Augmented reality has made its way into many sectors like healthcare, education, retail, and manufacturing. The business and the consumers of the sports domain have overlooked it often but not anymore. A significant amount of changes have been seen in the way people enjoy and consume sporting events with the help of augmented reality. Valuable insight into the players and coaches is also provided by it. It has helped in improving their performances to a significant extent. Businesses can capitalize on the vast market potential of the sports and entertainment industry worldwide. A wide range of sports is using augmented reality. It helps to provide financial solutions to the business and also a mind-blowing experience for the fans.
Use cases of augmented reality in sports
The fans are provided with a very entertaining experience when augmented reality is implemented in sports. The skills of the players and coaches are also enhanced by the analytics that it offers. There are five ways in which augmented reality has proven very beneficial in sports. They are as follows:
On-field decision making
Many of the sports events across the globe have been implementing augmented reality. It has improved the sporting experience of the audience and the players to a significant extent. By using augmented reality many of the human errors that affect the result of the event have been minimized, providing fair play opportunities to the players and teams. A simple human error can cause discord among the teams and the players involved. Augmented reality provides the players with the opportunity to review any decision that has been misjudged by the officials. Sporting events like the soccer leagues and Major Baseball leagues are implementing augmented reality all over the world.
Hawk-eye system is one of the most used applications in the sports industry. Sports such as volleyball, tennis, soccer, and badminton use this computer-based augmented reality solution. This technology helps to visually track the path or trajectory of the ball to predict the path they are most likely to take. Due to its near-perfect accuracy augmented reality is the first choice of the event organizers.
An interactive experience for the fans is another area in which augmented reality can play a major role. This concept has been already capitalized by the Panasonic Company which has unveiled its augmented reality solution in CES 2018.
The players can be guided by the coaches and their support staff in real-time by using augmented reality. This is a far more realistic and authentic approach than the old pen and paper method. Augmented reality has transformed the experience of the audiences and the players alike. To enhance the experience of the arena businesses can also use augmented reality technology.
Training
The most important part of a professional player’s career is training. The players are always looking for better and advanced ways to improve their training and get the best results. Augmented reality has proven to be a bonus for such training sessions as it can help in the training of the players to a significant extent.
Augmented reality can incorporate the data in pre-recorded videos or it can also overlay the data over the real-world environment. This helps the players in getting a much better understanding of their playing techniques and improve them accordingly for the game. By using augmented reality the Athletes can improve their actions during the training sessions. It also helps to study the strategies used by the opponent team and to create counter strategies too. The large use of augmented reality has resulted in an increase in the quality of the game and in providing an entertaining and engaging completion for the fans.
Augmented reality has also minimized the chances of injury for the players. The practices that are risky for the players’ fitness can be excluded by it. Augmented reality helps to minimize the chances of serious injury to the players, if not eliminate them, helping in prolonging the players’ careers.
Broadcasting
A vast majority of people watch sports broadcasts all over the world. The sporting broadcast market is expected to earn USD 78.5 billion in revenue by the end of 2021 in the North American region alone. An engaging broadcast for the people watching at home with the help of augmented reality can help to generate more traffic for the broadcasting channels.
The 3d graphics and other content are already being embedded in the broadcasting of major sports events with the help of augmented reality. Sports broadcasters can influence technologies in order to provide a detailed analysis of the game. The experts can share their experience and knowledge of the game by suggesting alternatives during the replay video by using augmented reality data and showing it on the screens. This provides the home audiences with a better understanding of the game. ESPN and Fox sports are already implementing augmented reality in their sports broadcast programs.
Marketing
Advertising and sports go hand in hand and marketing tools are the main sources to ensure the success of the event. The major revenue for the players, teams, etc. is generated with the help of sponsorship and product marketing. The companies which sponsor the game get a huge opportunity to market their products at such sporting events. These sports are seen all over the world and so is the product that is being globally advertised during the event. Interactive and engaging advertising can be enabled with the help of augmented reality. Augmented reality has the ability to make every brochure, stand, field, poster or stadium advertise the products and all the while making them more entertaining. Augmented reality solutions provide the companies with information about the clients which can be used to make better advertising decisions and to make better and more personalized ad campaigns.
Augmented reality can be used as a marketing tool in unification with sports broadcasting. The digital advertising boards viewed in the field can totally be different from the ones shown during broadcasts. This provides an advertising opportunity for multiple companies and also reduces costs. The local companies can also advertise their products on digital banners according to the viewer’s location.
The Virtual Hybrid LED digiBOARD is an excellent example of targeted advertisements using augmented reality. The advertising seen on the digiboards during the broadcast coverage is entirely different in the selected locations from the ads displayed to the fans in the stadium, and across world feed and domestic coverage.
Playing fantasy sports
The users are provided with an entertaining experience through fantasy sports apps by using augmented reality solutions. An augmented reality solution has already been implemented by ‘AR Sports’ which can be integrated into already existing fantasy sports apps. By using geolocation technology it helps the users to locate the players that are inside their search radius and to create a fantasy team by using those players. A random proprietary algorithm is used to move the players that are available in their search radius. Alerts can be set for their favorite players when they come inside the search radius. Users can capture and swipe their favorite products and brands providing the businesses with advertising tools. The businesses can capitalize on this idea to provide users with rich experience.
The entertainment and performance have improved to a great extent by introducing augmented reality in sports. Augmented reality can benefit the businesses, players, and audiences of the sports industry. The further advancement in the technology sector provides the sports with a limitless application of augmented reality.
