player of FC Barcelona, Balázs Dzsudzsák, 108-time Hungarian national football player, Márton Fucsovics, ATP TOP 50 tennis player, Fanni Illés World Champion paralympic swimmer, Olympic champion short track speed skaters Liu Shaoang and Liu Shaolin Sándor, and Gábor Talmácsi World Champion speed motorcycle racer will help for the companies with their network, brand and expertise. Olympic champion swimmers Dániel Gyurta and Ágnes Kovács also support the companies as diplomatic ambassadors as well, primarily representing the interests of Hungarian developments in sports diplomacy and international sports organizations.

DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and ESL have entered into a strategic partnership to develop the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) further.

The VBL’s launch in 2012 meant that the DFL was the first professional football league to launch an eFootball competition. Together with ESL and its expertise in establishing and expanding ecosystems in connection with digital sport, the DFL would like to further develop and professionalise the VBL.

Within the framework of the partnership, ESL is assuming responsibility for all media production surrounding the national VBL competitions. In this connection, ESL will produce featured matches of the VBL Club Championship, which sees clubs from the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 competing against each other, in a virtual studio complete with a presenter and stream them on the official channels of the VBL. In addition, the VBL Club Championship, the corresponding final round to determine the German Club Champion in eFootball, and the VBL Grand Final tournament at the end of the season will be supported by editorial content on social media.

ESL is also acquiring comprehensive media rights to the VBL, accompanied by the opportunity to license them to various distribution partners in coordination with the DFL and the objective of doing just that. Moreover, the 26 clubs participating in the VBL Club Championship receive extensive rights to broadcast and report on their matches on their own channels.

The DFL’s aim is to meet the growing interest in eSport even more comprehensively. The ESL will support this with its experience as one of the world’s leading providers in digital and vertically integrated media production – including live on-site competition, the virtual studio, and digital broadcasting.

“eFootball has been an integral part of the Esport community and of ESL for many years now,” said Ralf Reichert, Co-CEO of ESL. “Together with the DFL, the most important sports league in Germany, we want to develop the VBL further to make it a renowned sports league and take it to the next level. That way, we can authentically transfer the emotions and values of football to the digital world and make the Virtual Bundesliga accessible to all, whether as a fan or an athlete.”We would like to make the VBL even more alive and exciting, and ESL has the necessary experience and passion to do just that.

“The Virtual Bundesliga is already the most authentic representation of a football league in EA Sports FIFA. We want to continue establishing it as a digital competition,” says Andreas Heyden, EVP Digital Innovations at the DFL. “To that end, we have secured a partner in ESL that has already proven its ability to successfully grow eSport competitions and communities worldwide – including in the area of football simulations. We would like to make the VBL even more alive and exciting, and ESL has the necessary experience and passion to do just that.”

The competitions of the Virtual Bundesliga are organised by the DFL together with game publisher Electronic Arts (EA). The German Club Champion in eFootball is determined in the VBL Club Championship through competition among the 26 participating clubs from the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 with their eAthletes, while the German eFootball Champion is determined in the VBL Grand Final among the individual players.

World Triathlon has extended its exclusive partnership with Infront, a Wanda Sports Group company, for another eight years until the end of the 2028 season.

The long-term prolongation will see Infront and World Triathlon continue its close collaboration to develop the well-established TriathlonLIVE over-the-top (OTT) platform through dedicated content and marketing campaigns.

Infront will also exclusively distribute the international media rights for World Triathlon’s top tier events including the World Triathlon Series, World Triathlon World Championships and Mixed Relay World Championships.

World Triathlon President and IOC member, Marisol Casado said: “After several seasons of partnership with Infront we are delighted with the continuous growth of TriathlonLIVE and the exposure of our sport through our global broadcast partners. We look forward to continuing this balanced approach together with Infront to reach and engage our worldwide audience via all media channels.”

Julien Ternisien, Infront Senior Vice President Summer Sports said: “Our cooperation with World Triathlon over the last few years provides a strong foundation for this extended agreement despite the global disruptions to the season and we are excited to continue our collaboration. This long-term partnership allows us to build on a joint strategy to find the right balance between broadcast and the growing importance of the TriathlonLIVE to bring the sport to a wider and more engaged audience.”

Since it began its partnership in 2018, Infront has helped World Triathlon develop its offering to fans. This included launching a new look of TriathlonLIVE ahead of the 2019 season, which now provides subscribers with more complete and in-depth coverage from over 40 live events per season.

Paris Saint-Germain, France’s leading football club have signed a partnership agreement for three seasons with Yabo Sports, the market leader in Asian online betting.

Yabo Sports, the online betting platform, ubiquitous throughout the Asian continent, will be able to take advantage of the Parisian club’s ever-increasing popularity in Asia, as well as securing exclusive marketing rights for its users.

Yabo Sports, the influential sports gaming platform, has been committed to providing users with comprehensive, high-end and ultimate gaming experience since the establishment in 2018. Boasting thousands of sports gaming entertainments, Yabo Sports pioneers across the whole Asian territory in the industry. The featured immersive gaming experience, enhanced reliability and unique integrity have all strengthened Yabo Sports’ leading position in the market.

Sebastien Wasels, Managing Director of Paris Saint-Germain Asia Pacific, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Yabo Sports as the club’s Official Asian Betting Partner. We are convinced that Yabo Sports will be the perfect partner for the Club, and together we will be able to reach and further engage with our growing fan base in Asia.

“This is a strategic partnership for the club, demonstrating our growing commitment to the region following the launch of our APAC office, our successful Asian tours in 2018 and 2019, the signing of key partnerships as well as the opening of our stores in Japan and South Korea.”

David Lee, Chief Marketing Officer of Yabo Sports, highlighted this partnership, “ We are very much excited to work with one of the world’s most successful clubs, Paris Saint-Germain. Based on shared branding values and business objectives, Yabo Sports and Paris Saint-Germain are to strengthen each other’s popularity in the field. We sincerely believe that by joint effort, Yabo Sports and Paris Saint-Germain are boosting the development of sports industry and ushering a new era for sports entertainment.”

International Federations (IFs) can use the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to explore new ideas and implement positive changes that can drive future growth, according to expert contributors at yesterday’s fully virtual IF Forum 2020.

Close to 30 speakers debated various challenges and responses in relation to the ongoing pandemic, with topics including crisis management, scenario planning and risk mitigation strategies that can be applied in the months and years to come.

After International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, SportAccord and GAISF President Dr. Raffaele Chiulli, and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus underlined how collaboration can help sport to play a key role in the global recovery from Covid-19, delegates heard how opportunities, as well as challenges, can emerge from the current situation.

In his closing remarks at the end of the IF Forum, Francesco Ricci Bitti, President of ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations), echoed the words of several speakers by describing how IFs should view the pandemic as an “accelerator” and added: “Covid-19 has changed our sporting environment and we need to find a way forward.”

Dr. Richard Budgett, Medical and Scientific Director at the IOC, spoke about the importance of a close working relationship with the WHO, as well as IFs, and added to President Bach’s earlier comments about how various Covid-19 counter-measures are being put in place for potential scenarios facing the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games next year.

Riccardo Fraccari, President of WBSC (World Baseball Softball Confederation) and Dr. Dae Hyoun Jeong MD FAAFP, Chair of the World Taekwondo Medical Committee, also explained how finely tuned protocols had mitigated the impact of the pandemic on competitions.

A key theme to emerge during the IF Forum 2020 was that the scale of the challenge facing sport, as a result of Covid-19, has encouraged collaboration, with IFs adopting innovative approaches to engage followers, stakeholders and athletes. International Floorball Federation Secretary General John Liljelund provided a notable example by offering delegates a glimpse of the World Virtual Freestyle Floorball Cup.

However, numerous speakers, including World Taekwondo Council Member Sarah Stevenson, highlighted the ongoing challenge of retaining grassroots interest in times of crisis.

Dr. Chiulli said: “I would like to thank everyone at SportAccord for their hard work in delivering the IF Forum 2020 in this innovative format. Now we can look ahead to an exciting 2021, and I look forward to seeing everyone in the wonderful Russian city of Ekaterinburg, which bridges Europe and Asia, for the SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit 2021.”