SVG Sit-Down: Alibaba Cloud's Joey Tan on the Olympics, World Cup, and the Future of Sports Media The company aims to increase its sports presence in China and globally By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - 10:53 am
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Over the past year, Alibaba Cloud, the cloud-computing division of the colossal Chinese conglomerate, has made growing its sports portfolio a major priority. This push into the sports market has been headlined in the past six months by major cloud-services deals with the IOC for the Olympics and FIFA for the World Cup. Meanwhile, Alisports, the company's sports-focused subsidiary, has set its sights on boosting Alibaba's overall sports footprint both in China and around the globe.
At CES 2018, SVG sat down with Joey Tan, head of global strategic initiatives, Alibaba Cloud International, to discuss the company's vision for the future of sports and how the cloud plays into it, Alibaba Cloud's role in the Olympics (and Olympic Channel) and World Cup productions, how fans' media-consumption habits are changing both in the stadium and on the go, the potential of AR and VR for sports, and where he sees AI and cloud technology headed.
Alibaba Cloud's Joey Tan: [In the sports market], all the federations, at some point or other in their life cycle, connect with the Olympics, so we are starting from there.
What are the Alibaba's goals when it comes to growing its presence in sports, and what role does Alibaba Cloud play in achieving those goals?
It starts with our founder's grand vision. Jack Ma has been pushing very much for this transformation. We believe, in the next 30-50 years, technology's going to play a critical role in our everyday lives. So we need to start seriously looking into how technology and sports can bring out a wholesome and immersive experience for all the spectators. That's one of the key reasons we are now focusing on sports.
To do that, we are taking a top-down approach. [In the sports market], all the federations, at some point or other in their life cycle, connect with the Olympics, so we are starting from there. The Alibaba Group's sports movement is driven very much by the Olympics.
There are three categories that Alibaba Cloud serves [in this space]: cloud computing, [streaming] channels, and ecommerce. For cloud[-computing] infrastructure, there's Alibaba Cloud. For the [streaming] channels, there's Youku [Tudou], which is a technology that rides on Alibaba Cloud. And then ecommerce is our B2B [service] that also rides on Alibaba Cloud. We are vertically [integrated], and we are also the foundation provider for all these [categories].
Tell us a bit more on Alibaba's partnership with the IOC and its role in the Olympic Channel operation?
If you talk about the technology, there are two perspectives. First, we've been working with Olympic Broadcasting Services on innovations, such as multiscreen experiences. However, if you look at how the Olympics generates its revenue, [it's primarily by] selling the rights to the broadcasters. [As a result], when we, as a newcomer, are looking to make a transformation, not every broadcaster is going to be ready right away. So we are working to find the right balance between enhancing the audience experience and not upsetting the broadcasters.
Second, we are also focused on the onsite experience [at the stadium]. If you buy a ticket and go onsite, then you should have a well-connected experience that will be very much differentiated from watching on TV at home. That is where the old world of broadcasting and the new world of broadcasting come together. Olympic Channel falls right into the new world while still supporting the [traditional broadcast model].
What do you mean by a differentiated experience at the stadium? How can sports organizations achieve this differentiation?
[For differentiating] the sports-media or sports-video experience, we believe that the lowest-hanging fruit today is to allow the individual - the spectator, if you may - to have the ability to customize and decide what kind of video stream they would like to see. Traditionally, what happens is that the broadcasters will be deciding the [camera] angle for you and who you will be looking at. But things are shifting, and I think you will soon begin to see the [growth of] volumetric media, VR, and AR, where the spectator now has command and control over what they would like to experience from the media.
How do see rapidly changing video- and media-consumption habits changing the sports industry?
I think the expectation of how the community participates in a sports event has changed. It used to be, I go to a stadium, I watch a sport, and I get to be part of the community. But, as people get online and get connected more, they want to feel they are part of the games, even before they take place. So all the way from posting on Facebook and social [networks] to the way you buy tickets, the journey starts way before the game event itself.
Looking at the Olympics, [the IOC] has been trying to increase the participation of the general population, [rather than] it just being popular every two or four years. Between the Games, the engagement drops and then picks up again. That creates a declining trend, and people are beginning to [ask], when it's so costly to organize the Games and the participation of the general population is decreasing, why should we do it? By bringing out our transformative technology and our vision of being inclusive, engaging young people and millennials, we can help the Olympics transform and be at the forefront of engaging with younger populations. The two of us together and create a marriage [made] in heaven.
How can Alibaba Cloud enable next-gen services like VR and AR from a technol
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SVG Sit-Down: Alibaba Cloud's Joey Tan on the Olympics, World Cup, and the Future of Sports Media The company aims to increase its sports presence in China and globally By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
