SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Andreas Hartmann, Co-Founder and CEO of Vaix, a Sportradar company, shares his plans for next week’s ICE event at ExCeL London.
What trends are you anticipating seeing at the event?
I’m expecting to see a big focus on both in-play and micro betting. There’s tremendous potential for operators in these areas, particularly with the integration of AI-driven personalisation tech, which enables operators to deliver the right content to the right customers.
I think we’re also likely to see increased use of artificial intelligence in CRM and marketing tools as operators seek to acquire and retain customers more efficiently.
Can you summarise what’s happened since the last event?
The past year has seen AI-driven personalisation really come to the fore in the sports betting industry. For the uninitiated, personalisation is the customising of a content offering based on a player’s interests and preferences.
It is very much the next evolution within our industry as operators look to innovate the player experience and differentiate their customer offering to remain competitive.
Regulatory changes to bonusing and free bets has challenged operators from a retention point of view, but the introduction of personalisation technology has created a new and effective means of keeping customers on a platform.
As early adopters of personalisation, many of our clients are starting to recognise the benefits of a tailored customer experience through greater retention rates and reduced customer acquisition costs as a result of a more efficient acquisition funnel.
What are you looking forward to most at this year’s event?
I’ve worked in this business for more than two decades, so I’m looking forward to reconnecting with those industry stalwarts and colleagues from previous roles. Bumping into those people that I knew in a previous life puts a smile on my face.
A lot’s changed since last year’s event; the personalisation service we offer has gained significant traction within the industry since Vaix was acquired by Sportradar. Now that we’re fully integrated into their tech stack we can take the service mainstream with a scalable solution.
What will be your main product focus at the show?
Sportradar’s main focus for ICE this year is Computer Vision. It’s another form of artificial intelligence, just as personalisation is, that trains computers to see and understand visual inputs, such as digital images or video. We believe it has the potential to transform how athletes, fans and bettors experience and engage with sport.
We’re showcasing the technology on our stand with a live table tennis demonstration. Over the course of the event, we’re staging six matches per day to visualise its capabilities within betting, streaming, advertising, and athlete performance.
Where can we find Sportradar at ICE?
Sportradar has a bigger presence at ICE this year to accommodate our Computer Vision / table tennis set-up. People can find us in our usual spot – S1-140.
What’s your favourite ICE memory?
My favourite memories of ICE are equally balanced between successful business meetings at the trade show, and networking afterwards with old colleagues and connections.
Typical post-ICE activity? What are you doing right after the exhibition?
Post-ICE my team and I will be following up with all of the operators that we meet at the event, looking to build the products and solutions that we discussed with them at the trade show. The focus is really on how we can use our technology to meet their business needs.
