GAME, SET AND AI

The Wimbledon Championships is receiving a digital-broadcast facelift, and probably its most exciting one, over its 151-year history

- GREG WILSON

The Wimbledon Championships is almost as well known for its green lawns, celebrity appearances and strawberries and cream, as it is for its world-class tennis. But behind the English country garden façade, the oldest tennis championship in the world has embarked on an ambitious digital transformation project that now pits the 151 year old tennis club against some of the world’s biggest media firms.

Wimbledon, like many other sports clubs and events, is being swept up in the massive changes brought about by the advent of over-the-top content providers and video streaming. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which hosts the tournament, realised it is essentially a media company with a global tennis brand.

“Sports is disrupting the media industry, and media companies are looking at sports for where they need to go next,” said Sam Seddon, Wimbledon and RFU client and programme executive, IBM.

“That is because sport is at the forefront of the changes in the way people consume and use digital media,” he added.

IBM and the Wimbledon Championships have worked together over the last 30 years. However, since 2012, Big Blue has helped the private members tennis club to create and execute a sophisticated media strategy that enhances the user experience, whether it is for one of the half-million people who attend the event, or for somebody on the other side of the world watching the tournament on their smartphone.

A key driver of change has been the realisation that The Championships exists in a hugely competitive media landscape. The sheer scale, scope and availability of competing media — whether it is sports or not — means that if Wimbledon is to remain relevant it must “act like a data or media organisation that also puts on a sporting event. That is how they have to operate,” said Seddon.