How Immersive Tech Is Redefining Sports Engagement

he Paris 2024 Olympics finalized only a few weeks ago (while the Paralympics are happening as we speak) and it was the first time we saw a major, global sporting event embracing Augmented Reality (AR) as part of its strategy aimed at enhancing both the spectator experience and media coverage across multiple touch points.

The IOC who serves as the Olympics governing and controlling body, announced back in July a full revamp and redesign of their official mobile Olympics and Paralympics App, including several Immersive and Interactive features powered by Snap’s Camera Kit AR technology:

• Fans could take a step back in time to experience the Olympic Games Paris 1924 and activate real-time Olympic records through an in-city AR experience at iconic landmarks Champs Élysées, Hôtel de Ville and Saint Paul.
• From anywhere, experience the joy of the Olympic Games with interactive lenses, including playing with the official Paris 2024 mascot and opportunities to show support for national teams with flag lenses and the Refugee Olympic Team.
• For the first time, the official Paris 2024 poster also featured AR, with an immersive experience bringing the intricate artwork to life digitally and fans closer to the Games.

But Olympics-themed AR experiences were made available by the IOC itself as well as other commercial and media partners of the event, inside the Snapchat App as well as inside over 30 venues thanks to Snapchat Cam (also powered by Snap AR’s Camera Kit technology)  presenting AR experiences for spectators who attended the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris across 30 venues. Fans who attended the games, could follow the action together and see themselves transformed on the jumbotrons alongside their friends and family.

The IOC-rights-holding broadcasters and Olympic partners harnessed the power of AR to build a stronger shared experience for our global community: the BBC integrated AR into their studio presentations and created a hybrid studio that combined real-world views of Paris with virtual elements. This included a virtual Parisian square and interactive AR features, such as a virtual floor map that allowed presenters to navigate between different Olympic venues in a visually engaging manner​.

Coca-Cola and Snapchat were also bringing attendees the world’s first AR vending machine which could be found in the athletes’ village and Coca-Cola’s international Food Fest. The machine was powered by a custom Snapchat AR mirror and provided photo ops, games, and prizes, as well as Coca-Cola’s refreshments.

For someone who has worked for the last 15 years across Sports, Innovation and Immersive Technology, seeing a major sporting competition as the Olympics making such a rich, cross-platform and multi-channel integration of AR features and experiences across its biggest IP involving broadcasting and commercial partners too, is both refreshing but also indicative of what other Sports IP can (and should) do to elevate their storytelling targeted at on-site spectators and audiences.

Innovation within the broader “Immersive” industry keeps evolving at a thrilling and exciting pace, providing Sport organizations, broadcasting partners and IP holders with many novel creative possibilities. Let’s have a quick look at a very small, personal and curated selection of some of the most exciting solutions and companies out there which can transform they way in which  fans and audiences can experience Sport content and live events:

Move.ai: with its industry-leading markerless motion capture solution which makes it super easy and fast to capture and create 3D animations and characters, Sports IP creative possibilities include enhancements of existing digital products (mobile apps, official games), broadcast products, in-stadium experience, sponsor activations and totally novel experiences and media products that did not exist before:

• Immersive Experiences: create digital avatars and augmented/virtual reality experiences for fans. This can be used in gaming, broadcasting, or fan experiences during live events, such as interactive experiences with athletes or virtual stadium tours.
• Real-time Mocap for Broadcasters: Broadcasters can use motion capture to show real-time 3D visualizations of players during live games, enhancing the viewer experience by displaying dynamic replays or tactical breakdowns.
• Digital Athletes and Avatars: Move.ai can capture athletes’ movements and translate them into digital avatars for esports and virtual sports events. This can be used in virtual competitions, enabling athletes to compete in digital environments.
• Mocap for Game Development: Developers of sports-related video games can use Move.ai to capture realistic athlete movements for more immersive gameplay experiences.
• Brand Activation: Sponsors can use mocap technology to create interactive marketing campaigns, such as augmented reality (AR) apps or experiences where fans can engage with digital versions of their favorite athletes across multiple touchpoints including stores or venues
• Customized Virtual Content: Brands can create personalized content using motion-captured athletes, which can be used for advertising, social media campaigns, and fan engagement activities in store, at the venues etc
• Archive Content repurposing: theoretically, Move.AI solution is capable also to create 3D animations from 2D archive footage and therefore give a new life, meaning, context and audience to spectacular (and maybe forgotten) historical moments that otherwise would be sitting on some hard drives or on a loop on some TV channel with no audience watching it.

Rezzil: the UK-based virtual reality (VR) software developer that specializes in the production of pioneering sports gaming software for athlete training and game analysis, announced back in March a strategic, long-term partnership with the Premier League.

Through this deal, The Premier League and Rezzil will work together on the development of a VR game which should be published later this year exclusively for the Quest platform. The game will place users on the pitch and in the boots of their favorite Premier League players, offering fans a unique opportunity to recreate iconic Premier League goals and moments from within the perspective of virtual reality. Rezzil software will integrate directly with Premier League match data allowing clubs to adapt the software to re-create match scenarios and replay them through a VR headset. The software also has groundbreaking applications for broadcasters and the wider gaming market who can use the match data to bring viewers and gamers closer to the action on the pitch.

This isn’t the first partnership between a VR game developer and a professional sports league (PGA, NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL all have tested or launched full entertainment or gaming solutions based on immersive tech targeting their audiences), but in my view is the most interesting one due to depth of the partnership and the fact that the rights holder will also take an equity stake in the software developer, showing a long-term perspective and belief from the League when it comes to true fan engagement innovation and novel “formats” to bring its IP into consumers homes. I’m expecting more    

Quintar: its mission is to transform how fans experience live sports by blending the physical and digital worlds through augmented reality. The company specializes in creating AR platforms that overlay digital content onto real-world sports events, aiming to increase fan engagement both in-stadium and for remote viewers. Here’s what they do in more detail:

• In-Stadium AR experiences: Quintar allows fans attending live sports events to use their smartphones or AR glasses to see augmented content layered over the field, court, or stadium. This could include player stats, interactive graphics, game information, or replays in real-time.
• Remote AR experiences: fans watching from home can use AR to interact with live broadcasts, adding an extra layer of data or visual enhancements to what they are watching on TV or streaming platforms.
• Interactive viewing for fan engagement: Through Quintar's platform, fans can engage with live sports events by customizing their viewing experience with AR overlays, like choosing to see specific stats or different camera angles in real-time.
• Second screen: Quintar turns mobile devices into a “second screen,” allowing fans to use their phones as interactive tools during live games. They can scan parts of the stadium or the field and get real-time updates and visuals directly on their device.
• Enhanced analytics for sport broadcast: Broadcasters and sports organizations can use Quintar’s AR technology to deliver enhanced visual analytics, such as tracking player movement, overlaying virtual elements like heatmaps, or displaying data insights about team strategies during the game.

Quintar’s partnership with the PGA Tour (their first major Sport partner), which has incorporated Quintar’s software development kit into the tour app, allowed the company to support 12 events this year by letting fans see shot-tracking views through their mobile devices: another great example of how immersive tech can power existing leading digital products by offering brand new experiences that give fans agency, superior and deeper access to data and content and expand their storytelling capabilities.

Co-presence: Avatar creation is a very hot area since virtual immersive worlds and digital representations of (portions) of the real one is where an increasing number of people are spending more and more time to play, socialize, transact and consume content. Concepts such as Digital Identity, Social (Virtual) Interactions and Personalization are key in order to render these digital experiences more lifelike, articulated and rewarding for the users. Co-Presence (who raised over $6M at the end of last year) has developed a proprietary tech for the creation of photorealistic 3D avatars using just a smartphone, and the results are quite impressive.

So how could Sporting organizations harness the power of tools like Co-Presence? 

• Gaming: a huge area of interest for every consumer brand out there but particularly for Sport brands since official Games based on a championship, league or tournament have represented, for decades now, an important digital extension of the same IP and storytelling while at the same time speaking to the future fans and generating important revenues for the governing body P&L. Fans now could easily create and ingest their 1:1 representation into any “official” game and have, finally, the ultimate experience of playing against their favorite athlete or score a goal against their arch-rival team using a lifelike, 1:1 digital twin (just the face for now) of themselves. This is UGC on steroids and for the 3D world, in which the barriers between virtual representation, interactivity, co-presence, agency and participation are totally blurred and allow fans a never-seen-before level of integration with their favorite Sport in a digital realm.
• Immersive & Global Fan Experiences: Sports organizations can use tools like Co-Presence to quickly and cost-effectively create virtual meet-and-greet sessions where fans can interact with avatar versions of their favorite athletes. These interactions can happen in real-time, with avatars replicating athletes' movements, expressions, and even voices. These programs can also offer fans with global accessibility: virtual meet-ups can reach fans all over the world, eliminating geographic barriers and providing an opportunity for fans who cannot attend in-person events to feel connected to their sports heroes.
• Avatar-Based VIP Access: Sports organizations can offer exclusive, premium experiences where fans' avatars get special digital perks, such as access to virtual locker rooms, pre-game strategy sessions, or behind-the-scenes content. Avatars can represent fans in virtual fan-only events that mimic in-person VIP experiences.
• Virtual Influencers: Sports organizations can create avatar versions of popular athletes who act as "virtual influencers" on social media. These avatars can engage with fans in real-time, promoting upcoming games, sharing training updates, or participating in Q&A sessions.
• User-Generated Content (UGC): Fans can use their avatars to participate in content creation challenges, such as recreating famous plays, dance-offs, or mimicking their favorite athlete's signature moves, sharing them on social media or in app-based communities.

There are many other interesting companies leveraging cutting edge technologies that bring new levels of immersion inside the live broadcast experience or directly inside the venues but I’ll explore those in the next story perhaps. 

I believe the current tools are already providing unparalleled creative opportunities for sport organizations to be bold about how they can radically enhance or rethink their fan/audience engagement strategies and things are only going to get better (and faster) thanks to AI, which powers every single one of the examples I mentioned above.

As a die-hard fan of many disciplines, I couldn't be more excited about what’s to come and I believe that the next 2-3 years we will witness a number of amazing innovations that will put fans even closer to the action and their favorite clubs and athletes.