Kicking off the conversation, they spoke about Port’s journey to WSC, a career that’s spanned over a decade in the sports industry and taken him around the world, including several years as the VP of Sales in the US for research company Repucom, and a return back to Australia to serve as Managing Director for market research giant, Nielsen Sports.
Port met WSC’s founders during a chance encounter at the 2018 Sports Tech World Series conference in Melbourne. After seeing how the company’s tech was being used by WSC’s first Australian client, the NBL, coupled with the greater trends he saw emerging around short-form content, Port took on the role spearheading the company’s efforts in Australia.
When it comes to the region, APAC as a whole has some of the biggest names in sports including Japan’s J-League and the CBA in China—both clients of WSC Sports. Specifically in Australia, the BBL, Australian Open, and a long-standing relationship with the NBL highlight a deep roster of WSC clients, who have all exponentially increased the amount of content they deliver to fans thanks to WSC Sports’ AI-powered software.
Think about cricket these days. If you open up a scoreboard on a website or app, you’ll now generally see a ‘play video’ icon next to the results, where you can press a button and watch a wicket you might have missed out on.”
In another example, Port discusses how short-form content has completely changed golf coverage. Previously the leagues and networks were only able to showcase a handful of players and shots during a tournament, but with WSC Sports they’re able to tag and index every shot, from every player, with footage from multiple camera angles. Now, lesser-known golfers are getting more screen time and increased recognition in their home countries because rights holders can capture every shot from the Australian players for example, and then deliver those videos to a highly targeted audience in Australia, or the wider region.
Closing out the episode, Port assures Lachy that short-form content is not going to distract from live games. On the future of sports content, he says further developments in the ability to deliver personalized content and new, innovative ways that Gen-AI is enhancing it with things like customizable commentary that’s available in multiple languages. AI technology in particular is going to create a lot of new experiences when it comes to content, rest assured in the months and years ahead there’s much to get excited about.