Sportnumericus addresses connected TV, second screen
For its first edition last year, the sports and digital media event took place at the Insep, which is situated in the Bois de Vincennes, where numerous top-level athletes train for Olympic sports. In its second year, the organisers selected another iconic landmark of French sport, Stade de France, in the suburb of Saint-Denis, near Paris.
One of the conference sessions on the agenda last Thursday (15 September) was dedicated to connected TV and second screen, with high-profile speakers including Francois-Charles Bideaux (director of sports production at Canal+) and Xavier Spender (director of Equipe 24/24, ie. l’équipe TV and l’équipe.fr).
Accompanied by two representatives from Netco Sports – the company responsible for the graphical design of the interface – Bideaux came to the stage to receive the Digital Sports Innovation prize for the Canal Football App. Launched in August, the app utilises the C-Cast system from EVS.
Canal Foot App may be downloaded from iTunes and, in particular, allows users to view Premier League action from a chosen angle on their tablets. It also gives access to statistics and games information. Already available on iPad and Android, the app is now compatible with all smartphones – a development announced at the Sportnumericus meeting.
Elsewhere during the same session, Spender announced that l’Equipe 21 – the first free sports channel in France – will be launched on 12 December 2012. Initially it was to be renamed l’équipe HD, but the marketing division of the ASO group which owns the l’Equipe newspaper, decided to rename the channel to clearly indicate the DTT channel number on which the station will be broadcast.
“At present ‘HD for high definition’ is a sign of technological advancement, but in the future all television channels will switch to HD so there isn’t much sense in keeping this reference in the name,” says Spender.
Elements of the programme schedule were revealed during a press conference held on the set that took place the very same morning as the Sportnumericus meeting. With a budget of 35 million euros, l’Equipe 21 aims to quickly attain a 0,4 to 0,5 audience ratings point (one ratings points is about 500,000 viewers) and eventually reach a 1,3/1,4 ratings point.
When it starts to air, l’Equipe 21 will be able to reach one in two households, total coverage of the area will be reached over a period of approximately 30 months, according to Spender.