Tennis Australia extends relationship with Sportradar to protect matches

The Australian Open and associated tournaments are set to be protected and enhanced for audiences after Tennis Australia decided to extend its relationship with Sportradar.

Sportradar has announced a wide-ranging multi-year partnership extension with Tennis Australia, using its audiovisual (AV) and data content, encoding technology and Integrity Services to protect matches from gambling-related threats and expand their presence across global audiences.

As part of the deal, Sportradar will continue to deliver its AV, data and Integrity Services for the Australian Open, the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific, including the Main Draw, Qualifiers and Wild Card play-offs in Melbourne and Zhuhai, China, as well as the ATP 250 Adelaide.

On-site in Melbourne covering Australia’s summer of tennis since 2016, Sportradar will once again be responsible for helping to showcase one of the most prestigious international sporting events for fans across the world. Sportradar will deliver the matches via its AV encoding services, providing HD streams for the Australian Open’s official website, app and social media channels, and broadcast partners in multiple territories, including Australia, New Zealand, India and the Sub-continent, and the Americas.

The extension comes after a competitive tender process last year and now includes the provision of Sportradar’s Server Slide Ad Insertion (SSAI), a dynamic automated IP-based advertising insertion tool allowing Tennis Australia and its broadcasters to commercialise their streams efficiently.

Sportradar will utilise its combination of technology and expertise to administer and analyse data from the games to provide entertaining content and statistics for its clients to increase engagement. At the same time, it will deploy its award-winning Integrity Fraud Detection Services (FDS) to protect all matches from betting-related integrity threats.

Sportradar’s managing director for sports partnerships, David Lampitt, said: “The Australian Open is a hugely popular event across the world. Tennis Australia has a truly innovative and progressive approach to nurturing and advancing the interests of the game.

“Our combination of cutting edge technology together with our expertise across data, AV and Integrity Services will continue to support those aims. Our own mission in partnering with rights holders like Tennis Australia is clear; we have an ongoing and long term commitment to safeguarding tennis, whilst delivering investment into premium content enabling the continued growth of the game across the world.”