If you’re a fellow cord cutter then no doubt you’ve been just as giddy as myself at the thought of a standalone HBO service — dubbed named HBO Now — ever since it was announced it was in the works. Catching things like Last Week Tonight, Real Sports and more all without paying a premium cable television bill seemed too good to be true. Today HBO may have shaken me out of my dream scenario as today the company announced at an Apple event that the service will debut next month…specifically on Apple TV.

To their credit, HBO Now will be able to be streamed from any web browser, but only with Apple TV will the customer be able to see the premium programming on their televisions. No Roku, Chromecast, Fire TV or other service will be available at launch. CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter reported the HBO/Apple exclusive deal will last three months though that is yet to be confirmed by either company. On the hardware side of things, Apple is reducing the price of Apple TV from $99 down to $69,

Statista shows Apple TV holds a clear lead among streaming services, nearly double the share of the second place Roku.

With almost 60% of the streaming market shutout of utilizing HBO Now to its full potential or be forced to make an additional upfront hardware purchase, I’m struggling to maintain my previous enthusiasm.

(Header image via HBO)

In case you weren’t already aware, the Associated Press has real, human journalists. You’ve read those AP stories on your go-to sports news site. They’re usually results of a yacht race, highlighting a badminton tournament in another country, or a WNBA game story. They are the wire service stories that ESPN, CBS Sports or FOX Sports use because they don’t want to pay a staffer to write about the sports that don’t draw in enough clicks. They’re typically straight forward, succinctly written and dull. And those stories are written by flesh and blood — until now.

According to an article at The Huffington Post, the AP announced Wednesday that it will team up with a technology company to create automated game stories from NCAA college sports based simply on statistics. Starting this spring with Division I baseball, instead of a human writing straight forward, succinctly-written, dull stories, robots will now write straight forward, succinctly- written, dull stories. The AP robots will also cover D-1 woman’s basketball and division II and III men’s basketball and football.

Lou Ferrara, the vice president and managing editor at the AP, told Huff that once a game is over, its robot will spit out a story onto AP wires and NCAA web sites.

“At AP, we have been looking at automation with anything involving data, as we did with corporate earnings reports,” Ferrara said. “Sports have been in our DNA for a long time and automation for certain sports seems like a logical move, particularly for sports not receiving much widespread coverage yet in demand in certain markets.”

The AP has produced robot writing before. It teamed up with Automated Insights initially to draft quarterly earnings reports for its business section, which surged reports from 300 up to 3,000 each quarter. Three thousand straight forward, succinctly written, dull stories.

Philana Patterson, an assistant business editor at the AP, told The Verge earlier in the year that the system is producing less errors than the humans the news company employs. The humans it pays thousands of dollars a year to, along with full benefits, vacation and two weeks during March Madness that absolutely nothing gets done.

Which brings us to TechGraphs. David Temple, our esteemed managing editor, *must* be drooling at the thought of a soccer piece that doesn’t refer to the sport as football. Imagine how much more time he could devote to his wife’s roller derby team when he’s not spending thirty minutes cleaning up our typos or correcting our run-on sentences.

And no, TechGraphs readers, Michael Tunney is not a robot cloaked with a human byline. He’s indeed a real staff writer who just happens to excel  at cranking out info-filled pieces with a fantastic ability to write tightly.

In addition to Temple, fellow writer Bradley Woodrum benefits the most from his future colleagues. Woodrum’s history with robot dogs, robot turtles and drones reflects an adoration and healthy fear of the unavoidable robot revolution. And really, the robots can’t write a first-person piece about consuming a liquid meal. So I’m sure they’ll keep Bradley around for that.

Until the robots arrive, we’ll keep churning out error-laden sports tech stories at a human pace. Enjoy us while we last.

(Image via Mirko Tobias Schafer)

The biggest media company you’ve never heard of won an Alpha Award for Best Analytics Innovation/Technology at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference last week for their player tracking system called Statcast.

Statcast was introduced publicly by MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) during the 2014 season in a limited number of ballparks. At the Sloan Conference, Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that all 30 ballparks will have the Statcast system installed by Opening Day this year.

Statcast uses cameras installed in multiple areas around the park to track player movement throughout the game. As you can see from the videos below, the data Statcast can analyze is staggering, spitting out everything from batted ball and player speed to reaction times and pitcher extension.

Dave Cameron, our esteemed head honcho at FanGraphs, was part of a panel at Sloan this year and also reported on the most interesting parts of the panel Manfred was a part of with MLB Network’s Brian Kenny. In a wide-ranging interview with Kenny, Manfred said that Statcast would provide real time data through the premium version of the MLB At Bat App as well as some data on MLB.com. More importantly, Manfred intimated that the model for Statcast data would eventually resemble the PITCHF/x model, with the data being publicly available instead of hoarded by teams.

With estimated revenues of $800 million on 2014, streaming video deals with WWE and Turner Sports, and Statcast technology available in all 30 ballparks in 2015, MLBAM will soon be a media giant that everyone has heard of.

(Image via Gabriel Argudo Jr)

The network powers that be — CBS, TNT, truTV and TBS — have created an official YouTube channel in preparation for March Madness. By subscribing to the channel you can receive email updates on new content ranging from highlights, best moments and more.

Right now the channel has videos from last year, though according to the press release it will feature highlights and clips from all 67 games this year. Specifically it says real-time highlights and video recaps, though unfortunately the games themselves will not be streamed. The live coverage will only consist of analysis and post-game press conferences and is not related to CBS’ current All Access subscription service.

Vice president of business operations for Turner Sports, Mark Johnson is encouraged by this new foray into the YouTube realm.

“Our new partnership with YouTube gives college basketball fans more ways to discover and watch the plays and storylines that everyone will be talking about during March Madness. Tapping into the power and reach of YouTube’s video platform opens up new opportunities for us to grow interest and consumption of March Madness.”

Given the lucrative TV ad revenue, it is no surprise the governing powers would want to rock the cash boat. Via Statista, in both 2013 and 2014 the revenue surpassed the $1 billion mark.

No surprise the NCAA and the broadcast partners wouldn’t be eager to ditch that sort of money and go to streaming option where things like Ad Block Plus can remove advertisements. This channel may be a step in the right direction with limited live coverage, but cord cutters will still be forced to look elsewhere for the games.

(Header image via truTV)

ESPN’s dominance of the digital market may not be up for debate anymore. Earlier today the company released numbers from their digital media division and ESPN boasted record highs in unique viewers, hours viewed and mobile viewers.

The press release credits the new NCAA football playoff system, NFL playoffs and the NBA specifically for the rise in traffic. ESPN claims their daily numbers beat out number two Yahoo! Sports (owned by NBC) and number three Bleacher Report even when combining the two companies’ viewership.

ESPN cites Adobe Analytics, Nielsen SocialGuide, Twitter and Instagram for their numbers, and notes 61% of their total pageviews were done via mobile. It marked the tenth consecutive month where ESPN visitors preferred to check the site via mobile.  A different web page analytic company, Quantcast shows different numbers for views on ESPN’s competition — Quantcast does not claim quantified numbers for ESPN — but the number still corroborate the preferred mobile method.

For both Bleacher Report and NBC, mobile users accounted for more traffic than those on computers. Only in the esport area did PC users outpace the mobile traffic, but given the nature of the exclusive streaming done on Twitch —no article to read, etc. —  and the ensuing mobile data prices, there’s no surprise there.

ESPN’s grasp on digital media consumption is decisive at the moment. One in three sports fans default to ESPN with not even one in seven going to second place NBC Sports. For now their title of “worldwide leader” remains accurate.

(Header image via Wikipedia)

Most choices in the world aren’t clearly defined in yes or no terms — option A or option B — but if you’re in the market for a new mobile device, it virtually is. Thanks to the latest graphic by Statista — based on data collected via the International Data Corporation — the decision faced by the vast majority of users is clear: Android and iOS far outpace their competition.

According to IDC, 1.3 billion mobile devices were sold in 2014, with Android accounting for more than one billion on its own. The Google operating system sold to 81.5% of the market with Apple’s iOS placing second with 14.8%. Still on the podium but trailing far behind was Windows Phone at 2.7% and Blackberry held 0.4%. The remaining 0.6% of the market purchased other OS devices such as Sailfish, Tizen and Ubuntu.

With the two major players dominating the market to the tune of 96.3% last year, up from 93.8% in 2013, the app market and thus app developers have followed the customers. Via AppAnnie, the number of Android apps overtook iOS last year, with Amazon Fire coming in third. Windows Phone, BB and others were not listed.

The four major sports — plus the MLS — all have official mobile apps for Android and iOS, though after the top two the app market diverges.

The situation seems to be a Catch-22 of sorts. Fewer app developers want to go to the non-iOS/Android markets due to the lack of consumer base and the consumer base can’t grow without apps. Amazon Fire OS is a heavily modded version of Android and is cross compatible with some but not all Android apps. Despite getting some support recently in the form of WatchESPN arriving on Windows Phones, sports fans and the public in general are in a two horse race.

(Header image via Kārlis Dambrāns)

I’ll be honest. I didn’t really understand SnapChat when it first came out. I mean, I understood what it did and what it was for, but I didn’t understand how it could make money or why Facebook would want to buy it for $3 billion. SnapChat has since matured. You can send money over it. You can post whole stories that don’t disappear right away. Organizations are using it to push content. And now it’s worth $20 billion. Shows you how much I know.

The same goes for Yo. The concept was simple, I just didn’t understand why anyone would use it for more than a day. It seemed like a slightly more social fart app. But people are still using it. My wife’s roller derby team uses it to a borderline-unhealthy amount. And now Yo has made the turn. They’ve gone from cheeky fad app to new entrant to the world of news. Yes, you can now get news updates via Yo.

The concept behind the Yo Store is that people will subscribe to channels based on their interests — be that news, listicles, cat photos, etc. But sports-related apps have a fairly big presence in the new store. The NBA is in already, as are some individual basketball, football, college, and soccer teams. CBS Sports has a channel as well. The goal seems obvious — to get every major sports team and league involved, offering full customization for the user. It’s a little odd. It’s a little new. And I think it’s kind of genius.

When you get a new smartphone or tablet, you are tasked with re-downloading all the news and alert apps you had on your old device. I always grab CBS Sports (the best mobile sports app, in my opinion), the Associated Press App, the New York Times, etc. These can all be replaced by Yo in the not-to-distant future. And that’s where Yo can have the advantage. It doesn’t matter if it’s the best sports alert app, because it’s the most comprehensive app to have for everything else. People just might convert for the sake of simplicity — a catch-all for their news, sports, and silly videos or whatever the hell. Surely people will keep their SportsCenter or MLB app for random staring-at-your-phone time, but it’s not hard to imagine that those apps will get used less and less as more options are available in Yo.

Listen, am I going to download the app? Yes. Is it technically for my job? Yes. Does that make it easier to swallow? Not really. I’m 32. I’m probably not in Yo’s demographic. But curiosity has finally gotten the best of me. Perhaps that was their plan all along.

It should be no surprise to hear online viewing is on the rise, but just how dramatically it has risen is another matter. According to the latest Global Web Index poll — where it sampled 16-64 year-olds in 32 different countries — 55% of sports fans watched a sporting event online (a clarification email went unanswered when the question regarding Roku boxes and like counting for broadcast, online or both).

The ESPN network and self-proclaimed “World-Wide Leader in Sports” did just that, with 30% of the polled users saying they watched a sport on ESPN3/WatchESPN. The second place Eurosport grabbed 18% of the online market. Of the previously mentioned 55% of online watchers, half of them tuned in using a laptop or computer. One in three used a mobile phone and one in five caught sports action on their tablets. In addition to ESPN’s stream viewing, their website also led the way with 20% of sports traffic heading their way on computers, 13% via mobile phone and was tied with Eurosport at 10% on tablets.

Despite the growth, standard television broadcasts still dominate the viewing market. The polled field averaged almost an hour per day of streamed content — not just sports — whereas they stated watching 2.78 hours of TV broadcasts. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that 18% of sports fans are now paying for online streams. The popularity of streaming platforms such as MLB.TV and Fox Soccer 2Go et al has certainly played a significant role in the rise of paid subscriptions and keep in mind this chart does not display some of the incredible viewing numbers esports attracts.

(Source and graphic via GWI)
(Header image via Twitter)

You may have heard the term MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) in the past. They are the folks behind MLB.tv as well as the At Bat app and Gameday feeds. But they’ve gotten so good at delivering digital content, that they have branched outside of baseball. MLBAM now helps power the WWE Network, WatchESPN, and MLBAM technology will soon be providing the long-awaited standalone HBO GO service. MLBAM has become so large and powerful that MLB is looking to possibly turn it into its own business.

The idea is to keep the websites and ticketing stuff with MLB, but to fork everything else over to MLBAM. While it’s possibly a surprising move, it shouldn’t be unexpected. MLBAM makes crazy paper for MLB, and it’s only looking to expand. They took a bet on video streaming over ten years ago, and have since built a solid infrastructure around that technology. They are the mechanic that’s been on your block for decades — others might promise more, but MLBAM has been around forever. They know how to make these things work.

And no matter how much content providers whine and moan, more and more TV is going to be shown on things that aren’t TVs. WatchESPN is expanding all the time. HBO GO’s move will soon inspire other top-tier cable networks. We can every Simpsons episode ever made on our phones, for crying out loud. I feel like I’m in one of those news stories from the 90s that’s trying to tell you what the Internet is. You know these things I’m telling you, but they’re important to remember when thinking about what MLBAM is doing. Through some forward thinking, some early investments, and a little bit of luck, a sports league has ended up being a giant in one of the biggest tech industries around. And instead of sitting on their haunches, they’re being proactive about it. And that’s hard for a large company to do. Startups are nimble, easily adaptable. Big companies with lots of human and financial investment can’t navigate as quickly, but MLBAM is trying their best.

They are succeeding at it, too. And only look to get stronger and richer. Now, if they would return Sports on Earth to its former glory, then things would look even sunnier.

(Image via Geoff Livingston)

The MIT Sloan School of Business will host its ninth annual sports analytics conference at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center next weekend. The conference attracts a host of luminaries from the sports business world, including general managers, owners, players and journalists. But over the last few years, a number of technology companies have made their presence felt as well, giving attendees a glimpse of the present and future of technology in sports.

Last year’s conference featured a number of innovative products and big announcements. The highlight, of course, was Major League Baseball Advanced Media’s unveiling of its StatCast system. A number of wearable sensor companies also made presentations: Adidas demonstrated the miCoach system that the German national team used en route to their World Cup win last summer, Zebra showed off the RFID tags that made its NFL partnership possible, and Diamond Kinetics let attendees try its SwingTracker bat sensor before it hit the market. The multitude of hands-on experiences with the sensors made the hallway outside the panel discussions feel a bit like a carnival midway.

A number of this year’s panels will also revolve around new technology. The Wearable Technology panel on Saturday morning features Zebra’s general manager for sports Eric Petrosinelli and Catapult’s North American president Brian Kopp. These two, along with Cleveland Browns receiver Andrew Hawkins and Golden State Warriors assistant general manager Mark Lacob, will discuss the adoption of wearable technology, and discuss how teams are using data from wearable sensors to improve training and in-game decision making. No baseball devices are included in this panel, but the American Sports Medicine Institute’s Glenn Fleisig (who also consults for Motus Global) will be speaking on the Tommy John epidemic at the same time. Zebra’s general manager Jill Stelfox will also participate in a panel describing the “next-generation” statistics their sensors have brought to the NFL.

For those more interested in learning about technology’s impact on the fan experience, there is also a panel on “Designing the Stadium of the Future.” Some of the discussion will undoubtedly center on improving the fan experience, a familiar refrain for returning attendees. But stadium design company Populous is sending Jon Knight, a senior principal, to talk about design innovations and new technologies being incorporated into new stadiums. And YinzCam, a company dedicated to “the ultimate mobile fan experience,” will be on hand to silence any grousing about getting fans off their phones.

And there will be plenty of smaller companies making their debut on the big stage. The Startup Trade Show features 11 companies that run the gamut from fan experience apps to markerless motion capture systems to training managers and fitness guides. The companies will also compete in the Blitz Competition, where these startups pitch their business model to a panel of entrepreneurs for bragging rights and a small cash prize.

And there are a number of other interesting components, from the research papers to the conversation with new MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred (which is sure to touch on the new StatCast system slated to be rolled out this season). Tickets for the conference sold out months ago, but Sloan usually broadcasts the conference over YouTube. Those willing to pay for the subscription (or at least sign up for the 14-day free trial) can enjoy the videos without having to brave the frozen wastelands of South Boston.

(Photo by Matt Sullivan)