At NTT DATA, we are passionate about sports technology and giving spectators and sports fans the best digital experiences. In 2020, NTT DATA challenged itself to help The R&A put on a new sporting event and give fans an innovative golfing experience. In The Open for the Ages, 50 years of archive footage have been expertly edited and woven together with modern graphics and new commentary. Using NTT DATA technology, The R&A imagined a version of golf’s oldest major contested by legends of the sport including Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
One vital area of support was providing NTT DATA’s expertise in data and intelligence to tease out key information hidden in the reams of historic data held in the archives. Analysis like this helped to determine how the game would have played out had these legends actually competed against each other, and together with a public vote, decided who was crowned champion.
AI was at the heart of the program’s production, supporting human editors in producing additional ‘shoulder content’, automatically compiling highlight clips from the virtual event, and producing engaging clip packages for golf fans.
Events like this demonstrate the incredible power of AI for the media industry during these uncertain times, particularly sports broadcasters. Content vaults have been unlocked to build programs that would have otherwise been occupied by current competitions.
AI, exemplified in the work that NTT DATA is doing this year, is the very tool that can give these old or previously unused assets new life.
