Multiple trophies for ATP at new Leaders Sports Awards

Men’s tennis was at the heart of celebrations on Tuesday night as ATP Media and the ATP picked up two awards at the inaugural Leaders Sports Awards in London. ATP Media’s live-streaming platform, Tennis TV won the On Screen Experience category and Next Gen ATP Finals won the Innovation category for the ATP.

The new Leaders Sports Awards recognises companies shaping the future of sports around the world and the submissions are judged by some of the top executives and experts in the industry.

As the awards have an international focus, both submissions overcame stiff competition and were up against some of the biggest names in sport globally.

Tennis TV streams 2000 tennis matches a year live and on demand and more than 1000 hours of classic ATP World Tour matches to subscribers globally.  Targeting the  avid tennis fan, the product is available to users across streaming devices, smartphones and tablets as well as on desktop and laptops. Its bold design delivers a consistent user experience across devices, whatever the size of the screen.

ATP Media’s ambition was to deliver the best possible product for tennis, making virtually every ATP match available, and setting a new benchmark for OTT sports services, whilst providing the potential of a complementary product for our global broadcast partners.  The product was re-launched ready for the 2017 season and has continued to innovate and evolve since then, launching across more devices, and connecting with more fans globally.

Stuart Watts, COO of ATP Media, said: “We are delighted for Tennis TV to be recognized by such esteemed peers in our industry.  We are tremendously proud of the efforts our team have put in over the last few years to get Tennis TV to this point – not only for its re-launch in 2017 but since then in continuing to improve the service we deliver to tennis fans around the world.”

The inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan took place in November 2017 with a fundamental mission to trial rule changes and innovation in a high profile real tournament environment. The tournament, organised by the ATP in partnership with the Italian Tennis Federation and the Italian National Olympic Committee, championed innovation throughout with the objective of not only promoting the next generation of players, but also targeting the next generation of fans. 

The tournament took place under an innovative fast-paced and cutting-edge TV-friendly format, while at the same time showcasing various technological advances in the sport, including a world-first use of Hawk Eye Live.  The progressive tournament also led to a pioneering new global partnership agreement between ATP, ATP Media and Amazon Prime Video.

Chris Kermode, ATP executive chairman & president, said: “We’re very proud of what we achieved in year one of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan in 2017, and it’s particularly rewarding to see our bold vision for the event recognised with this award  in what was an extremely competitive category. The Next Gen ATP Finals have provided us with an unprecedented platform not only to promote the future stars of the sport but to also trial various innovations, and we look forward to another successful event this coming November.”