Insight
For soccer fans, it’s personal
It’s no secret that soccer fans are passionate about the game, but that passion is specific: it’s about their clubs, their players, their games. To them, soccer is personal. And that’s how they want to experience it. They don’t want to wait for a World Cup to see their favorite team or scroll through multiple channels to find the best plays. They want soccer when they want it and watch personalized video content on their own terms.
Idea
Let fans build their own personal sports experience with the Highlight Machine
As part of its ongoing relationship with FOX Sports, IBM iX® designed and developed the FIFA World Cup Highlight Machine, a one-of-a-kind, cognitive-based platform that lets fans create and share their own customized soccer highlight videos. Using this interactive platform, fans can browse and filter FIFA’s archive of past and current matches by year, team, player, matches and type of gameplay like penalty kicks and goals.
Behind the scenes, the interactive platform takes advantage of IBM Watson® Media solutions’ specialized AI video technology that analyzes and compiles soccer match footage in seconds at the user’s command. To keep post-match conversations going, fans can title, save and share their creations via email, text, Facebook and Twitter. FOX Sports also plans to publish the most popular reels on its site.
“ We are delighted to be working with IBM, a leader in the technology space, to help enhance fan experiences and engagement. Our collaboration affords us an opportunity to utilize their technology across multiple properties, helping to drive engagement for our tentpole events in non-traditional ways. ”
— Sarah Tourville, SVP of Sports Brand Activations, FOX Sports
Impact
Instant gratification for fans and new ways of engaging for FOX
Over a four-week period, it’s estimated that more than 280 million people in the US will watch the World Cup online or on a mobile device. With the Highlight Machine, FOX not only gives passionate fans what they want in near-real time but can also have new types of conversations with its audience, becoming more a platform for engagement and less a traditional broadcaster. FOX is turning its control room and content over to the audience. Fans — and advertisers — will notice.
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