Whitefish, MT / ACCESSWIRE / October 28, 2014 / IBM (NYSE: IBM) foresees the end of spectator sports as we know it. No, the company does not envision that people will actually lose interest in consuming sports for entertainment. Rather, the company sees a day where the explosion of virtual and augmented reality technology gives fans a "visceral, on-the-court feel for the game." In partnership with Tennis Australia, IBM demonstrated a taste of things to come at this year's Australian Open. The company set up a virtual arena and gave people the chance to try to return serves with the help of advanced real-time data and Facebook's (NASDAQ: FB) Oculus Rift headsets. Fans tried to virtually return serves that had happened just moments before on the courts, then were given data that might help them be more successful on the second try. Over 10,000 fans gave this simulation a whirl on site, with over 52,000 fans trying it out remotely via a desktop version.
In a recent TED talk, former NFL punter Chris Kluwe elaborates on the idea that fans want to experience what athletes experience. Citing the big business behind major sports and consumer demand for immersive and personalized entertainment, he posits that augmented and virtual reality are coming very soon and will completely change the way sports are broadcast and consumed. Using technologies like GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO) cameras and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Glass to transmit the athlete's visual experience, and Oculus Rift headsets to receive that experience, Kluwe demonstrates that the technology is already available to achieve much of this vision. As we all know, this technology will be honed and improved in the coming years to make virtual and augmented reality as 'real' as possible. We are just scratching the surface of what is sure to come.
A big part of giving consumers a visceral feel for the game is just that, the ability to transmit what it "feels like" "to be" the athlete. This sense of feel is also referred to as "tactile" or "haptic" and it adds tremendously to the reality of a virtual experience. Imagine the change in the fan's experience if they are able to feel the athletes increased heart rate, the pounding of the feet on the court and the impact of the linebacker's tackle. The Guitammer Company (OTC: GTMM) has developed, patented and is in the early stages of deploying revolutionary haptic-tactile broadcast technology to deliver the feeling, impact and motion of live sports as a separate stream of information alongside the traditional audio and video streams.
Last year on ESPN2, in a national proof of concept and in partnership with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), broadcasts were enhanced to include the live haptic-tactile data coming from the dragsters. Sensors were placed on the dragsters and the bone rattling excitement of both being at a live NHRA event and even driving the dragster was broadcast in conjunction with the audio and video. This year, according to The Silicon Valley Business Journal, Guitammer is partnering with Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and the San Jose Sharks to broadcast the Sharks home games using Guitammer's broadcast technology so that the fans at home will feel as if they are sitting right on the glass - feeling all the impacts and action of players smashing each other into the boards.
The big picture is that spectator sports are extremely lucrative.
Consumers are demanding more immersive and personalized ways to
experience them, and consumers get what they want as a rule. New and
innovative technologies are being deployed to provide an enhanced
experience to this market, and these technologies will only be refined
and improved and expanded over time. Investors would be wise to get
ahead of the curve and pay attention to emerging technologies that will
change the way we view live sports. The future is not as far away as
you might think.
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SOURCE: Emerging Growth LLC