SVG Sit-Down: Sportradar's Brian Josephs on Data as the Fuel of Sports-Betting Experiences The sports-data provider inks deal with XFL, builds new virtual in-play game for MLB By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, February 14, 2020 - 1:42 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
As data grows into one of the most valuable assets in sports today, one company has distinctly separated itself from the pack in regard to providing America's biggest sports leagues with deep statistics and analytics. Sportradar is leading the way globally on delivering this new level of sports data to broadcasters, sports leagues, and other major entities. In fact, the company is officially partnered with every major sports league in the U.S., including the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL.
At just six weeks into 2020, Sportradar has already extended its dominance over the sports industry, striking a deal to provide data to the XFL and building a new virtual in-play game for sports betting with Major League Baseball.
As Sportradar VP, Digital Sport, Brian Josephs is at the epicenter not just of the use of data to fuel future sports-betting experiences but of an entirely new world of digital and streaming experiences for sports fans. He sat down with SVG to take a look at the year ahead, the growth of sports betting in the U.S., and much more.
Sportradar's Brian Josephs expects media and tech companies to increase experimentation in sports betting this year.
What have been the early-2020 highlights for Sportradar?
The virtual[-gaming] deal with MLB was something that was very exciting to see to come to life. Virtual gaming is probably a foreign concept to many folks in the U.S. but offers a really great experience for fans that want their MLB year-round and bettors that want to engage in that type of product in that way.
It was something that we talked about early on with Major League Baseball, partnering with them on what new or unique betting experiences could look like, what new products can get offered to the market to offer MLB fans that opportunity. Virtual gaming was a really good fit to that.
It was great to see that deal get done and see us come out the gate fast this year, working really closely with a great league partner to bring that to life.
2019 felt very much like a year when people in the sports-betting space positioned their chess pieces: leagues partnering with sports books, partnering with companies like you. Are you expecting more of that in 2020? Where do you guys see yourself in the overall timeline?
I think you'll continue to see more partnerships and announcements and statements coming online. It will be a continued rollout. I don't think we will necessarily see maturation of the U.S. betting market from the media side. 2019 was a year in which a couple of media companies took steps dipping their toe into the betting space. The NBS Sports RSNs were obviously ones that did the predictor game and integrated betting content into a streaming experience. Others, like Amazon Prime Video, have experimented or gone completely live with interactive video experiences.
When we look ahead to 2020, I look at it as a year of experimentation where you will see more and more big media and big technology companies, as well as operators themselves, experiment and try new things, particularly [related] to streaming and in OTT. OTT essentially offers a wonderful platform for innovation, one that I think will be targeted by all sides of the industry for experimentation around both betting and other, different content types and experiences that can be offered to consumers.
Sports betting is, of course, the very trendy thing to talk about right now, but, for your company, it's more than that, right? Data-as-content for leagues is very valuable. One example is Statcast in MLB. How are you involved in that?
Oh yes, absolutely, and Statcast is a good example of a new data set that the league's looking to offer options through. [ESPN] has done a Wild Card Game where they offered a Statcast-heavy broadcast, and it was awesome. The booth at that game did an incredible job, and the content was unique. The graphic integration on ESPN was spectacular, and that, I think to your point, is a really good example of offering consumers an option for those that want it.
That kind of content starts to do two things: one, educate the sports fans here in the U.S. a bit more about betting and what to look for; two, stimulate betting activity from that fan base. So storytelling around betting and leveraging that data, including historical data, is a focus of ours. We're looking at everything from market insights around team performance, how they perform against the spread, over/under betting splits, what volume of bets money is on either side of a particular bet. We're also monitoring in-game alerts looking at close markets, as well as leveraging player props and projections to look at the fantasy player here in the U.S. (as well as the broader fan base that's accustomed to following individual player performance).
It's about looking at the full game-life cycle, leveraging historical data, some of the lines and odds pregame, as well as how those markets are evolving and unfolding over the course of the game. That's really important for us and a big part of what we're working on for this year.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
Genelec announces V2.1 for Aural ID binaural headphone monitoring application posted: 29/05/2026
Aural ID 2.1 enhances binaural monitoring for stereo and ...
SVG Sit-Down: Sportradar's Brian Josephs on Data as the Fuel of Sports-Betting Experiences The sports-data provider inks deal with XFL, builds new virtual in-play game for MLB By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
