Canal+ and PIQ Sport Intelligence announce boxing viewer experience partnership

PIQ Sport Intelligence, a leading start-up in IoT for sports, and European broadcaster Canal + have announced that they are partnering to create the ultimate broadcasting experience for boxing lovers. For the first time ever, TV viewers will get access to live stats of the fights thanks to sensors to be worn by the boxers.

Canal + editorial teams, as well as Euromedia-NetcoSports technical teams, and PIQ technological teams have worked together to rethink the boxing event experience and enrich its content. This approach will enhance the broadcast of boxing events, offering a more engaging experience for viewers. Viewers will soon have live access to key fighting stats that were previously not available, such as the speed of punches, and the power – measured as a g-force – or the retraction time. These stats will allow viewers a better understanding of the technique and the performance of each boxer.

This data is available in real-time thanks to PIQ’s unique expertise and patented technology. This start-up is focusing on IoT (Internet of Things) for sports and has designed a nano-computer that records and understands, thanks to AI, the movements and strokes of sports players by the milliseconds. This motion-capture algorithm is protected by 10 international patents and is now available to revolutionise the broadcasting of sports events.

François-Charles Bideaux, Head of sports production at Canal+ comments: “Thanks to our collective expertise, and most notably, the access to PIQ’s technology, CANAL+ subscribers will get access to a unique intimate understanding of boxing for the first time, right there on the ring to understand the true dynamics of a fight. This immersive set-up engages viewers well beyond traditional TV broadcasting.”

Real-time impact

The sensors are worn by the boxers during the event and data is displayed at key moments of the fights. Viewers are able to see in real-time the speed of punches, the power, and type of punches — as well as many other data points.

The first fight featuring PIQ’s data was broadcast live on June 2. The next fights with PIQ’s data will be broadcast on July 1 (Diallo v. Donfack & Goulamirian v. Williams).

The PIQ technology and sensors have also been used in the new Canal+ TV show, Invisible, an ambitious project in which a sports movement is broken down and analysed thanks to an ultra-slow-motion camera.

PIQ Live is a new product and team dedicated to the growing needs of media outlets to enrich their content and differentiate their viewers’ experience during sports events. Thanks to the expertise and the quality of the data gathered by PIQ’s sensors, sports broadcasting enters a new era, events are more exciting and interactive, and each viewer becomes an expert.

The sensors worn by pro athletes during these events are also available to consumers. Each can then measure their performance and compare themselves to the pro-athletes they see on TV.

Cédric Mangaud, CEO of PIQ Sport Intelligence, says: “We are proud to launch this revolution with CANAL+, a network that has continuously innovated in sports broadcasting for the last 30 years. Our ambition is to change how viewers consume sports events by bringing new data, while allowing them to have access to these innovations themselves in their everyday sports sessions, [thereby] creating a community of involved sports players.”