International sports broadcaster Eurosport has agreed a partnership with software and solutions provider CA Technologies that has led to the introduction of a new second-screen app to enhance its cycling coverage.
The app has launched to tie in with Eurosport’s ongoing coverage of the Giro d’Italia and is the centrepiece of the cross-platform sponsorship and integrated technology collaboration.
Using CA API Management and CA App Experience Analytics tools, for the first time Eurosport is offering a live interactive map with rider data during this year’s Giro and other key races throughout the season.
The new tools will be built into Eurosport’s existing app and mobile web products to allow fans to track the peloton throughout races, as well as providing select individual rider GPS and biometric data, such as their altitude, speed, power, cadence and heart rate, in real-time.
Eurosport will use the new tools as part of its on-air graphics to enhance its live television coverage.
Eurosport will also be producing additional digital and short-form cycling content, incorporating the new data streams, to be included on the app and its mobile web products. This will include stage previews and reviews, analysis of the key moments featuring slow motion and zoom footage and new ‘Sport Explainers’ – the exclusive Eurosport series explaining the key technical moments in sport – which will be sponsored by CA Technologies.
Additionally, as official software partner for Eurosport’s coverage of cycling’s ‘Grand Tours’, the Giro, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, CA Technology will also receive significant multi-platform branding through on-air and digital advertising and sponsored content.
Eurosport chief executive Peter Hutton said: “This is the next step in our digital transformation and the systems provided by CA Technologies allow us to take cycling fans closer to the peloton than ever before. We will enable viewers to put themselves at the centre of the action, giving them a better understanding of the race, the riders and the stories on the road as they unfold.”
In 2017, Eurosport’s cycling calendar again covers all three of the Grand Tours, with exclusive and extended Giro coverage, plus 25 UCI World Tour events, including all five ‘Monuments’. In total Eurosport will show over 200 days of live cycling and 2,300 hours of coverage across its channels this year.