FIFA TV and BBC Sport have been named in the 2019 Yahoo! Sports Technology Awards shortlist for contribution to technological innovation and increasing fan engagement in the sporting world.

BBC Sport was named as a contender in the ‘Best Technology for Fan Engagement’ category for its development of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia App. The mobile application gave fans the chance to place in-play votes for who they felt should be Man of the Match for each particular game.

FIFA TV, meanwhile, has been shortlisted to receive an award for Best Sports Broadcast. The channel offered extensive coverage of World Cup fixture, as well as match highlights and exclusive game footage.

Rebecca Hopkins, Sports Technology Awards Group CEO, commented: “We are in the sixth cycle of the Yahoo Sports Technology Awards and this year’s entries, once again, push the boundaries of innovation across the sector.

“The shortlist highlights frontrunners in every area and proves that these Awards highlight the industry’s technical progress like no other. Every successful brand should be proud to have made it this far given the high standard of competition. We look forward to unveiling the winners on 2nd May in London.”

This year’s awards ceremony is set to take place on 2 May at the Roundhouse, London.

Devon Fox, Director of Digital Platform Innovation at the PGA Tour and one of the 2019 judges, added: “There were, as always, a wealth of amazing innovations to review, making shortlisting a difficult task.

“It has been fascinating to judge these awards and enjoy advance knowledge of what influences the sector. Investors searching for the next big tech disrupter should check out the work we’ve seen.”

Insider Insight: It does not come as a surprise that technology pertaining to the World Cup has been nominated in more than one category, especially given that it was one of the largest sporting events of 2018.

The improvement to technology has significantly improved fan engagement with the sport, and has – as a result – improved accessibility. The full shortlist can be found below:

Agency of the Year

  • Fanview Media
  • InCrowd
  • Lagardère Sports and Entertainment for the Total Africa Cup of Nations
  • Project11 Sports
  • The Goat Agency
  • Winners FDD for the UEFA GROW IT Maturity Matrix

Best App

  • Fishbrain
  • GameOn for Sky Sports Jeff Bot
  • Lagardère Sports and Entertainment for the West Ham United Official App
  • Major League Soccer Mobile App
  • MatchPint
  • SportsCastr

Best Digital Technology

  • ATP Media Portal
  • FieldTurf for Intelligent Play
  • IBM Watson and ESPN Fantasy Insights
  • iRewind for Migros iMpuls
  • StreamAMG Cloud Matrix
  • WSC Sports

Best Innovation of the Year

  • BT Sport and EE deliver 5G
  • European Tour for ShotClock Masters
  • Hawk-Eye Inspection System for NASCAR
  • Hawk-Eye Live Ball Tracking in Tennis
  • SciSports for Insight Global Football Recruitment Platform
  • Vald Performance for the GroinBar Hip Strength Testing System

Best Sports Broadcast (Single or Series)

  • Discovery and Eurosport
  • FIFA TV for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™
  • LiveLike VR, Fox Sports and BBC Sport for the FIFA World Cup
  • Pixellot Automatic Production
  • Sky Sports for the Premier League Augmented Reality Studio

Best Sports Equipment, Apparel or Wearable Technology

  • Guided Knowledge Wearables
  • LID Helmets
  • Solos Smart Wearable Technology
  • Sports Performance Tracking for SPT2
  • STATSports Apex Pro
  • The Occlusion Cuff Elite

Best Technology for Athlete Welfare

  • Catapult Movement Module
  • Hawk-Eye Medical System for Premiership Rugby
  • HP 1T and Charles Owen Helmet ICS
  • K-Laser Therapeutic Laser
  • Pitch-Ready Post Injury Knee Assessment System
  • Return2Play

Best Technology for Elite Performance

  • 15th Club for the Ryder Cup
  • Kinetic Performance Technology for GymAware
  • K-MOTION
  • SBG Sports Software for RaceWatch Race Strategy
  • SIS Pitches for SISGrass Hybrid Pitch Technology
  • SPORTLOGiQ Performance Analytics Platform

Best Technology for Fan Engagement

  • BBC Sport 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ App
  • CTP for Your Call Football
  • Dimension Data for the Tour de France 2018
  • Formula 1 and Goodform for F1 Fan Voice
  • Formula 1 and Meshh for Project Fanzone
  • Xperiel for The Real World Web

Best Technology for Participation

  • CAP2 for CoursePro
  • Cricket Australia Coach App
  • Motitech for Motiview
  • MyLocalPitch
  • Sports Engineers and Tennis Australia Competition Management Software
  • ASB GlassFloor

Best Technology for Sports Betting

  • Betradar Managed Trading Services
  • Fresh8 Gaming
  • Genius Sports Group
  • Incentive Games
  • Scientific Games for OpenBet
  • Trustly Group for Trustly Pay N Play®

Best Technology for Sports Commerce

  • AtletasNOW
  • mycujoo
  • Minute.ly
  • Nielsen Sports for Sports Connect
  • Sport Stadium Solutions for SeatServe
  • Worldpay for My Business Mobile

Most Innovative Sports Partnership

  • Avid for the European Championships Glasgow 2018
  • Genius Sports and the PGA Tour
  • Harlequins and Adidas for the Flash Charity Jersey
  • IBM Aspera and Fox Sports for the World Cup 2018
  • Intel and LaLiga
  • Mitel and Major League Baseball

Rights Holder / Governing Body/ Team / Sponsor of the Year

  • Mitel and Major League Baseball
  • NASCAR and OMNIGON
  • Powerboat P1 for the Panther Race Boat Upgrade
  • The R&A for Modernising the Rules of Golf
  • The Ocean Race for Southern Ocean RAW
  • Winners FDD for the UEFA GROW IT Maturity Matrix
Previous articleSG Digital’s Benjie Cherniak sizes up Sunday’s Big Game
Next articleMethods in tackling underage exposure to betting effective