EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES | BDO LLP
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43 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES | BDO LLP
training platforms such as SmartCoach Basketball Training and Techne Futbol appearing on Apple’s top 35 apps. ‘You can get tips, replays and ratings – it’s like having your own AI coach on your smartphone,’ says Morris. ‘Some of these have been around in specialised context for a while, but the interesting disruption now is the availability of these apps on your mobile phone, so that now anyone can go in the garden, start video themselves swinging a club or racket, and almost self-coach.’ German-based Dynostics , for examples, offers a smart analyser device and integrated app designed specifically for athletes to analyse and track their performance and metabolic rates. The company is currently putting 60% of its revenues into market expansion. As more professional competitions resume and live events return to our screens and our stadia, it will be interesting to see how the twin passions of doing sport and watching sport play out in the New Reality.
since 2019. esports is even pitching to be recognised as an official sport in time for the Paris 2024 games. But SportsTech isn’t just about professional sports and their fans, it’s about amateurs getting more from their sport too, whether optimising technique or the way sports organise themselves, says Paul Morris, Head of Growth Advisory at BDO UK. With gyms closed and movement restricted, lockdown triggered a well- documented home fitness boom , with more and more people taking advantage of the physical and mental health benefit of their daily hour’s exercise. The closure of gyms and other recreational activities has opened further opportunities for sport and fitness applications – including start- ups – to fuel the rising demand for remote fitness innovations. From activity and performance applications to trackers and wearables, sport technologies that focus on aiding our personal fitness goals have taken off in earnest.
‘One interesting piece of software I’ve seen offers effectively the front and back office for sports governing bodies or associations,’ says Paul Morris. ‘As these bodies are typically not-for-profit, they can’t afford an all-singing, all-dancing, enterprise software, so functions like finance, admin and onboarding tend to be done in manual, analogue ways. This new piece of technology is a low-cost tool that automates acquisition, communication and payment with members on the front end, but also has a back office – a bespoke system of finance and admin, which manages the whole operation holistically rather than the club secretary or treasurer having to rely on a whole load of unwieldy spreadsheets.’ Another growing area is the development of sophisticated AI-powered coaching apps, which can use ball-tracking across different sports to analyse a player’s technique and make visual suggestions for improvement. Several apps once marketed for athletes have succeeded in breaking into the commercial market, with
for sport broadcasters such as ESPM and Fox sports, so providing fans with access to classic games, archived content, documentaries. esports came into its own too. Early in the course of the pandemic, Formula 1 announced the launch of a new virtual Grand Prix series, featuring a number of current F1 drivers. Starting in March 2020, a schedule of virtual races engaged racing fans worldwide. An explosion of other esporting events soon followed in other major sports including football through FIFA and cycling via Zwift, which concluded with a multitude of sports stars and celebrities attempting to chase down four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome in a virtual bike race. According to Newzoo Global’s 2020 report , Global esports revenues are expected to grow to $1.1 billion in 2020, a year-on-year growth of +15.7%, up from $950.6 million in 2019. Meanwhile, the global esports audience will grow to 495 million people ¬– a growth of 11.7%
GPS wearables firm Garmin saw an increase in outdoor running, while data from EE reported that usage of activity tracking app Strava more than tripled during lockdown in the UK. The Strava makes use of gamification and social nudges, as runners can track each other’s times and runs, and give others ‘kudos’ for their achievements. Strava has been rated #1 app for runners and cyclists, and was already valued at $350 million as of 2019. In Europe, Fiit , a connected video-based fitness application, made a timely pre- lockdown partnership with UK based budget gym franchise The Gym Group , securing an outreach to the company’s 794,000 members across Europe. Revenue statistics for Fiit are currently unknown, though The Gym Group was marketed with a value of £293 million ($374 million) in 2019, with a pre-tax profit of £14 million on sales of £153 million. The US app Peloton , which promises to change the way people get fit through a socially-connected workout experience has secured funding of $994.7 million .
SPORTSTECH ISN’T JUST ABOUT PROFESSIONAL SPORTS AND THEIR FANS, IT’S ABOUT AMATEURS GETTING MORE FROM THEIR SPORT TOO... PAUL MORRIS HEAD OF GROWTH ADVISORY BDO UK
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