Market opportunities in live sport and music events
Based on market and consumer research, 5G VISTA has the potential to transform live experiences for spectators at sporting events.
The report examines current market opportunities and summarises the feedback from research, including:
Consumer research: In June 2021, GWS conducted a nationwide qualitative research study to gather and understand consumer responses to the 5G VISTA concept.
Industry Workshops: Digital Catapult used key findings from the GWS research report to design two industry workshops attended by key stakeholders within sports teams, venue management and broadcasting.
Reports: The research includes findings from the Fan of the Future report, commissioned by the European Club Association (ECA) and the Formula 1 in 2021 report
Key challenges and business considerations
Based on the stakeholder workshop and end-user research, the report outlines key challenges and business considerations, including:
- Commercial deployments to-date are driven by mobile network operators (MNOs) on the back of sponsorship or advertising deals and demand large budgets.
- Consumers trust sports clubs and brands over mobile network operators or social media companies.
- Consumers are indifferent to the underlying technology and will not pay extra for a service unless they see a clear benefit.
- Technology solutions are not yet ready for the market. Compatible 5G handsets are limited, with little or no integration with other applications.
- Sports clubs and brands want access to user data. Links with ticketed and club memberships are required.
- There are overarching concerns with rights management in relation to the dissemination and exclusivity of content.
- Data ownership is critical. Venue owners and rights holders want to target content, capture usage data and decide what content fans can access.
- The end-to-end service and the management of metadata and streams needs to be clarified.
- The solution must be cost competitive with WiFi. Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) failed because it is up to ten times more expensive than HD WiFi
5G VISTA is part of the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) 5G Testbeds and Trials programme, a £200 million investment in testbeds and trials across the UK to explore new ways that 5G can boost productivity, grow existing businesses or spark new ones.
