Digital & Dirt
00:38:06 · Monica Ellingson
[00:38:06] S1: Yeah. I think the likelihood of when we've had for a few years now and and really it... You know, fans expect this. You know, they... They're looking for predictive, you know, performance measurements. And, you know, of course, everybody wants to see like, oh, IBM was wrong this time. But the thing that I really like that we we did this year was we actually two years ago, we changed the likelihood to win to be live. So to produce the likelihood to win, we are analyzing. At the US Open, we have access to twenty years of historical data. Of course, we have live stats that are coming in. And so these are updated after every single match. And then we're also processing what everyone in the industry. So what are the pundits talking about these particular players? And all that comes together to make the likelihood to win. And then after every single point in the match, we're updating that. So you can see this ebb and flow of momentum, which you mentioned earlier and which really helps with the storytelling. But we rolled out the live likelihood to win, which updated after every point two years ago. And I was looking at it and I said, but if you're a fan and let's say you stepped away for a few minutes and you come back in and you're like, what happened right here? What happened at that momentum shift? So we then we added in, you know, key... The key points, which basically talks about, at that particular momentum shift, what happened so that you can catch up and get a better understanding as the tug of war between two players occurs, you know, what happened at that particular point? What was the key that pushed it over the edge, you know, back over to, you know, the other player, etcetera? So we're just continuing to evolve that as a storytelling measure, you know, because like you said, I mean, every single sport has some level of momentum involved in it. And, you know, that's really these, you know, when that shift, that momentum shift occurs is think about like, you know, any kind of story you're trying to tell, you have a, you know, the buildup and then you have, you know, the climax. So it's the climax of the story. You know, what happened at that point, you know, and continue to evolve that and, you know, be able to help with these storytelling measures.
00:40:26 · Monica Ellingson, Ian Dallimore
And, again, you know, expand the resources of our editorial teams and expand the available content to further personalize these fan experiences. [00:40:35] S0: Yeah. And just to clarify, I wasn't rooting for IBM to be wrong. Was rooting for for the team that that I'm rooting against to to lose in that momentum switch over. But... And you kinda touched on my my next question is you guys do such an amazing job of taking extremely complex data and technology and just making it feel very simple and intuitive to the end user. And I know that's the majority of what your job is, is to take that data and to make it very simplistic. But that's not very easy to do. Right?
00:41:05 · Monica Ellingson, Ian Dallimore
[00:41:05] S1: No. No. I think... I mean, probably the Masters App is the the best example of that and, you know, being able to... You know, it's very difficult to get a ticket to the Masters. And, you know, we want to bring the beauty and the traditions behind Augusta National as well as the performance of the players, you know, and to create a... An elegant digital experience that not only bubbles up data, but, you know, makes you... Does capture some of the beauty of being there on the course. So it's extremely important, you know, thinking about, you know, supporting the Masters brand, all of the different iconic elements of that within a digital space while also pushing the the envelope behind innovation and bringing, you know, new first of a kind experiences to golf fans, you know, across the globe. So that's that's probably, you know, one of the... You know, and the fact that you can't bring your phones there either. So it's a completely virtual fan experience. And that's something that's, you know, always at the forefront of our minds of, you know, how continue to innovate? How do we continue to tell these data driven stories, yet preserve, you know, beauty within that and create something that is as elegant and as fantastic as the azaleas at Augusta National? [00:42:30] S0: What which partnership came first? The US Open, USTA or the Augusta? [00:42:35] S1: I think it's actually Wimbledon is the oldest. [00:42:38] S0: Oh, Okay.
00:42:38 · Ian Dallimore, Monica Ellingson
[00:42:38] S0: Oh, Okay. [00:42:38] S1: So so yeah, you know, both the USTA and the partnership there and Wimbledon are over thirty years. But I think it was Wimbledon first, then the US Open, and then the Masters soon after. But but all of them, you know, are are around the thirty year mark for a partnership. [00:42:55] S0: Yeah. And I guess the question comes a little bit deeper because it's... Do you find taking data from certain sporting events and then seeing like, hey, this makes sense to move this. Obviously, the sports, the data itself different, but how you present that data. Does the tennis side help with the golf side and vice versa? Like, oh, here's a stat we haven't thought of. Like, I think about the swing quality. Like, do you then transition that over to the swing quality in golf? Like, do those transition over in a way or at least inspire to think about different data points that are similar?
00:43:29 · Monica Ellingson
[00:43:29] S1: Yeah. I think it I think it inspires, you know, you know, because there are themes that are consistent across, you know, all of the different brands or challenges even that we're trying to... That we face. You know, one of them I've already mentioned in terms of, you know, being able to free up, you know, valuable editorial resources, you know, to focus on storytelling and using their creative energy. You know, another is, you know, representing the the the brand and its own voice. But in terms of inspiration, yes. You know, because at, you know, all three of the the major partnerships that I talked about, US Open, Wimbledon, and The Masters, we're lucky that we have vast volume... Access to vast volumes of data. So we're able to process that, analyze that, and help with storytelling and, you know, auto generational content within that space. But just thinking about sports as a whole, you mentioned momentum. Momentum is something that I can't even think of a sport that wouldn't have some kind of a momentum shift. So and thinking about the different components of performance. So performance in terms of physical readiness. How does the weather contribute? How does the physical space, the environment contribute to a player's performance? What about mental toughness? I mean, that's something that I've been chasing for over a decade in terms of being able to better capture and analyze a a stat or insights related to to mental toughness. And, you know, all of these things definitely inspire us.
00:45:07 · Ian Dallimore, Monica Ellingson
[00:45:07] S0: So obviously, tennis men... Mental toughness is key. I mean, fact that those women and men play four to six plus hours deep into the night sometimes is mind blowing to me. But I just wrote a note down, the mental toughness side on golf and then tying in that historical data of a golfer that's been at Augusta, you know, the last seven years and on this hole, they did this, this, and this. So for you guys to dissect that down, like, that's wildly exciting as a fan to be like, woah, I had no idea that Rory was at this hole four years ago and he eagled it. So today, statistically, what is his chances of eagling here and then watching the momentum and maybe it start sprinkling. See, look, my mind works like yours. [00:45:51] S1: See, you're already brainstorming. [00:45:52] S0: What else can we do? I know. Can I come intern for you? Let's do this. [00:45:55] S1: You just stepped inside my mind right there. I know.