Vodafone witnessed a remarkable surge in fan engagement during the Euro 2024 tournament, thanks to the integration of Opta Stream, Stats Perform’s innovative AI-powered live football update service. This strategic enhancement propelled Vodafone’s digital Euro 2024 coverage to the top of Google’s news rankings and significantly outperformed previous engagement metrics.
The Opta-powered Euros match center, developed in collaboration with technology partner Mondia Group, became an instant hit with football enthusiasts. In its first week alone, the revamped platform attracted more users than the preceding six months of Vodafone’s standard sports content offering. This impressive growth underscores the power of real-time, rich media content in captivating modern sports fans.
Opta Stream delivered a comprehensive and dynamic live experience for Vodafone users throughout Euro 2024. The service provided game updates enriched with AI-driven insights, enabling deeper and more engaging storytelling around every match. Key moments were brought to life through Vodafone-branded, automated statistical infographics. These included visually compelling goal sequence breakdowns, dynamic heatmaps illustrating player activity, and continuous live text commentary offering contextual statistics and advanced metrics such as expected goals (xG).
Johanna Heyden, Head of Future Business and Cooperations at Vodafone Innovation, emphasized the impact of Opta Stream’s engaging nature. “We anticipated that Opta Stream’s vibrant automated multimedia updates would resonate more strongly with football fans compared to our previous basic coverage. However, the speed and magnitude of its impact truly exceeded our expectations. Live content is undeniably crucial for engaging football fans, and Opta Stream proved to be exceptionally effective.”
The customization capabilities of Opta Stream also played a key role in Vodafone’s success. “The Vodafone branding integrated into each infographic within our Opta Stream coverage creates an authentic connection with fans, enhancing their overall football experience,” Heyden added.
Alex Lanegger, SVP Product at Stats Perform, commented on the partnership’s success: “We are thrilled that Opta Stream has been instrumental in Vodafone’s impressive audience growth. Our internal testing on fan-facing platforms revealed significant increases in user dwell time with Opta Stream and its immersive counterpart, Opta Stories. Achieving such substantial audience growth for a valued client like Vodafone is particularly rewarding. We are deploying these products across numerous languages and competitions and anticipate similar exceptional outcomes for Stats Perform clients and their users worldwide.”
Nathan Hanley, Chief Growth Officer for Mondia Group, echoed this positive sentiment, stating, “Opta Stream represents a significant advancement for football fan engagement, and we are delighted to have contributed to its successful implementation for Vodafone.”
Opta Stream is part of Stats Perform’s OptaAI suite of products launched in 2024, joining Opta Stories, Opta Points, and OptaAI Studio in offering cutting-edge data-driven solutions for sports media and fan engagement.
