Insights from Jonathan Lee
In the build-up to the deferred Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games, worldwide TOP partner Intel introduced its 3D Athlete Tracking (3DAT) to the USA track and field trials as part of its preparations for the technology’s debut on the biggest stage. Despite their optimism, due to Covid-19 restrictions at the time, the Intel Olympics team was unable to showcase the performance analytics tool at as many live events as would be customary before a global spectacle.
Speaking to N3XT Sports, Jonathan Lee, Intel’s Director of Sports Performance Technology, says that – due to the period – the technology generated insights they perhaps weren’t expecting when it was finally rolled out during the summer of 2021 – and then the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games six months later. Namely the reception it received among rights holding broadcasters (RHB) that introduced 3DAT’s granular athlete data into their coverage of the Tokyo 2020 sprint events, as well as its positive impact on viewer sentiment.
Primarily a coaching tool, he says the introduction of performance data into rights-holder broadcasts in the form of augmented graphics, via the IOC’s Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), identifies an opportunity to grow audience engagement using data driven by artificial intelligence (AI). During preparations for Paris 2024, Lee adds that he is buoyed by the technology’s adoption among other properties too – inside and outside of sport – and that its motion-tracking capability is being used by consumers across multiple verticals.
As sports organizations continue to adopt high-performance analytics tools into their digital ecosystems, Lee discusses the future of the athlete-tracking tool and the potential athlete data holds for an organization’s wider operations, including the opportunities to commercialize and highly personalize content that brings the casual fan closer to athletes and their sports.
1. What learnings did you take from 3DAT’s Olympics debut?
For Tokyo 2020, we used 3DAT to track sprinters without the use of sensors on the athletes. We were then able to take that information and work with our graphics partner to create these heat-map-style graphics for broadcast that show the athlete’s top speed and acceleration, for example. Leading into the Games, we knew that we would uncover some interesting insights. However, due to Covid-19, we weren’t able to integrate the technology into many events, so it was surprising even to us the level of insight we were able to find.
By working with the commentators, our team was able to present them with the data and explain to them what it means and how they might use it for broadcast. So, as well as working with coaches and athletes, the broadcaster’s desire to integrate athlete data into their commentary or to use it to augment the viewer experience is, in my opinion, going to influence the proliferation of performance analytics technology going forward.
For us, athlete performance and fan engagement are both leveraging 3DAT on two sides of the same coin. On one side, you have athletes and coaches who want more information and, on the other, you have fans who want to be more connected to the athlete, to the game, or to a race. It is at that intersection where we have the information and insights we haven’t had before and that will enhance both the athlete performance and fan engagement.
2. How can athlete performance metrics improve the consumer experience?
Bringing the action closer to the fan is a primary motivation for us. In many ways, the viewer is the end customer, as well as the athlete. For instance, there are many casual fans who watch the Olympics and may only be exposed to these events every two- or four-year cycle. It is therefore a great opportunity for the broadcaster and for the sports themselves to show off the event. We received an estimated five billion impressions across all rights holding broadcasters globally. Whether the data supports content for core or casual fans, our role is to take information and make it beautiful and understandable for the viewer.
Our focus really has been to explore how a wide range of developers can use this technology and are able to integrate this for use cases that we haven’t even thought about yet. Now you’ve got different customers from different verticals demonstrating how the technology can be used with regular people, such as a patient undergoing physical therapy, or how to make a workplace safer for employees. Sport is highly visible, so it represents a strong platform for Intel and its sporting partners to engage fans via athlete-focused content, but also in other areas outside sport, too. Therefore, by working in the elite athlete space, we are able to create technologies that benefit the non-athlete as well.
“Data analytics has huge potential and we’re really only beginning to scratch the surface – whether that be for fan engagement strategies or athlete training and development. The best piece of advice I would give to an organization looking at how to implement high-performance data analytics into their own digital ecosystem is that data insights doesn’t have to be ruled by the numbers.”
3. What’s next for the technology? And what other sectors are you exploring?
We took the same technology and created a platform that we now make available to developers to build their own applications on top of 3DAT as part of a software development kit (SDK). Besides the Games, we’ve been working with our customers to apply 3DAT beyond track and field, and even beyond sports. We work in soccer, American football, and baseball. Beyond sports science and training, there’s also activity in personal health and fitness, inside the clinic or at home. The technology can use anywhere from a single camera up to eight cameras, so there’s a whole array of use cases that can be powered by 3DAT.
Whereas traditionally talent scouting involves a person going to a facility to check out a handful of players, one of our customers is AiSCOUT, the talent identification platform, which is changing how 3DAT democratizes this technology. Now anyone with a mobile phone around the world has the opportunity to be scouted by elite clubs. While that is still within the sports sphere, it does open the path to integrate the technology beyond sports, including home fitness applications where, for example, a developer might use the technology to provide form feedback to somebody training remotely.
4. Do you have advice for sports organizations adopting performance analytics technology?
Data analytics has huge potential and we’re really only beginning to scratch the surface – whether that be for fan engagement strategies or athlete training and development. The best piece of advice I would give to an organization looking at how to implement high-performance data analytics into their own digital ecosystem is that data insights doesn’t have to be ruled by the numbers. How you quantify data can be the tool with which you power performance analytics, whereas for fans watching at home, they don’t necessarily want to see a bunch of numbers; they want to view something that makes the broadcast entertaining and helps them understand the sport that they are watching.
Likewise, if you give an athlete all of this data, they need to understand what to do with it and it needs to be something he or she can implement. So, it’s sometimes helpful for the organization to realize that they don’t need to have a whole staff of data scientists on board. With access to this technology, it’s camera agnostic and is easy to implement. Integration is easier than it’s ever been for performance analytics software. Nowadays, it’s becoming less intrusive, meaning that high-performance analytics doesn’t require lots of equipment, and the level of technology integration required is the lowest it’s ever been. Given the technology is relatively new, it also means that we’re able to support an organization with an idea they might have about how the technology can support them in building their own applications.