A next generation app with a world-first fan experience, for a new global sports league

The brief

SailGP is a brand new global sports championship founded in 2018 by Larry Ellison and Sir Russell Coutts. Its aim is to redefine the sport of sailing.

A unique nation versus nation format with the best sailors in the world where national teams compete in identical F50 race boats – the world’s most technologically advanced hydrofoiling catamarans.

Apadmi’s job was to match the innovation on the water with a second screen experience that allows SailGP to capture a new global audience and put fans in control of the way they consume SailGP.

SailGP was starting from scratch and so the objectives were simple. Build an audience from the first day of the first race and prove that never-before used technology was possible, stable and scalable, by:

• Creating a never-been-seen-before second screen app experience to build a global audience
• Appealing to established sailing fans as well as a brand new audience of people who are new to the sport
• Streaming eight different video streams, in real-time, from across the world
• Being as relevant to fans at the live event, whether they’re watching TV or just online

And – not insignificantly – we had to deliver this unproven, brand new technology to a very short and very fixed deadline of the first race. There was no margin for error.

The Solution

We started with the second screen app experience.

There are 1,200 data points that deliver real-time data about the boats and their crew, per boat, per race. We had to make sense of all that data in an intuitive, simple and flexible way – the SailGP APP shows boat speed, direction, wind speed, tack angle and a lot more in a visually appealing, compelling way for the fan. It’s not just numbers.

To appeal to sailing fans old and new, we had to provide an experience that would work for everyone – from avid sailing fans through to sports enthusiasts with no knowledge of the sport. We allowed users to choose from Advanced and Basic views.

New fans saw simpler views, with educational visuals for all data points. Experts could configure the data dashboard they wanted, and hone in on specific data from the boats, even comparing the top two teams side-by-side.

But we also wanted to ensure that the SailGP APP remained relevant for live, TV or online audiences. So:

• Fans at the event could use the app as a complement to the live experience (2nd screen). Working with SailGP’s official partner Oracle, we combined Oracle, LiveLine and Tata technology to ensure very low latency, so that what they could see with the naked eye, they saw on the device, as close to real-time as possible – a world-first.
• For TV viewers, we gave them boat cams and boat data, whilst ensuring that the app in each region would correctly restrict feeds to those allowed by the broadcaster.
• The app had to work hardest for fans who only watched via their phone or tablet. This is where our unique visualisation of boat data still combined to make it a compelling experience alongside video streams.

The results

The SailGP APP was live for the first race in 2019. By the second race we had 20,000 downloads and it’s growing quickly. This is just the start.

There is nowhere to hide in live sport – the pressure was on us to deliver an innovative, world-leading app that mirrored the technology, disruption and ambition of SailGP.

We’ve built a platform that makes the Championship even better for fans, and will grow as SailGP does.

What’s new with the SailGP App?

Since developing the solution for the inaugural season of SailGP in 2019, together with the annual global championship we have revamped the award-winning app to provide a more comprehensive look into each event, implementing additional data and viewing options so that users can watch the world’s fastest sail racing how and when they want.

As the global championship prepares for it’s second season we have modified the app to provide a multi-season view, allowing users to jump to specific races from either Season 1 or Season 2, and watch video feed from the events selected.

Fans have full control of their race viewing experience with the ability to customise a variety of settings, including their respective team fandom or level of sailing expertise, and also preferred viewing modes where they can swipe between camera angles during the fleet races for their preferred view of the action.

New for Season 2 is the option to select alternate commentary from broadcasters Jody Shiels and Marc Ablett, which will be tailored towards a younger audience.

Season 2 has been postponed until April 2021 due to Covid-19.