Vodafone has revealed high fan engagement results from integrating Stats Perform’s new AI-enhanced, automated live football update service, Opta Stream.
The telco’s digital coverage of the Euros leapt to the top of Google’s news page following the addition of Opta Stream to their Opta-powered Euros match centre, which was built by Vodafone’s technology partner Mondia Group.
It also attracted more users in the first week than in six months of their previous offering.
Opta Stream provided Vodafone users with rich live multimedia updates of every game at the tournament, including realtime insights for deeper storytelling, powered by AI.
The service also delivers Vodafone-branded, automated statistical infographics at key moments during every game, including goal sequences and heatmaps, as well as rolling live text commentary, contextual stats and metrics like xG.
The freshness and frequency of the live updates, and the power of the automated multimedia content, are believed to be the reasons the digital coverage attracted and retained so many fans.
Johanna Heyden, Head of Future Business and Cooperations at Vodafone Innovation said “We knew live content is the best way to engage football fans, and we expected Opta Stream’s colourful automated multimedia updates to be more appealing than our previous basic coverage. But we are very pleased it made such an impact, so quickly.”
Heyden also highlighted the power of Opta Stream’s customisation for the telco, saying:
“Every infographic in our Opta Stream coverage is also fully Vodafone-branded, which is a nice touch to connect us authentically to fans’ football experience.”
“We’re delighted that Opta Stream has helped Vodafone grow their audience so substantially, so quickly,” Alex Lanegger, SVP Product at Stats Perform said. “In testing on our own fan-facing platforms, we saw a huge uplift in dwell time from Opta Stream and immersive sister product, Opta Stories. To drive such audience growth for a valued client like Vodafone is even better. We’re delivering these products in multiple languages, for hundreds of competitions. Hopefully, they achieve similar exceptional results for Stats Perform clients and their users all over the world,” he added.
Nathan Hanley, Chief Growth Officer for Vodafone’s tech partner Mondia Group, said “Opta Stream is a great invention for football fans and we’re delighted to have helped turn it into such a success for Vodafone.”
Opta Stream joined Opta Stories, Opta Points and OptaAI Studio as part of a range of new products from Stats Perform’s OptaAI stable in 2024.
