Sport is changing. The market for sports is changing too. Audiences are failing to identify with linear sports programming and TV ratings are down for many major sports properties. Yet we might argue that sports fans are watching more sport and consuming more information about sports than ever before. Technology is driving this change.
Live to stream, mobile applications, virtual reality, augmented reality, performance insights and real-time highlights make up a digital landscape that has impacted the global sports industry. Technology has brought fans closer to the action and with improvements in internet connectivity and the rapid adoption of smartphones and social networks, viewers have more options available to them than ever before.
Introduction of technology has made a great impact on sports. Not only it has enhanced the quality of sport but also has added a charismatic effect on the audience. Technology has gradually made its presence felt through applications across the entire value chain of sports business. Game officials use innovative technologies, such as the hawk-eye to project the path of a ball, and Gridiron has used video replay systems to check referees' calls for many years. Broadcasters are increasingly using digital media to reach out to an increasingly tech-savvy audience through the internet and mobile applications.
Recently, the use of high-speed cameras has taken the pace. High-speed cameras are similar to conventional video cameras but have the ability to capture images at higher rates and increased shutter speeds (reduced exposure) beyond that of conventional video recorders. Consumer video cameras typically have image resolutions of 640x480 (VGA) and record images 10-60 frames per second.
High-speed cameras have VGA or higher resolution and typically record images at 200 frames per second or higher. One of the many specialized uses for high-speed video, or what is often called slow-motion video, is for the analysis of athlete performance. Today’s amateurs and professionals are always seeking the edge over their competitors, so finding and correcting any shortcomings in performance is a high priority. With high-speed imagery, events can be slowed down for millisecond study and correction of sporting motions. Whether it’s a track athlete seeking another .05 seconds off her 100-meter time by improving starting mechanics or a swimmer needing to correct a turning style, slow-motion imagery – or “slomo” – is now a mandatory coaching tool. But while the value of slomo was recognized decades ago, up until the 1980s, slomo could only be done with specialized high frame rate film cameras. Due to film’s intrinsic long processing times and high cost, very few athletes got the benefit of high-speed motion analysis. Today, because the cost of slomo equipment has plunged with the “digital video revolution,” the capability is available – at some level – to virtually every athlete and coach. Sports such as cricket, football, tennis use these cameras for better results nowadays.
Talking about physical gaming, digital gaming has also risen to new level .Esports (abbrv. “Digital gaming”) is a form of competition using video games. Most commonly, esports take the form of organized multiplayer video game competitions, particularly among professional players. The genre of fighting games and arcade games is popular among amateur players. In India, multiple companies are trying to popularise e-sports in the country, where internet and mobile adoption is rising. MOBA (Massive Online Battle Arena) games such as Dota2 and League of Legends have been most successful in popularising e-sports, though tournaments and leagues. Games such as Counter-Strike continue to draw millions of viewers to watch the best esports athletes compete against each other.
The esports market is growing at a fast pace as it becomes more and more popular around the world. The Indian esports audience is small, with an estimated two million enthusiasts and two million ‘occasional viewers’, but is expected to grow more than fivefold by 2021. ESL, originally Electronic Sports League, is an esports company which organizes competitions worldwide. ESL is the world's largest esports company and the oldest professional esports organization that is still operational. Other popular e-sport companies in India are Nazara Technologies, Jetsynthesys, and Nodwin. These companies organize events basically on mobile and computer platforms.
