Discovery Sports Events Goes All-in On AWS To Engage And Grow Global Fan Base For Track Cycling

Today, Amazon Web Services announced a new partnership with Discovery Sports Events, a portfolio of sports brands that reach more than 130 million viewers, to be their Official Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning Provider. AWS will also become the exclusive Cloud Infrastructure Partner of the new Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Track Champions League. Through the collaboration, Discovery Sports Events and AWS will deliver new fan engagement experiences around the UCI cycling competition, including a new UCI Track Champions League app, competition insights, and in-race statistics to help existing cycling fans dive deeper into race strategy and attract additional followers to the sport. 

Discovery Sports Events is working with the UCI, the worldwide governing body for cycling, to redefine and innovate track cycling. The new series of races that will take place under the UCI Track Champions League will develop a strong year-round narrative for the sport, including between the Olympic Games and major annual races, telling the whole story and setting the foundation for sustained fan engagement. By taking advantage of the breadth and depth of AWS capabilities, including machine learning, analytics, media services, containers, and database, Discovery Sports Events will establish a unique viewing and engagement experience for fans that complements UCI’s new, elite competition among the world’s best riders. 

“We know the UCI Track Champions League offers an outstanding opportunity to better serve cycling’s global fan community and bring in a new audience to the sport. A big part of achieving this is to build an on-screen and digital experience that visually represents the strategy and strength riders require to compete and win, as well as help viewers understand the second-by-second action that determines race results. AWS will help deliver the resources behind this experience and provide fans the type of real-time insights and engagement that will make them care more about the sport and keep them engaged for the long term,” said François Ribeiro, Head of Discovery Sports Events.

Discovery Sports Events and AWS will serve live data, analysis, and predictive stats to fans in the velodrome where races take place, through live television and streaming, and in a new Track Cycling League app. The app will provide fans a connected experience, allowing for fan communities to grow around the championship, while helping newcomers to the sport better understand the action on the track. Along with providing real-time data into riders’ performance and race statistics, Discovery Sports Events will use Amazon SageMaker (AWS’s service that helps developers and data scientists build, train, and deploy machine learning models quickly) to develop predictive insights into race and championship outcomes to drive further excitement around each event.

To enhance race viewing experiences for audiences around the world, Discovery Sports Events will use Amazon Kinesis (AWS’s service for easily collecting, processing, and analyzing video and data streams in real-time) to ingest and process live, streaming data from sensors on the track, bikes, and riders. Then, the organization will apply AWS analytics and machine learning capabilities to serve up stats such as bike speed, race position, pedal cadence (i.e., revolutions per minute), rider power output in watts, time keeping, and racer biometrics (e.g., heart rate, calories burned). Finally, Discovery Sports Events will use AWS media services to provide the stats to fans through the app and broadcast in a simple and compelling format.

“Sports serve as a great medium to bring technology like machine learning and data insights to life in a way that sports fans across the globe can understand and get excited about. AWS and Discovery Sports Events will help UCI redefine and innovate track cycling by providing fans a more connected experience with real-time data into riders’ performances and race statistics. Imagine fans being able to see things like predictive insights and their favorite riders’ bike speeds, race positions, pedal cadences, and even biometrics all from a connected app on their phones. This is how AWS brings fans closer to their favorite sports, and we can’t wait to see the excitement blossom for cycling,” said Kathrin Buvac, Vice President of Business Development, Amazon Web Services, Inc.