Will Pithers, Strategic Partner Manager for sports at Meta, joins Andy and Charlie on the Sports Loft podcast. Having previously work at City Football Group , Will helps teams, leagues, federations, athletes and creators optimise their content strategy across Meta’s platforms. With user behaviour shifting from public feeds toward private messaging, and short-form video dominating content strategy, we wanted to get an insider’s view on how sports organisations such as Formula 1, Premier League clubs and Mercedes F1 are navigating Meta’s eco-system to engage fans globally. Some of the topics we discuss include: Why short-form video (ie Reels) is the key to success across both Facebook and Instagram How F1 teams and drivers have built a thriving community on threads Why the majority of a social media user’s time will soon not be spent in feeds, but rather in private and group messaging conversations. How Meta is looking to make their platforms more attractive for content creators? Why providing utility and not posting too much has been so important for success with WhatsApp channels How sports organisations are looking to monetise their activity across Meta’s platforms Why teams should be investing in tools that can help them manage their content archives The potential opportunities for sports organisations in AR with Meta’s Orion glasses

In the latest Sports Loft podcast, Andy and Charlie are joined by Victorien Tixier, CEO of Scoreplay. Fresh off the announcement of their $13m Series A funding round, ScorePlay have been seeing huge success onboarding new clients. So we wanted to discuss how they see the content market evolving, their future product strategy and to get some very specific examples of how sports organiastions are using ScorePlay to its full potential.   Some of the topics we discuss include:   Why has the fragmentation of content workflows has become such a big pain point for sports organsiations? How has ScorePlay leveraged best-in-class AI technologies for facial recognition, logo detection, speech to text conversion and even dubbing, rather than trying to build it themselves? How are rightsholders using the platform with their commercial partners? How has the content market evolved since the launch of ScorePlay and how will it continue to change? Why they have stayed very focused on the sports vertical? How have their athlete investors played such an important role in driving adoption in the locker room? Why does Victorien see the future for ScorePlay as the “media infrastructure for sports”? – and why is developing their API so important in order to achieve this?

Jonny Keogh, UK&I Sports Lead at YouTube joins Andy and Charlie on the Sports Loft podcast. Having previously worked at Sky, Jonny now helps major rightsholders and sports creators make the most of YouTube. So we wanted to dig into what’s coming from YouTube, who is being really innovative in their use of the platform and get some specific examples of how teams are using it to drive revenue. Some of the topics we discuss include: Has YouTube become THE destination for highlights? How are rightsholder’s monetising their content, but also how are they incorporating YouTube into their sponsorship conversations? How are YouTube Channel Memberships being used by some clubs as an extension of their OTT platforms? And in some cases could it be a more cost-effective alternative? Should creators be viewed differently now that much of the output is almost broadcast quality in terms of the production and storytelling? And which teams and broadcasters are working with them well? With athletes such Jude Bellingham becoming creators – how are they developing different content formats and commercialising their own YouTube channels? What benefits are rightsholders and broadcasters seeing from having live games on the platform? Where is AI being used in the YouTube platform to create new content and commercial opportunities?

Finn Bradshaw, Head of Digital at the ICC, joins Andy and Charlie on the Sports Loft podcast. Having worked previously with Cricket Australia and in tennis at the Australian Open, Finn now drives the digital agenda at the ICC and has events such as the Cricket World Cup to look after. So we were keen to dig into how the ICC is looking to innovate and adopt new technologies.   In our latest episode with Finn Bradshaw:   Innovating at the Cricket World Cup Why the challenge for cricket in America is not building an audience, but having the right product? How did the ICC work with influencers such as Jomboy during the World Cup and what did they learn? Why did the ICC partner with existing games on Roblox rather than building their own? How did experiences on the Apple Vision Pro help with partnership discussions? What were Finn’s biggest learnings from getting 4million viewers on the ICC TV app?   How the ICC uses different social platforms Why are Facebook and Instagram the best marketing platforms ever built? Which platform has the best analytics? Why did match highlights only go on Meta channels up until 2023 and why change? How does Finn balance the need to build audiences on their own channels vs getting the reach on social?   Running proof-of-concepts at the ICC How does the ICC test ideas before rolling them out more broadly? How did the ICC test vertical video? What did the learn and how did they adapt? How have POC’s built trust with internal stakeholders, sponsors and partners? Why is it important how you measure success for POC's? Why has senior backing been so important for implementing a “test and learn” approach?

Courtney Jeffries is CEO of virtual events platform, VRTL. She describes herself as a “recovering Sports Exec” having worked at the Raiders, Pac-12, MSG and then moving into startup life at Satisfi Labs. VRTL is used by the likes of Atlanta Falcons, ESPN, NY Rangers, Tottenham Hotspurs and Wolverhampton Wanderers.   In this episode with VRTL’s CEO:   The revenue opportunity from driving engagement with non-match attending fans Are fan engagement strategies too focused on in-venue and matchday? Have teams already saturated their local market? How much more do engaged fans spend than non-engaged fans? Why the playbook for engaging fans in-venue should be extended to fans globally?     Creative uses of the platform in both the UK and US How are Premier League teams using the platform to engage with their global fans? How are the Minnesota Vikings using VRTL to give extra value to season ticket holders? How is an F1 team looking to connect hardcore fans in discussion with car engineers? How did ESPN use the platform to drive conversations around a new 30 for 30 documentary? Are sponsors leveraging a team’s virtual events or are they putting events on themselves?     Combining versatility with the ability to scale Why does “one size fits all” not work in the sports industry? How have fan’s expectations changed post pandemic from a generic zoom call to a “special” experience? Why are the virtual autographs so popular? How will CRM integration enable events to be more targeted? Why making the experiences scalable is so important to teams? How much “handholding” of customers is currently required and at what point will the platform be viewed as “self serve”?     Early adopters, pilots and opportunities in music Why is it important to work with teams who want to be early adopters? Why are UK teams more likely to try things in-season than their US counterparts? Why is sports a “copycat” industry and why is this a benefit to tech companies? How important have pilots been in helping conver teams into customers? Can sports be a beach-head to expand into other industries? What is the opportunity in music and film?

With Yanni away in Hawai'i (working on the IRONMAN World Championship, rather than competing in it) Charlie took the reins of the podcast this week, welcoming Alex Kerr, CEO of Trajektory, to chat about sponsorship analytics in the sports industry. We’ve been tracking his company – which uses advanced AI and a dynamic valuation method to deliver more accurate media analytics – for a while, so it was great to get Alex on to dig into the business. Along with our Head of Strategy, Andy Selby, Charlie and Alex explore the significance of data in driving revenue for both rights holders and brands, dig out success stories from Trajektory's client base, and explore the balance of providing a SaaS service and supporting customers through hands-on customer success teams. Based in Chicago, the company works with major brands and teams across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS. Timestamps: 06:15 – Intro to Trajektory 11:00 – Client successes 14:30 – Understanding brand objectives 22:00 – Innovations around in-venue data tracking 28:30 – Serving both sides of the market 34:30 – Getting granular on reporting 39:00 – The culture at Trajektory

In this episode of the Sports Loft Podcast, hosts Yanni Andreopoulos and Andy Selby are joined by Sam Schmelzer, Partner and COO of ADvantage VC, to dig into early-stage investment in sports-focused technologies.  ADvantage focuses on three areas of the sports tech ecosystem: fan engagement, the connected athlete and derivative sports, which spans fantasy, gaming and e-sports. As such, the its portfolio includes the likes of Greenfly, the short-form content distribution platform; Tappp, which enables commerce, betting and interactive polling to sit alongside live sports on a single screen; and Infinite Athlete. ADvantage tends to lead investment rounds for Series A and B companies, with cheque sizes ranging from $2-5 million and $4-8 million, respectively. Timestamps: 06:00 – The ADvantage thesis 12:00 – The role of strategic LPs  18:00 – Evaluating sports tech startups 24:00 – Fan engagement technology 30:00 – Emerging sports leagues as investment opportunities 36:00 – How ADvantage is looking at AI in sports

This week, Yanni and Andy chat with Suzanne Kirkland about how the company uses AI to separate audio into its “stems” or component parts, giving organisations more control over their audio and video assets. In sports, that means tweaking levels or replacing unwanted sounds to make content libraries more usable. But the tech, which was born out of a love for homemade karaoke, also has powerful applications across TV, film and the music industry. Timestamps: 08:30 – Intro to AudioShake 15:45 – How the tech alters the content creation process 19:00 – Speed of processing and real-time 23:00 – The reaction of the sports industry 30:00 – Karaoke and the company's founding 33:30 – The business model   39:30 – Real-time audio splitting  45:30 – Training the AI models

In this week’s episode of the Sports Loft Podcast, Yanni and Charlie sit down with Shubh Jagani, head of enterprise solutions at OpusClip, the AI startup that can turn long-form videos into viral clips with just one click.  Today, every organisation – from sports teams to media giants – needs a constant stream of engaging social media content. OpusClip makes that possible, helping clients like VoxMedia, Seattle Seahawks, FloSports, Memphis Grizzlies and Juventus to transform their video libraries into shareable clips, to engage their existing audiences and find new fans. Over the course of the conversation, we cover the companies inception and growth, its relevancy to the sports and entertainment industry, and the company's new product, ClipAnything – which allows users to effortlessly generate specific moments from any video using natural language prompts. Timestamps: 07:00 – Introduction to Opus Clip and Clip Anything 13:00 – Use cases of Opus Clip in sports organisations 16:45 – Opus Clip's virality model 31:00 – How ClipAnything works 36:30 – Model training 40:21 – Company growth 45:30 – The market's acceptance of AI

On this episode of the Sports Loft Podcast, hosts Yanni and Charlie sit down with Antyush Bollini, COO and co-founder of OneCourt, a groundbreaking company making sports more inclusive for fans who are blind or visually impaired. OneCourt has developed a haptic device that allows fans to feel live action through trackable vibrations, revolutionising the way sports are experienced. The company, spun out of the University of Washington, recently partnered with T-Mobile and Major League Baseball to showcase their innovation at the MLB All-Star Game and are on the verge of launching a new device with improved features. There's also an angel round underway, with the likes of Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, heading up the cap table. Timestamps: 05:00 – Developing the One Court haptic device 15:00 – Testing and piloting the technology 24:15 – The market 32:30 – The role of audio 37:45 – Partnership with T-Mobile and MLB at the All-Star Game 45:00 – The journey ahead 49:45 – OneCourt's angel round  

In this episode, the Charlie and Yanni chat with Bob Thomson, the founder of Storyteller, a company that enables brands to integrate vertical video stories into their apps and websites. They discuss the rise of vertical video formats like Stories and Reels, the power of narrative in sports, and how Storyteller helps sports teams and rights holders deliver engaging content to fans. Storyteller is a platform that helps clients create and deliver vertical content in a compelling and personalised way. Clients, such as the LA Rams and FC Barcelona, have seen positive results in terms of increased engagement and video views after implementing Storyteller. The platform also offers opportunities for commercialisation, including sponsored content and full-screen ads. Timestamps: 07:00 – Overview of Storyteller   08:16 – The rise of vertical video    19:39 – Creating vertical-specific Content   23:32 – The components of the Storyteller platform   29:00 – Success stories: LA Rams and FC Barcelona   33:00 – Monetising content and selling merchandise   38:00 – Building partnerships   49:00 – The dream client

In this episode, Yanni and Charlie chat with Kamal Mistry, CEO of Arcturus, a company specialising in volumetric video – which allows for the capture and display of three-dimensional spaces and objects. We were blown away by Arcturus' demo at the Sports Loft Summit, which put the viewer in the middle of a wrestling match. So we've been keen to delve further into the origins of Arcturus, the concept of volumetric video, and how the technology is being used by its sports and entertainment clients. Kamal explains how Arcturus provides tools and services for creating and manipulating volumetric video content, which can be viewed on 2D displays, as well as VR/AR headsets, such as the Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest, and Microsoft HoloLens. The conversation also covers current capabilities, future developments and the crucial discussions around rights deals. Timestamps: 06:25 – What Arcturus does 14:45 – Difference between volumetric video and standard AR/VR 25:00 – Capturing volumetric video 28:30 – Video complexity and compression 35:15 – Market readiness for immersive video rights 42:30 – Integrating volumetric video into broadcasts 49:45 – Next Ssteps and fundraising

This week Yanni and Charlie sit down with Vince Ircandia, CEO and founder of Stellar Algo, a company transforming how sports organisations understand and engage with their fans, using data analytics. Vince explains how Stellar Algo unifies fan data from diverse sources – including venues, e-commerce, social media and marketing channels – into a single, actionable view, and shares his journey from working with teams like LA Galaxy and LA Kings to founding Stellar Algo. "The relationship you have with the fan is becoming more central, regardless of the revenue streams you're trying to drive," Vince explains. "Our platform makes it easy to identify fan insights and opportunities, and we put those at your fingertips." He also highlights how their platform empowers teams to identify fan insights and personalise content, with the goal of improving fan engagement and revenue growth. And we dig into how one NHL team effectively targeted 30,000 fans for a Toyota campaign, resulting in significant engagement and sales, showcasing the tangible impact of data-driven marketing.

In this episode, Yanni and Charlie chat with Maninder Saini, head of growth at Twelve Labs, a company that uses multimodal AI to bring human-like understanding to video content. We had Twelve Labs on stage at the Sports Loft Summit, so in this conversation we dig deeper into the applications of this technology in the sports and media entertainment industry, particularly in helping rights holders organise and find content in their video libraries. Up front, Maninder explains what multimodal AI is and why it's the perfect tool for understanding the content and context in video. We also cover the evolution of Twelve Labs, its recent $50M Series A funding and the challenges and opportunities in the market. We think Twelve Labs is an exciting proposition for sports and entertainment organisations with large (or even unwieldy) content libraries because there are so many potential use cases. A broadcaster might use it to tag and organise incoming match footage to share with relevant commercial partners. A team might use it to help its video editors quickly assemble highlight reels and social content. A brand might use it to scour historical footage for advertising material – showing how they’ve been the key differentiator at crucial moments through the decades. And that's just scratching the surface. “My view is that it can make a video editor into a bionic editor,” says Maninder. “They can do so much more with Twelve Labs. Most of the teams, at the club and league level, are often quite lean and very scarcely resourced. So this technology will enable them to do all of the things on their backlog and their to-do list that they never really get around to because they're just overburdened with the volume of day-to-day tasks.”   Timestamps: 06:30 – Intro to Twelve Labs   12:00 – Using AI to organise and search video libraries   16:15 – What is multimodal AI?   23:30 – Explaining foundation models       28:00 – Applications in various industries   33:30 – Twelve Labs as an API business   46:00 – AI: efficiency versus automation   48:00 – The future of Twelve Labs and dream clients  

This week’s guest on the Sports Loft Podcast is Michael Proman, managing director of Scrum Ventures – a seed stage investment platform that counts large Japanese corporations among its investor base, and uses that network to grow its investments and help them break into Asia. Founded by Japanese serial entrepreneur Tak Miyata in 2013, Scrum began life as a generalist VC firm, “investing in pretty much anything under the sun,” says Michael. That all changed in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, when Scrum’s investors – including the likes of Panasonic, Fujitsu and Mizuno – became interested in the opportunities around in sports, media and entertainment. Now, the remit is to find companies that “transcend the vertical” – those that relate to sports, health or entertainment, but might have a total addressable market (TAM) beyond those definitions. “If I look at the first dozen investments we've made,” says Michael. “A lot are either outside of sports, change the definition of sports and entertainment, or show the evolution of what sports and entertainment means in a 2024 perspective.” Timestamps: 01:23 – Introducing Scrum Ventures 08:00 – The importance of relationships in the Japanese market 20:00 – The attraction of tech that transcends the sports vertical 25:00 – Valuing companies and finding growth opportunities 30:00 – The importance of partnerships  36:00 – Scrum's approach to supporting its investments 41:00 – Investing in IP and other growth areas

On Wednesday May 8th, we held the Sports Loft Showcase 2024, where we featured twelve incredible tech companies that we believe the industry needs to know about. In this second episode of our two-parter on the event, Charlie, Andy and our MC for the day, Yanni, look back at the Summit and discuss the presentations from the companies that can broadly be defined as operating in the content and immersive spaces. They are: Twelve Labs Opus Clip Tagboard Audioshake Spalk Ateme Arcturus And if you missed part one, make sure to check it out. In that episode, we dig into the companies that presented in our Fan Engagement sessions.

On Wednesday May 8th, we held the Sports Loft Showcase 2024, where we featured twelve incredible tech companies that we believe the industry needs to know about. In this episode, Charlie, Andy and our MC for the day, Yanni, look back at the event and discuss the presentations from the companies that can broadly be defined as operating in the fan engagement space. They are: Monterosa Storyteller Satisfi Labs StellarAlgo OneCourt In part two, we'll dig into the companies that presented in our Content and Immersive sessions.

“The 26.2 miles of London streets from Blackheath to the Mall are, in my opinion, the most incredible experience on the planet,” says Charles Juba, group director of digital & technology at London Marathon Events (LME) and this week’s guest on the Sports Loft Podcast. Our conversation took place shortly after 53,000 people had completed the 2024 TCS London Marathon the previous weekend, raising an unprecedented £67 million for charity, and breaking more than 40 other Guinness World Records. We wanted to find out from Charles what role technology plays in the success of the marathon and LME's other events – which include 10km fundraisers, half marathons, a swim in the capital’s Hyde Park, a cycling race and plenty more. “Innovation for me is a layer cake and you have to have a firm foundation on which you build,” says Charles. “The starting point at London Marathon Events is very much based on our data... because innovation pivots around insight and insight requires quality data.” Timestamps: 09:00 – Introduction to London Marathon Events and its role 14:45 – Innovation and technology in enhancing the participant and fan experience 24:00 – Engaging in the participants journey  30:00 – The Impact of the London Marathon App 37:00 – Harnessing the power of data for engagement and partnerships 44:45 – Future Goals  

This week Yanni and co-host Charlie chat with Sam Renouf, CEO of the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO). Sam joined the organisation in 2019 has been central to the organisation’s strategy and development since. We kick off the conversation by setting the scene, with Sam discussing the inception and evolution of PTO, including its recent partnership with World Triathlon. He digs into the organisation's goal of becoming a more consumer-facing brand with its T100 Triathlon World Tour and outlines the strategies for growing a sustainable fan base for triathlon. "It's taken us a couple of years to figure out the right model. But we think that in the T100 we have something unique," he says. "We're like the PGA Tour from a governance structure because we've got the athletes and the pros. We're Formula One with this season long narrative with glamorous locations. And we're the World Marathon Majors with the mass participation. So really it's super exciting." We were keen to chat with Sam about the role technology plays in the roadmap for the T100 series. Tech, Sam explains, will be baked into almost every element of the series – from its broadcast and commentary, to the sponsorship proposition and management of mass participation rankings.  Sam also mapped out the PTO's funding model, with the likes of Michael Moritz as a lead investor, alongside Warner Bros. Discovery. And with the prospect of the organisation securing further funding to accelerate the growth of the T100, it's going to be a fascinating journey to watch. Timestamps: 10:46 – Evolution of PTO's business model 25:11 – Importance of technology and investment from Warner Bros. Discovery 29:39 – Consolidating high-value audience with first-party data 30:21 –  Using data for sponsorship, media, and direct-to-consumer 35:09 – Storytelling and technology in triathlon 40:59 – Bringing non-endemic sponsors into triathlon 43:50 – Building revenue streams for triathletes 53:18 – The future of the PTO

Football in the US is growing – fast. But Major League Soccer has a long way to go to catch up with the likes of the NBA, MLB and, of course, the behemoth of the NFL. To do so, the league is turning to tech in order to supercharge broadcast, boost fan engagement and even get more kids playing the sport. In this episode of the Sports Loft podcast, Yanni and Charlie sit down with Chris Schlosser, the senior vice president of emerging ventures at the MLS and head of the MLS Innovation Lab. They dive into the purpose and goals of the Innovation Lab, and explore how the lab can really contribute to the growth of MLS – from the role of technology in elevating fan engagement to how new tools could speed up player development. Chris opens up about what the Innovation Lab entails from the perspective of the six tech companies in their primary cohort, and breaks down how the initiative provides resources, mentorship and test opportunities to those startups. We also talk about MLS’s selection process, the Lab’s three core areas of focus, and who the cohort taking part in 2024 programme are.   Timestamps: 05:00 – Timeline of the Innovation Lab 12:45 – Pitching the Innovation Lab to MLS owners 22:00 – Testing events and opportunities for startups 25:45 – Benefits of the Innovation Lab 27:45 – Selection Criteria for Focus Areas 32:30 – Criteria for Evaluating Startups 36:00 – Companies Chosen for the Innovation Lab 47:30 – Future Goals for MLS Emerging Ventures