Latest news with #JulieSouza
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Irish Times
Will big tech transform how we watch sports? ‘If you feel smarter watching something, you'll watch more of it'
Sports tech has evolved significantly over the past decade and several of the largest players in IT are deepening their reach in the space. It poses an obvious question, why? While sports are high profile, it's not like Microsoft or Amazon need to get involved in order to attract attention. The real appeal is product visibility. By showcasing how their services aid elite sport, from performance through broadcast and fan engagement, it's easier for these large multinationals to tell stories to customers. 'Sports is a powerful storytelling vehicle for us,' says Julie Souza, global head of sports at Amazon Web Services (AWS). 'With F1, they are particularly keen on innovating. We look for sports partnerships that share that kind of passion for innovation. READ MORE 'We have F1 insights which help provide information on tyre performance or maximum speeds, to help fans understand what they're watching. I firmly believe that if you feel smarter watching something, you'll watch more of it.' [ Amazon creates a 'mega-brain' of F1 stats Opens in new window ] The levels of data generated in top tier sports today are staggering but F1 stands out in particular. Each car generates 1.1 million data points per second from more than 300 sensors. For comparison, a full football match in the Bundesliga, which AWS also works with, generates just 3.6 million data points in a single match. The entire NFL season in American football generates 500 million data points, the equivalent of eight minutes of racing for a single F1 car. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes tries to evade Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter during Super Bowl LIX. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP via Getty 'Nobody is making sense of that data by looking at it with the naked eye. That's a job for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI),' says Souza. 'We can use that data to engage fans in the broadcast and tell them more stories, identifying what is happening around the track.' The impact goes beyond the viewing experience, it was through data gathered by AWS that F1 redesigned its cars in 2022 to enable more overtaking. 'The way the cars were designed, there was a turbulent aerodynamic wake that made it difficult for the following car to pass. With the aid of AWS technologies, they redesigned the car so that the wake went up and over the following car,' says Souza. 'The season after the new design was introduced, overtaking increased by 30 per cent.' While F1 may involve the most data points of top-end sport, the challenges of others present unique testing grounds for big tech companies. 'When you watch a golf tournament, only 15 per cent of all shots are televised. What happens if you're a broadcast partner in Scandinavia and Viktor Hovland is nowhere near the top, so the main feed isn't showing him?' says Souza. 'With the PGA Tour, every shot is sent to the cloud so the Scandinavian broadcaster can essentially create their own broadcast while still following the leaders.' Viktor Hovland. Photograph: Matteo Ciambelli/Inpho In addition to making it easier for sports audiences to engage across regions, multinational tech giants also find sports help them engage their customers better. IBM has a long association with Wimbledon and the tennis event has become one of its key marketing tools. 'We can increase engagement and relevance around our key offerings and campaigns, aligned with IBM's strategic priorities,' says Kevin Farrar, head of sports partnerships at IBM EMEA. 'It helps us to drive meaningful conversation and pipeline with clients and prospects through deep engagement and immersive storytelling,' he says. The tech giant has worked with both Wimbledon and the upcoming US Open for more than 30 years, with tennis providing plenty of opportunities for IBM to demonstrate its latest innovations. 'Deeper collaboration with both organisations has seen an ever-evolving digital fan experience, which has opened both tournaments up to a new audience of fans who can experience the tournament wherever in the world they may be,' says Farrar. The 2025 edition of Wimbledon saw the introduction of Match Chat and Live Likelihood to Win. The former is an AI assistant that answers fan questions during matches while the latter uses a broad range of data sources to work out the probable victor as a match progresses. That focus on the fan experience is where Farrar expects the next wave of innovation in sports tech to evolve. 'Innovation is leading to an increasingly personalised fan experience. Fans want to engage in their chosen sport in ever more immersive ways, and technology such as generative AI is allowing us to create fan experiences to satisfy this wish,' he says. 'The digital interaction with fans is allowing us to learn more about what specific data points interest them.' Sports organisations are generating vast amounts of data. This creates opportunities for deeper insights and smarter decisions AI is unsurprisingly at the core of most of these innovations. Microsoft has signed a five-year deal with the English Premier League, with the goal of getting its AI tools noticed. 'With 1.8 billion fans across 189 countries, the league provides a unique opportunity to showcase how Microsoft AI can personalise fan experiences, modernise operations, and unlock new business models through data and AI,' says Russell Banks, Azure infrastructure go-to-market lead at Microsoft Ireland. 'In terms of fan engagement, we co-developed the Premier League Companion, a digital platform powered by Azure OpenAI, delivering personalised insights, stats, and content from over 30 seasons of data, 300,000 articles, and 9,000 videos. AI also powers real-time match overlays and post-match analysis, enriching the experience for fans and broadcasters alike.' While sport provides a showcase for tech multinationals to show off their wares, Banks says there's plenty of demand for such services coming from clubs and governing bodies. 'Sports organisations are generating vast amounts of data,' says Banks. 'From player performance to fan behaviour, this creates opportunities for deeper insights and smarter decisions. As operations grow more complex, efficient workflows and scalable content delivery become essential. 'Clubs and leagues are also exploring new revenue streams by leveraging their data and content. This demand spans across sports and geographies.' While fan engagement and athlete performance are the obvious areas where sports and tech will be likely to continue to engage, Banks expects wider uses to be found. 'We see a growing focus on sustainability, with IoT [internet of things] and AI helping venues reduce energy use and environmental impact. Multilingual AI assistants and adaptive experiences are making sport more accessible to global audiences,' he says. 'In parallel, we expect to see more federations and clubs investing in AI-powered coaching tools, digital twins for training, and real-time analytics to support athlete development and injury prevention.' That demand will, in turn, continue to help large tech companies expand their customer bases. 'It's a way to tell complex stories in a manner that's accessible, understandable, and interesting,' says Souza. 'Think about the NFL schedule, there are 26,000 factors that need to be considered creating 1 quadrillion [1 followed by 15 zeros] possible schedules. 'We tell that story because we make sense of large volumes of complex data. If we can do that for the NFL, we can certainly do that in life sciences, automotive or financial services. Sports is a grounding and compelling storytelling vehicle.'
Toronto Sun
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- Toronto Sun
SALTZMAN: Track this tech, F1 fans
AWS helps to drive performance for Formula1 and other sports AWS (Amazon Web Services) has partnered with Formula One since 2018 to leverage its AI and cloud platforms, to help collect, analyze and deliver valuable insights to racing teams. Photo by Supplied As you watch your favourite F1 drivers tear around the 2025 Emila-Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, know that technology is helping to drive performance. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account AWS (Amazon Web Services), for example, has partnered with Formula One since 2018 to leverage its AI and cloud platforms, to help collect, analyze and deliver valuable insights to racing teams. Every F1 car houses about 300 sensors, which generate an incredible 1.1 million telemetry data points – per second – transmitted from the cars to the pits, in real-time. Not bad for a 75-year-old sport that originally relied solely upon only one tool for decades: a stopwatch. 'Today, there's copious amounts of data collected, and so artificial intelligence and machine learning are key to make sense of it all,' Julie Souza, who leads AWS For Sports, explained in an interview with Postmedia . 'Shaving off milliseconds can make a huge difference on the track, such as finding you're over-rotating a particular lug nut, which may cause instability in the engine, and so a team like Scuderia Ferrari (an official AWS team partner since 2021) can glean very useful information to help with race strategy that was previously unmeasurable,' Souza added. 'That's just one small example of the incredible amount of data analyzed at high speeds.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Marc Saltzman experienced the racecar data collection and analytics when he hopped behind the wheel of a Ferrari 296 GTB on a track in Fiorano, Italy, prior to watching the F1 Grand Price practice race on Friday, May 16, 2025. Photo by Supplied AWS has partnerships with other sports leagues, such as the NHL, NFL, PGA TOUR, and Germany's Bundesliga. Interestingly, with Formula One, aerodynamics data analysis has even yielded changes in car design. Called 'Computational Fluid Dynamics,' simulations ran in the cloud analyze fluid flow around the car, and found trailing cars required much more force to overtake. And so, this data led to changes in body design in 2022 that saw more than 30% more overtakes – much to the delight of F1 fans, no doubt. (Yours truly had a small taste of racecar data collection and analytics, as I drove a Ferrari 296 GTB on a track in Fiorano, Italy, on Friday, ahead of catching the F1 Grand Price practice race. An engineer walked me through my telemetry data following several laps. How'd I do? I'll stick to writing articles.) Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Marc Saltzman experienced the racecar data collection and analytics when he hopped behind the wheel of a Ferrari 296 GTB on a track in Fiorano, Italy, prior to watching the F1 Grand Price practice race on Friday, May 16, 2025. Photo by Supplied Data drives fan engagement, too Sports and racing fans, it seems, are hungry for more information. 'Over the past few years, we've seen fans are more connected and engaged to their favourite sports when there is more data and deep insights, which helps them better understand and appreciate what they're watching,' Souza said. Technology allows fans to curate their own viewing experience in a way that's highly personal to them,' she said. 'What's interesting to me may not be relevant to you, and so data is unlocking true personalization, for a more engaging experience.' For example, Souza said today's sports broadcasts and apps can be highly customized – and will be even more so in the near future. 'You can choose different angles and audio feeds, maybe buy tickets to an upcoming game or a jersey of your favorite player, follow a fantasy team or place a bet, chat with friends, or have Uber Eats deliver you something 20 minutes into a game,' she said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This personalization is paying off, according to Souza, highlighting the success of the partnership with Bundesliga that has returned a 68% increase in fan engagement on its data-heavy app, and 60% longer session times. 'I always say if you feel smart about what you're watching, you'll probably watch more of it,' Souza said. Soccer matches produce 3.6 million points of data per game. Read More Tech for broadcasters Not only has technology changed how Formula One delivers F1 races to fans – streaming over various platforms and often with interactive elements, such as selecting specific camera views – it helps broadcasters deliver a richer experience for viewers. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Tracks can be six kilometres in length, and so the action is happening in a wide expanse and at the same time, and so data collected and packaged by AWS helps producers tell the story about what's going on,' said Adrian De Luca, director of Cloud Acceleration at AWS, for Asia Pacific and Japan. Car telemetry can also inform broadcast producers on what may happen next, so they can prep videos and graphics for viewers. 'Data can be predictive, such as when an overtake might be expected,' De Luca added.. 'Data is collected as the cars are going by, via beacons placed every 150 to 200 meters or so, that collect telemetry of all 20 cars, which is then sent to F1's (broadcast) headquarters in Biggin Hill (Airport in London, UK).' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A Formula 1 car takes a corner during the F1 Grand Price practice race in Fiorano, Italy, on Friday, May 16, 2025. Photo by Marc Saltzman / Postmedia Network De Luca says more than 500 terabytes of data is collected each race weekend. Tech is helping broadcasters in other ways. NHL and AWS delivered the first cloud-based broadcast in March 2024, delivering high quality and personalized live games with minimum onsite gear, and cutting CO2 emissions by more than 2 metric tonnes. Tech can also help unlock previously unviewed coverage. While recorded, Souza said only 15% of PGA Tour's 30,000-plus shots during a tournament are televised. A customized app can deliver the remaining 85%, and with AI-produced commentary in multiple languages. AWS (Amazon Web Services) has partnered with Formula One since 2018 to leverage its AI and cloud platforms, to help collect, analyze and deliver valuable insights to racing teams. Photo by Supplied For safety's sake, too Sensors, coupled with AI and machine learning and cloud processing, are also being leveraged for greater safety of players. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In the NFL, where about 500 million points of data is collected per week, data helps identify players who are at risk of injury, and helps coaches and owners make impactful changes. Souza said this resulted in 700 fewer missed games in this last season. 'It's a win-win-win, as top players want to be on the on the field, as do the team owners who spent a lot of money on them, and fans want to see their favourite players,' she added. Another case for data analysis in the NFL: Instead of all players wearing the same helmets, sensors identified players in different positions were hit differently. As a result, today there are eight position helmet shapes to reduce the odds of head injuries, such as concussions. Whether it's crossing the endzone or the finish line, tech is unlocking deeper experiences for athletes, fans and broadcasters alike. – Marc Saltzman is the host of the Tech It Out podcast and author of 17 books, including Apple Watch For Dummies (Wiley) Toronto Maple Leafs Sunshine Girls Golf World Columnists
