The days of stationary, lag-filled sports viewing are nearly extinct. Multi-feed, multi-device synchronization has increased in popularity throughout the last few years, as customers are demanding new experiences with the improvements in technology.
This week, Axwave, the software development company based out of California, announced its new partnership with Fanduel and the NBA with their new app, NBA InPlay. The app is a real-time mobile fantasy game that uses cutting-edge technology to synchronize with the live broadcasts of any NBA game on cable or satellite, bringing fantasy sports fans closer to the action than ever before.
According to Fernando Flores, Head of Product and Business Development at Axwave, customer experience was at the forefront of the decision-making process.
“For Axwave, it is very important to give customers the best experience. Since our early days, when we published Gsound (our content recognition consumer app) we focused on the customer experience and avoided invasive and annoying features that others were using broadly, like video ads. With this project, we do contribute to a better customer experience by addressing a real problem like stream delay by using a simple, straightforward solution: no more spoilers for basketball fans.”
Axwave utilized its Automatic Content Recognition technology in the app, which allows for multi-feed, multi-device synchronization and provides real time moments regardless of the feed used for viewing. With their content database being the largest in the industry, Axwave can provide accurate information exactly as it occurs without any concern about the feed used for viewing.
“Axwave regularly conducts consumer behavior analyses that show the number of users watching sports in different platforms is increasing monthly. Switching between platforms happens even during the same game: for example, some users start watching Sunday Night Football in the living room and switch to the tablet for the last quarter (most likely, in bed), or parents and children watching in different rooms. All these new experiences need new solutions, and Axwave’s technology is there to help publishers and developers.”
The app was about bringing data and real-time moments together without the frustrations that stem from lack of synchronization.
“TV viewership habits are changing, with more users watching content on different platforms: satellite, cable, streaming. These sources are not synchronized, so the very same content can be aired at different moments (the lag goes from few seconds to minutes, or even hours when users watch on-demand or DVR). Sports fans experience is especially affected: they can get the result of a free throw on their app before the foul is called on their screen. I had a similar experience last year during the Champions League final: I went to Twitter to read comments about a goal and people were already celebrating the next one, which I had not watched yet. All the sport apps will need this kind of feature in the near future: users hate to receive results before they can enjoy the action on their preferred display.
“Therefore, the goal was to implement a synchronization solution that presents the user with information and data related to the exact moment within the game that he’s exposed to (i.e. who’s on court at that time, game and shot clocks). Axwave’s solution can definitely address this issue, and that’s how we got the ball rolling.”
The app is available now in the App Store and Google Play.