For years – since 1995 to be exact – the X Games have served as an experiment for the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports, ESPN. The event was birthed from desire to capture the rising counter-culture movement among youth splitting from traditional sports in favor of “extreme” sports. Skateboarding, BMX, Moto X and all of their various forms were given a progressive stage on a network capable of providing progressive coverage, and success has followed.
Coming towards the 2013 edition of the summer X Games in Los Angeles, the legacy appears to be in decline. The Disney-owned sports network earned headlines across the sports blogosphere in May with sweeping layoffs putting hundreds of employees on the street, many coming from tech departments. The fervor over those layoffs lingered for some time, and with the X Games staff preparing for the launch of an expansive world tour leading towards the summer’s main event, many of us are wondering if this year’s offerings will leave us disappointed.
After all, like the sports they promote and advance, the X Games have also become the proving grounds for some of ESPN’s most innovative technological advances… and while it seems like dark times, the tech and the minds pushing it will pull them through.
Following insights offered by Ryan Spoon, SVP of Product, and Aaron LaBerge, SVP of Technology, via TechCrunch, we have every reason to believe the ESPN Emerging Technologies group is fighting to regain a place of priority. Put that together with a few other offerings found via internet digging, we’ve identified three distinct avenues ESPN will utilize in making this year’s X Games a story of evolution.
SOCIAL
Type “ESPN Emerging Technologies” into Google and you’ll find a nice (but somewhat hidden) site covering many of the inner works behind various technological efforts in the ESPN works, including a section specific to the X Games… and visiting today, you’ll find more than a few posts discussing the effort to bring social media into the fold.
Katie Richman is ESPN’s director of Social Media Strategy and Development and has been closely tied to the effort to build and evolve the brand’s social model via the X Games. “The Global X Games team has put a real priority on getting social elements into the actual live broadcasts. One of the integrations we’ve grown is the inclusion of social photos into the shows. We curate all of the athlete streams on Facebook and Twitter, scanning for the best social photos that are being taken by them. We then identify the best, pulling them into graphic shells and working them into the live show on the spot. It’s been a big success and we keep getting better at it.”
It’s one small example of the effort Katie’s crew is putting into social, but the key elements to consider what’s still to come are there: integration into live broadcast, connection/collaboration with the athletes (and their sponsorship partners), crowdsourcing and engagement with the audience. Expect to see those efforts pushed via the live broadcast as well as more intriguing versions you’re likely to find via the WatchESPN app (especially on iPad, where Spoon and LeBerge note a definitive connection opportunity for live broadcast integrations).
ANALYTICAL
Throughout the Spoon/LaBerge interview on TC, you’ll find the conversation turning back towards two common goals: data and distribution. This organization has content covered. Putting it forth and learning from the process is their ultimate goal… and they often find that path is revealed by sharing the numbers they collect.
The scoring system at the X Games has evolved via small iterations of change throughout the years, but coming into last year’s Winter X Games, the third major overhaul of this system was put in place, taking the responsibility away from contracted vendor and doing it in-house for the first time ever. Utilizing a number of original applications along with some assistance from a Vizrt interface (specializing in the effort to bring digital media content to large-scale presentations), ESPN has pushed this scoring system into every aspect of their broadcast network, including the traditional TV broadcast to the mobile application broadcast via WatchESPN as well as other apps providing scoring/news coverage of the X Games.
This provides a universal look and presentation to the event scoring regardless of platform while the team continues implement further evolution: integrating social content to those presentations, designing interactive functions within the scoring presentation, and improving unobtrusive brand engagement throughout. If you watch the X Games, it’s the tech you’ll see the most, and it continues to improve with each event.
VISUAL
In terms of bolstering the broadcast, ESPN is a respected leader in the arena of virtual effects, now handled by a unique department known as VFX, ESPN’s Neartime Virtual Effects.
The VFX team and their applications give ESPN the power to integrate dynamic virtual graphics (including logos, statistics and sponsor presentations) into the live broadcast. Beyond the amazing visual enhancements you might recognize immediately, ESPN has found VFX also opens the door to simple localization for the broadcast, giving the team power to customize regional and international feeds with targeted elements to suit those markets (bolstering sponsorship opportunities, increasing ties to regional fans, and improving the quality of the product for the viewer).
This technology was rolled out in full force during the Winter X Games earlier this year, and the results have ESPN excited. From SportsVideo.org, Anthony Bailey (ESPN VP of Emerging Technologies) shares, “VFX is going to bring the culture aspect to the forefront of the X Games.” It’s an amazing evolution of the technology, and we expect the results that followed the Winter Games in Barcelona will justify continued implementation in LA.
All of that and more has us excited – both as fans and geeks – for this year’s X Games, and we look forward to watching this crew develop for tomorrow.
