Genius Sports has announced a partnership with ESPN to deliver an immersive viewing experience for the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship via live video augmentations and AI-powered tracking data.
Through its Second Spectrum division, Genius Sports will provide the first live augmented video feeds for women’s basketball to ESPN, delivering interactivity and insight at new levels.
A suite of data-driven visualizations will be available to ESPN, including split-second shot probabilities and distances to 3-point special effects, captured via optical tracking technology that identifies the exact position of every player and the ball, 25 times a second.
Telecasts of the Women’s Final Four and National Championship games will utilize the Second Spectrum technology and augmentation solutions, which can be experienced as an alternate viewing option in addition to ESPN’s traditional telecasts of each game.
Kevin Lopes, ESPN Vice President, Sports Business Development & Innovation, commented: “Expanding our relationship with Second Spectrum to support of the Women’s Tournament and their fans is another exciting first for us.
“The augmented feeds for the NCAA Women’s Final Four and National Championship game will provide fans with an exciting viewing option that leans into innovative stats and visuals.”
Genius Sports will also provide ESPN with access to its unique Insight tool, which produces advanced statistical insights on individual teams and players.
“We are proud to work with ESPN, through the best-in-class work Second Spectrum does, to give the millions of fans young and old, an immersive experience for March Madness that will set a new course not just for the NCAA Championships, but for all of sport that is played by women the world over,” said Mark Locke, CEO of Genius Sports.
“It is a new high bar that we will push, and there is no better place to raise that bar than the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament with ESPN.”
Genius Sports is the exclusive supplier of official NCAA data having signed a deal with the governing body in 2018.
