The International Hockey Federation announced a new live OTT streaming platform that will be powered by Switzerland-based streaming tech firm Mycujoo. FIH.Live will stream all FIH competitions in 2019 in every global market except those where a broadcaster is already showing matches.
FIH, the international governing body for field hockey, will allow players to create their own digital profiles and post content to the platform. Social media plays a big role in Mycujoo’s service so fans will also be able to post content and interact with each other directly on FIH.Live while watching games. The platform is set to launch on Jan. 10 and will carry matches from the inaugural FIH Pro League, whose regular season also begins this month.
“FIH.Live is a great opportunity for the global hockey community to engage with current fans as well as with people who are yet to become fans,” said Thierry Weil, CEO of FIH, in a press release. “It will also boost the production of user generated content and bring hockey games live to many more fans in a simple way. I’m really happy that we will benefit from Mycujoo’s expertise and creativity to help us [achieve] these goals.”
Viewers will be able to scroll through interactive match timelines, watch specific match action, review statistics and chat with each other on FIH.Live. Mycujoo claims its service will use automatic video capture and tagging to enhance the FIH.Live platform. The user-generated content will allow Mycujoo to gather key data from field hockey fans to ideally help monetize the platform through advertising and sponsorship deals. Mycujoo is giving its video platform to the FIH at no up-front cost but has a revenue-sharing agreement in place, according to Forbes.
“We create the path for the direct to the consumer business model of the future, where rights holders control content, Mycujoo provides the technology, and both co-own and monetize data around a network of powerful communities,” said Pedro Presa, CEO of Mycujoo, according to Forbes. “We ran tests with FIH informally which definitely convinced them to enter into this agreement with us.”
SportTechie Takeaway
Mycujoo’s platform has previously been focused entirely on broadcasting niche soccer leagues from around the world such as the Canadian Soccer Association and the Asian Football Confederation. FIH.Live will be the company’s first partnership with a non-soccer entity. In December, the FIH partnered with a data analytics company to measure FIH’s brand and sponsorship value. Now equipped with a social-driven streaming service, field hockey’s governing body may be hoping to see a spike in revenue generated from consumer data during the FIH Pro League’s inaugural 2019 season.