SVG Sit-Down: Stats Perform's Michael Leon Details Enhancements to PressBox Improved data access, automated/manual insights, mobile content creation are integrated on the platform By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor Thursday, July 14, 2022 - 10:44 am
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Stats Perform has expanded the capabilities of its PressBox platform, giving media a streamlined set of tools powered by AI to deliver high-quality content to fans. Enhancements to PressBox Graphics, PressBox Live, and PressBox Video provide access to data, historical context, and mobile content creation on an integrated platform to meet the demands of modern-day sports fans.
The PressBox platform enables broadcasters, social-media teams, producers, and content creators to access live match data, source ready-to-use video, and create social graphics before, during, and after the game. The AI-powered platform unifies PressBox Graphics, PressBox Live, and PressBox Video with Stats Perform's Opta data and AI-driven applications, supplying the tools that broadcast and media teams need to boost productivity, create large-scale content, and break unique stories faster. It houses these essential tools under a single sign-on.
SVG sat down with Michael Leon, director, U.S. Media, Products and Strategy, Stats Perform, to discuss how the newly enhanced PressBox suite builds on the company's existing Stats Pass product, key new features in all three applications, the platform's sports-betting-data capabilities, and the new PressBox Graphics Mobile feature that allows users to create right from mobile devices.
Stats Perform's Michael Leon: [PressBox Live] has probably garnered the most excitement. It combines automated and manually curated insights and information in addition to play-by-play info.
What is the background of the PressBox platform? How do you envision the new enhancements boosting users' capabilities?
PressBox has been [deployed] on global football for the past couple years, and lots of broadcasters and teams already use it across the pond. Think of it as a truly consolidated tool that can be used by pretty much anyone in this business.
[Previously], I was a Stats Perform customer and leveraged many of their product offerings, including Stats Pass [sports-research tool], during my time at ESPN, MLB, and MSG. The PressBox tool goes beyond the Stats Pass realm in that it has powerful visualizations. It can streamline things for anybody who touches the game - from a digital publisher to a linear broadcaster to a social-media team and beyond. And, if you're an organization that is light on resources and looking for an automation tool, this is perfect.
What do you see as the target market for PressBox?
We've put everything into this one tool, and we've already rolled it out to a bunch of pro- and college-sports clients to demo, but it can be used by anyone who creates sports content. We're excited about what the tool can do in terms of in-stadium experience, how it can help radio and television broadcast teams, and how it can help the digital teams integrate more stats, insights, and visualizations. With PressBox Live, these insights and content can go right into whatever CRM tool is used for marketing, which is a huge advantage for those digital teams. And all of this lives in an API, so a digital team can put that right into their app and provide all of those insights and information. Anybody with the CRM tool that wants to push out some of the insights can grab that right from the API and push that out.
Within PressBox, we also sell everything la carte. If you want to buy one feature in PressBox Live for your social and digital, you can buy just that. Or you can buy the visualizations part or just the betting information. If you want to holistically build out your [operation] around PressBox, you can do that as well.
What are some of the key enhancements that have been introduced for PressBox Graphics?
Within the [PressBox Graphics] tool, there are tabs that have visualizations around everything happening with the game. For the Bengals-Rams Super Bowl, for example, you would have passing-grid information on Joe Burrow and Matthew Stafford and full rushing-grid information.
All of these are downloadable and exportable as PNG or SVG [files], so it's easy for any team in your organization to use. If the social-media team or app team wants to grab that graphic and push it out, they can take those [elements] right from the tool and leverage that content. There are also graphics around betting, [such as] a team summary against the spread over the course of the season and a win-probability chart that fluctuates throughout the game. We also have visualizations showing things like drive-chart summaries and rush-pass balance. In terms of UI, it's all tab functionality: you can click on that tab, click on the visualization you want, download it, push it to whatever platform you want.
And what about the new features in PressBox Live?
[PressBox Live] has probably garnered the most excitement from people who have seen it. It combines automated and manually curated insights and information in addition to play-by-play info.
For in-game [coverage], you get all of the insights and information that is manually curated from our in-house team. We also have the Stream [feature] that provides the play-by-play summary. On top of that, you'll also get our deeper insights for each play: it might say [Rams wide receiver] Cooper Kupp has 10 or more catches in 10 straight games on the season and is the first player from Eastern Washington University to do that.
From a pregame perspective, PressBox Live also has a bunch of automated insights for [our customers] to leverage. It can provide all the betting information you need. As a producer, I always h
