Professional Fighters League brings data, statistics and Cagenomics' to Europe with new OTT offering Taking data to viewers on OTT for personalisation and interactivity By Heather McLean, Editor Friday, August 7, 2020 - 12:25
Print This Story
Two-time US Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison (left) has seamlessly transitioned from Judo to MMA and had become one of the best women's fighters in the world. Her unblemished run to the 2019 PFL lightweight title ran her pro record to 7-0
The Professional Fighters League (PFL), a US-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation that launched just two years ago, has advanced its roadmap for expansion with the launch of a new over the top (OTT) app to take its cage fighting champions global.
With Europe a key target in the PFL's sights, the app - PFL MMA - is a free to use download available on Apple TV, Roku, Fire, Android, and iOS devices, based on the ViewLift platform.
Peter Murray, CEO and board member of the PFL, spoke to SVG Europe about its expansion plans into the European region, and the use of data to innovate on its new OTT app for increased fan engagement.
Murray stated: We see an incredible opportunity to continue to grow the PFL, in particular outside of the US. Europe is a priority region and that's because of the fan base; combat fans in Europe and the UK are familiar with the sport, they enjoy the sport and they have demand for additional premium content, and that's where the PFL comes in.
We're in the process of growing the league, building our awareness and driving engagement, and the launch of OTT now gives us the opportunity to go direct, he added.
OTT evolution and growth
The OTT app is part of moving this young league forward. Murray explained: The OTT platform and going direct to fans has been part of our long term business model. We launched two years ago and the focus was to establish the PFL brand and our format, our true sport [format]. We're the only MMA organisation to ever stage a Regular Season, Playoff and Championship. So that was really job one. The team was really up to the task and delivered a premium, innovative product that fans have sparked to, and our audience is growing.
The inaugural season of PFL debuted on 7 June 2018, and while the third season was called off completely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Spring 2021 will mark the beginning of the PFL Regular Season, followed by the Playoffs in October, and the World Title Championship on New Year's Eve.
2019 PFL Heavyweight Champion Ali Isaev (left) of Russia accepted his title belt on New Year's Eve 2019 after his fourth round TKO of American Jared Rosholt in New York City. The former Olympian is 9-0 as an MMA fighter
Murray continued: Now that we've established format, we have more work to do and to continue to refine the product and expand the offerings. Now it's the natural evolution for us, the next phase in our business model, to expand beyond [being a] live event company in MMA to an actual destination for combat fans, and [to that end] we're now positioned as a multi-platform media company versus an event company. So it's critically important in the role that OTT will play in growing awareness, driving an increase in ongoing engagement and monetising the PFL IP.
However, he added: It's not just about the event; it's about what gets [the fighters] there. It's about what gets them up in the morning and training. And we cover all of that at the PFL. Beyond the action in the cage, we're storytellers. To grow the sport and to grow PFL, we tell great stories.
Linear channels are still important for PFL, said Murray, although he sees OTT as the future of fan engagement for the PFL. He explained: My view is there's always a role for linear, at least in the foreseeable future, particularly for properties such as ours. We're early in our life stage and when you bring linear into the fold, it creates big events, big promotion, combined with digital engagement. But now with OTT, you really have the opportunity, beyond those live event moments, to engage every day, and for the fans to curate and experience for themselves.
SmartCage, Cagenomics and data
The PFL is an innovative league using technology in a way other MMA organisations are yet to try. It has developed its own proprietary SmartCage technology to deliver real time fighter data and analytics, referred to as Cagenomics'. This Cagenomics data is set to provide a new level of interactivity and engagement for fans over the OTT app, Murray claimed.
He said: We want to be ahead of the trends in terms of how fans engage on a mobile device with our product, and more broadly, with combat.
Our cage is trademarked SmartCage and that really speaks to our technology platform, where we can integrate real time, live athlete performance, measurements, data and analytics, Murray explained. As an example, we were the first ever [MMA league] on every fighter in every fight to show real time punch strike speed. We rolled that out last year in addition to other fighter tracking real time integration into broadcast data and analytics.
He went on: Next year we'll be continuing that innovation under Cagenomics and we'll be the first ever to roll out kick speed on every fighter in every fight next season.
PFL is also working on technology that measures the heart rate of an athlete against the calories burned, called The Burn', so viewers can see how many calories an athlete in the cage is burning versus their opponent, and therefore who is working the hardest. This data will also create a toolset for the fighters themselves, in terms of preparation for matches.
Murray and his team are looking at innovation from the perspective of personalisation. He said: We're looking forward to giv
