Sergi Escudero |
Barcelona (EFE).- The Euroleague did a pilot test of its virtual reality in the last Real Madrid-Barcelona. The experience was satisfactory. Thus, as EFE learned, the competition will offer this immersive way of experiencing the competition in at least nine more games before the Final Four, which can be seen complete with this technology.
“The platform experience goes beyond offering a 180 or 360 degree view. It allows the user to be the director of the game and can choose the camera they want between the perimeter and the traditional ones. The user can be the director of the game from his own home ”, Alex Ferrer, marketing director of the Euroleague, explains to this agency.
The technology has been developed by YBVR, a company with offices in Silicon Valley and Madrid. According to the data obtained by the Euroleague, the users who watched the ‘classic’ on January 26 with virtual reality glasses did so with an average time of more than 60 minutes.
“One of our main concerns was that it might be tiring to watch a whole game in 360 degrees. So achieving an average of more than 60 minutes is promising information for the future”, considers Ferrer.
In the long term, the objective of the EuroLeague is to turn this technology into a source of income.
But, first, he is aware that other steps must be taken. “The priority right now is the user experience, testing new technologies. The limitation we have is the ‘hardware’, which is not widespread enough to create a solid source of income”, he explains.
virtual reality online
Virtual reality is generally associated with virtual reality glasses. And, without a doubt, this device is the best way to enjoy this experience from home. But the Euroleague also offers the possibility of watching the game in virtual reality through mobile and computer applications.
“Not everyone has virtual reality glasses,” admits Ferrer. “But the number of devices on the market is expected to double in the coming years. In the United States it is more advanced than in Europe ”, he adds.
The purpose of the Euroleague, according to its marketing director, is “to be on the crest of the wave” when the moment “is mature enough to be able to monetize this technology through user subscriptions.”
And Ferrer says: “In the long term, I am sure that all the Euroleague games can be seen with this technology. The question is how fast the market will evolve. Acceptance will improve as glasses become more affordable and less cumbersome. The key will be to find the ideal business model. It is obviously an expensive technology now.”
In Europe, Euroleague VR is offered to EuroleagueTV subscribers. On the other hand, in the United States it must be accessed with the XTADIUM application that YBVR has launched in collaboration with Meta.
“XTADIUM takes the experience further,” says Ferrer. “It allows you to create an avatar and be able to share the experience with users from other parts of the world in real time. The VR experience so far has always been very lonely. And, in the end, sport is also about sharing experiences ”, she considers.
The first time the EuroLeague and the founder of YBVR, the Spanish Héctor Prieto, spoke was in early 2020, just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. YBVR was one of the finalists in the EuroLeague FanXP innovation program.
“There Héctor introduced us to the technology. He had already done some private tests in sports competitions. It was not a classic virtual reality experience, technologically it was much more advanced than any other”, explains Ferrer. “The signal is of very high quality.
The ‘streaming’ adapts to the point where the person is looking at”, he adds.
Delayed by the pandemic
So they decided to do a test, but the pandemic paralyzed everything. Also the Euroleague, which decided to cancel what was left of its season. In any case, precisely the pandemic encouraged the relationship between the competition and YBVR to develop more quickly.
The next Final Four, that of 2021, was behind closed doors in Cologne. “It was a perfect opportunity to test the technology because, without the possibility of having in-person spectators, virtual reality added a lot of value,” explains the Euroleague marketing director.
They were very happy with the experience and tried it again in the 2022 Final Four, held in Belgrade. They did it within the innovation program that the Euroleague has with one of its sponsors, Turkish Airlines. In these tests, they discovered that the users who opted for virtual reality belonged to younger age groups than the average consumer in the competition.
“From then on, we were thinking about how to take it to another level,” says Ferrer.
The result was what could be seen in the last Real Madrid-Barcelona game in the Euroleague. A big step in European basketball for a virtual reality that aims to become commonplace.
