Wimbledon and IBM serve up enriched fan experience for 2012
• Enhanced wimbledon.com website expected to handle half a billion hits
• Live @ Wimbledon – new tv and radio digital broadcast service
• IBM SlamTracker with predictive analytics capabilities gives fans greater insight into the game
A vibrant new digital environment will greet fans at this year’s Wimbledon as the All England Club and IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced the re-launch of The Championships’ website, www.wimbledon.com.
Wimbledon.com has been completely re-designed to reflect the heritage and appeal of the event, as well as to offer the tournament’s anticipated 16m unique website visitors a more creative, personalised, and immersive experience through improved content, more powerful imagery and a much clearer navigation process.
Built on IBM’s cloud infrastructure to meet surges in demand, the website integrates a new online broadcast channel, Live @ Wimbledon alongside the interactive analytics-enabled IBM SlamTracker scoreboard, providing a one-stop shop for fans wanting to interact with The Championships.
Live @ Wimbledon
Featuring both TV and radio, Live @ Wimbledon will blend live action from around the grounds by dropping into matches at crucial moments in play (a stream of one game, per set, per match, per hour) with the off-court colour of a day at The Championships.
In addition the minimum of five hours live broadcasting per day, viewers will be able to enjoy pre-packaged content such as previews and reviews, match highlights and archive footage.
The Live @ Wimbledon radio service will offer an enhanced and improved version of its popular predecessor (Radio Wimbledon), which will be available worldwide online and on the three local FM channels.
“Together with IBM, we've created a new website which features increased options for people to personalise their Wimbledon experience," said Mick Desmond, Commercial Director, at the All England Club, home of The Championships. "Visitors can follow the progress of their favourite players, view live match play clips of the day’s action, and access scores and results delivered in real-time. We expect this increasingly engaging and personalised online experience to appeal to fans in ever-greater numbers.”
IBM SlamTracker
At this year’s Championships IBM SlamTracker takes predictive analytics technology to enable fans to gain deeper insight into the match. SlamTracker is a multifaceted feature of Wimbledon's digital presence that leverages historical and real-time data to add depth and insight to the Championship experience. The 'Momentum' capability maps a match in real-time, visualising key turning points and their causes (i.e. winners, aces etc.).
'Keys to the Match' is a feature within SlamTracker that leverages historical and immediate data to determine the top three things a player must do in order to do well in a specific match. While SlamTracker is an example of how analytics drives insights for tennis, the uses for businesses are almost infinite. Businesses across multiple industries and geographies can gain insights from large volumes of data and then use that knowledge to choose the best strategies and better predict outcomes.
IBM SecondSight heads to Centre Court
Following on from the 2011 pilot on Court 18, this year for the first time on Centre Court, IBM will trial player movement tracking. With IBM SecondSight it will be possible to track the fastest moving players and how their performance changes, set by set and match by match. The system can provide new data that could help players, coaches, commentators and fans alike; and, add a new dimension to fan's understanding of the science of tennis.
“This year a completely new website takes the understanding and insight into The Championships to a whole new level”, said Alan Flack, IBM’s Programme Executive for Wimbledon. “Using the power of cloud computing each individual data point is integrated instantaneously to deliver a powerful experience for fans, players, coaches and officials alike.”
