Sony Corporation completes acquisition of Beyond Sports
November 8, 2022
Sony Corporation announced that Sony is reconstructing its sports business organisation following a recently completed acquisition, and welcomed Beyond Sports into Sony Corporation’s sports business.
Beyond Sports will drive its business alongside Hawk-Eye and Pulselive as part of Sony’s sports business. The addition of Beyond Sports to the group is a key pillar in providing Sony’s clients with the very best end-to-end services in the sports data and tech space.
Hiroshi Kawano, Corporate Executives and Executive Vice President of Sony Corporation stated: “We are confident that the acquisition of Beyond Sports will further strengthen our sports businesses to realise new sports entertainment bridging live and virtual worlds. By maximising Beyond Sports’ technology and expertise, we aim to create new sports entertainment experiences that unlock the power and emotion of sports.”
Rufus Hack, CEO of Hawk-Eye & Pulselive stated: “We are delighted to welcome Beyond Sports as we further strengthen Sony’s sports business. We feel that marrying the unique capabilities of Beyond Sports alongside the incredible businesses of Hawk-Eye and Pulselive will truly enhance our ambition to be a strategic partner to the world’s biggest sports leagues.
Beyond Sports has an incredible reputation in the sports industry for delivering world class data and using that data to create new and immersive sports content experiences. We are excited to continue to build out the breadth and distinctiveness of our capabilities and feel the data tracking expertise of Hawk-Eye paired with the data visualisation expertise of Beyond Sport will be a winning combination for our clients.”
Sander Schouten, Beyond Sports’ CEO & Co-Founder echoed Hack’s statement: “We couldn’t be happier to be joining Sony’s sports businesses. Hawk-Eye and Pulselive offer an incredible suite of products and services to their clients globally, across different sports and end user touch points, and we’re excited to add ourselves to these conversations.
“Our vision at Beyond Sports has always been to challenge the status quo when it comes to sports data, data visualisation and sports content consumption, and we will keep on doing so for the benefit of everyone involved. We believe that we can accelerate that process alongside the existing businesses, to fully utilise the combined potential and cater to the needs of the new generation of sports fans.”
Beyond Sports – From Data to Digital Engagement
Beyond Sports technology is already being used by the biggest names in the sports industry and it has powered the hugely successful and Sports Emmy winning NFL Wildcard game in 2021 as well as the popular NHL Stanley Cup Blocky livestreams.
The Beyond Sports team brings an additional layer of data expertise to the group, especially when it comes to human movement sciences and modular yet scalable applications. Its proprietary engine will accelerate collective efforts in making three dimensional visualisations and applications available to rights holders and fans.
Beyond Sports’ efforts are platform agnostic, meaning that any output format imaginable is ready to be used instantly, from traditional TV all the way to fully immersive mixed reality headsets, positioning itself as the gateway to (live) sports in the Metaverse. Enhancing The Core Foundation of Sony’s Sports Businesses Hawk-Eye and Pulselive form the core foundation of Sony’s sports businesses, with a shared commitment to deliver best-in-class officiating, broadcast and digital solutions to the sports world.
Adding Beyond Sports to the family means a step closer for the group to a full end-to-end partnership for sports rights holders. Hawk-Eye and Pulselive look to grow in meaningful ways that address changing client needs, and we felt that Beyond Sports was the perfect fit.
For existing partners, this is an active step towards not only receiving best-in-class officiating and digital technology, but also an outlet for the group’s unique data capture capabilities to drive additional commercial value and fan engagement opportunities.
