Australian video tech company Linius (ASX: LNU) has secured Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) to its growing list of sports clients utilising their personalised video service – Video Virtualization Engine™ (VVE). 

As the world’s first service which transforms static video into personalised video experiences, individual users of the VVE technology will be able to individually alter camera angles, select replays and track live statistics – a holistic process of ‘hyper-personalisation’ as defined by Linius. 

“We are increasingly seeing sports clubs and leagues globally acknowledge and appreciate the immense value that personalization can bring to their bottom line,” said Linius CEO, Chris Richardson. 

“Personalizing content for viewers and fans of sports simply creates a deeper engagement, with which new revenue opportunities become apparent for these businesses. There are over 1 million men, women, boys and girls that play basketball throughout Australia and we’re looking forward to bringing personalized video experiences to them, and all basketball fans.”  

They key to adoption of the technology is higher engagement between fans and sporting codes with technology publication TechCrunch claiming fan engagement technology is expected to make the largest development in sports over the next 12 months. 

Globally, basketball is the second most popular sport with more than 450 million players worldwide where the sports media rights were worth USD $49.5 billion in 2018, headlined by America’s National Basketball League (NBA). 

In Australia, basketball has seen a major resurgence over the past decade with more Australians being drafted into the NBA, growing the domestic audience and interest in Australia’s NBL. 

Whilst Australian representation in the NBA is headlined by Ben Simmons (Philadelphia 76ers) who was drafted out of College into the top league, Australians Joe Ingles (Utah Jazz), and Paddy Mills (San Antonio Spurs) both played in Australia’s NBL before moving to the NBA. 

In more recent years, the rise in strength of the NBL has led it to become an alternative pathway to the NBA for American College players who do not get initially drafted, and High School students electing not to attend College in the United States. 

Specific financials relating to the deal have not been disclosed but will comprise of a fixed monthly fee paid to Linius as well as additional fees for ad insertions. Total revenue for Linius from the agreement will depend on user uptake of the service.