The Japanese Professional Football League, organiser of Japan’s J. League, has reached a deal with Israeli artificial intelligence company WSC Sports to generate match highlights clips for distribution on digital media.
WSC’s technology uses an algorithm that monitors the audio feed from a sporting event to capture key highlights automatically. The automated process also personalises the clips in near real-time.
The machine learning platform is already being used by the Bundesliga, NBA, US Open, PGA Tour, Major league Soccer and Discovery and Warner Media. WSC recently raised $23m (£18.7m / €20.9m) in Series C funding and counts HBSE Ventures – the venture capital arm of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the owners of NBA side the Philadelphia 76ers, among its investors.
The WSC technology is already being used by J. League Media Productions (JMP) and Imagica Live, it’s cloud-based media centre for live streaming, to automate content.
Hiroaki Dei, chief executive of J.League Media Promotion (JMP) said: “Integrating AI technology in our production services, ensures we continue to offer our fans world-class digital video content.”
Guy Port, head of APAC at WSC Sports said: “As WSC expands within Asia, we are thrilled to be collaborating with J.League Media Promotion and Imagica Live. Fans are the winners and we are excited to bring to life more moments by video.”
In June, Japanese ecommerce and internet company Rakuten launched a global live streaming and video on demand sports platform with the J1 league, the top tier in Japanese football, as its core offering. The firm has partnered with the Lagardère Sports agency to distribute the product to fans in more then 140 different countries.
