'Sportradar aims at providing more personalised content to 1.8bn football fans in Asian subcontinent'

Mumbai, April 26: Right Holders Solution of Sportradar is globally acclaimed for unlocking the power of sports data and content to help sports organisations thrive and advance integrity in sports.

Sportradar Rights Holder Solutions has been providing sports federations, leagues and competitions with the most cutting-edge technologies and services to enhance the full potential of their data and to explore new ways to increase sponsor and fan engagement.

Their solutions comprise data, streaming & integrity services, offering rights holders a comprehensive package, starting from the collection of data at the venue, including the production of live events around the globe and safeguarding sports integrity throughout.

Responding to a questionnaire from Mykhel, Jonathan Earle, Customer Director, Sportradar, explained how they are changing the sports experience for the "new fans" with "innovation" during times of change and uncertainty. He also highlighted the organisation's mission and vision for 2021 as it plans to help AFC (Asian Football Confederation) to better engage with 1.8 billion fanatical football fans in the Asian Sub-continent region.

MyKhel: How Sportradar helps sports federations, leagues and competition?

Jonathan Earle: Our vision is built on long-term relationships with our clients, backed by a data-driven, fan-centric approach. Placing the fan at the centre of the conversation, understanding who they are, the team they follow, their level of engagement and likelihood to buy is the key battleground for Rights Holders going forwards.

We believe that every channel a Rights Holder has is a valuable piece of real estate - not only to broadcast their messages to fans but to use it to capture precious fan data - data that can be used to open up new personalised conversations and new potential revenue streams into the future. The long term relationship we have with the AFC and now with Football Marketing Asia (FMA) builds on this philosophy.

An important part of our partnership is how data from all channels feed into a CRM database that can help AFC and FMA build a greater understanding of their fans. This will allow the AFC to better engage their 1.8bn fanatical football fans in the region directly.

Sportradar Rights Holder Solutions provide sports federations, leagues and competitions with cutting-edge technologies and services to enhance the full potential of their data and to explore new ways to increase fan engagement & involvement.

MyKhel: How Sportradar OTT is simplifying the relationship-building process between sports and fans?

Jonathan Earle: If you take my 14-year-old son, he is being bombarded with messages from multiple sources all seeking his attention, whether that be FIFA on his PlayStation, to Netflix and Sunderland Till I Die/ Boca Juniors Confidential, to Instagram, Tik Tok, Fortnite etc. the list goes on. He is a stats geek, wants to watch the shortest most exciting parts of a game but is just as interested in how the players train, what they eat, how much they bench to their views on global societal events.

Rights Holders understand that whereas when I was a boy, one of the only things to do (that was legal) was to go to watch your team live or play the sport at school/ weekends, now there is so much more choice and there is a real need to understand more about fans, their engagement, their involvement and above all else, how they want to engage.

Whilst my son and I would be considered fanatics, we consume the sport we love very differently.

OTT as a platform allows this level of personalisation. The Rights Holder can provide personalised content based on the information it captures on its fans whether that be commentating in different languages, showing the game from different camera angles, allowing fans to watch with their friends to overlaying cool stats to deliver different experiences geared to their key segments.

OTT allows Rights Holders to stay relevant, to talk directly to their fans and build new revenue streams on the back of controlling the fan experience end-to-end.

MyKhel: What is Sportradar's plan for the year 2021?

Jonathan Earle: At its simplest level - our plan is to provide the 1.8bn fanatical football fans in the Asian region more personalized content to allow them to follow their favourite player, team, competition and to take their mind off what is a tough time for everyone. This personalised content will drive deeper fan engagement and involvement and also open up new direct revenue streams for The AFC and FMA. We are hugely excited!