{"id":137,"date":"2018-12-19T14:13:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T14:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.happyfinish.com\/wordpress\/?p=137"},"modified":"2023-04-25T12:30:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T12:30:47","slug":"immersive-tech-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyfinish.com\/immersive-tech-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Immersive Tech in Sports: Heralding the New Hero of Fan Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s fair to say immersive tech is rapidly infiltrating the sporting world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a market value of $100 billion, the sports industry is booming and primely placed for XR trends to slot into mainstream coverage and live action. For an industry where advertising, engagement and reach are so important, it\u2019s clear why immersive tech has been welcomed so readily. With more sports fans than ever before engaging with their phones as well as the match (a thumb-twiddling 87% of us admit to second-screening whilst watching a game) the opportunities for supplementary content, applications and engagement are at an all-time high \u2013 but is there a legitimate place for immersive tech alongside our favourite sports, or is it all just a bit of a gimmick?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC World Cup VR app allowed viewers to watch the tournament on a virtual BBC Sports sofa in a private studio.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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Virtual Takeover<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all watched the World Cup play out this year, with the pint-throwing highs and heart-breaking lows that it brought to the nation. But it also highlighted the mainstream potential of VR in sports broadcasting. Each match at the World Cup was available to watch at home in VR thanks to the BBC, allowing viewers to feel closer to the action without having to fork out for the next flight to Russia. And they\u2019re not the first \u2013 key games from NBA and NFL are available to watch in VR, indicating that there is a demand from fans to interact with their sporting heroes and become part of the game. And that\u2019s the beauty of VR sports matches \u2013 as a generally privileged society, we have a \u2018been there, done that\u2019 attitude when it comes to watching sports. We\u2019ve all watched tournaments on TV. Most of us have been to live sports fixtures, some even have season tickets. But who can say they\u2019ve watched Kane score a hat trick from the subs bench? Who can say they\u2019ve seen the pain on Murray\u2019s face from the other side of the net? VR has the potential to ignite a new level of fan engagement with sports and evoke an intensified feeling of presence that watching from your usual seat just can\u2019t bring anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC VR app was downloaded a notable 325,000 times \u2013 but this pales in comparison to the 40 million viewers it attracted via more traditional viewing formats like live TV and on demand. So the market might be there but has perhaps not reached its full potential. Then there are the current technical limitations of the VR industry.  Compared to the picture-perfect crispness of the 4K TV in your living room, the visual constraints (e.g. pixel density) of a VR sports match still leave a lot to be desired. It\u2019s undeniable that some viewers will place visual quality over experiential feeling as a priority. However, with the immersive tech industry growing at an exponential rate the future is bright. Latest iterations of Head Mounted Devices (HMDs) already offer a much-improved viewing experience that reduces that \u2018screen-door effect\u2019, allowing you to see the sweat drip down your sporting hero\u2019s nose right in front of you. There\u2019s still a way to go before VR is the favoured viewing platform for the masses, but the seed has definitely been planted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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