SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Sports technology solutions provider Sportradar used last week’s ICE London as a high-profile launchpad for its brand-new AI-driven Computer Vision technology that trains computers to see and understand visual inputs such as digital images or videos.
The firm held a series of live table tennis demonstrations during the event, staging multiple matches each day to visualise the transformative capabilities of Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence for the betting and media industries.
Using a single camera to analyse 120 video frames per second, the Computer Vision demonstration highlighted how the technology can be used to transform the viewing experience, turning every video frame into a digital asset capable of incorporating dynamic content into a live stream.
A 100-fold increase in the volume of data normally collected is generated and fed into Sportradar products in less than a second. The result is a significantly enhanced viewing experience for fans and bettors, enabling them to see match data, player statistics and live odds, keeping them engaged for longer periods.
According to Sportradar, the speed at which Computer Vision is able to collect data allows for the creation of new products such as micro betting, facilitating faster betting cycles on markets unrelated to the final score of a match.
Another key feature of the technology is its ability to engage fans through virtual advertising. Advanced digital technology is used to open up activation opportunities for brands to engage with fans via 3D animations and dynamic, contextually relevant advertising boards that update as the match progresses.
Luka Pataky, Chief Product Officer – Computer Vision at Sportradar, explained: “There are two great aspects to this technology. One is that it creates so much more data that is keeping players longer on the live stream. And that immediately means that they are engaged for longer.
“It also facilitates a better micro betting experience, because the process of data collection to trading can be automated. That allows us to start building odds and markets extremely fast. We are talking about 30-second cycles from placing the bet to getting the result. So it’s very interesting for newer generations of bettors with a shorter attention span.”
Table tennis is merely a starting point for Sportradar’s Computer Vision solution. The technology, said the firm, can be tailored and expanded to work with other sports such as football and tennis by changing the number of cameras needed and frames-per-second.
