As expected, what happened in Rio didn’t stay in Rio, at least as far as Comcast’s X1 video platform is concerned.
The operator said that features unveiled for the X1 Sports App during the Summer Olympic Games two months ago, such as athlete profiles and various in-game stats, will now be permanent functionality for sports broadcasts.
“Starting today, hoops fans can drill into pre-game stats such as team rosters, player profiles and conference standings,” said Preston Smalley, VP of product, sports and X1 apps for Comcast. “During the game, they can track real-time analytics, including player and team points, assists and rebounds — as well as detailed shot maps and scoring summaries. Post-game analysis will include a full recap of both teams’ performances.”
One of the most popular Rio features, Smalley noted, was one that allowed users to get a medal count simply by speaking a command into the voice remote. It was used 1.4 million times, he said.
With that in mind, X1 will now have new voice-command features that will let users pull stats merely by asking questions like, “Eli Manning Touchdowns,” or “Aaron Rodgers vs. Cam Newton.”
The voice feature will be made available for NFL games in the coming weeks and added to NBA and NHL coverage later this year, Smalley added.
“More than 35 percent of our X1 households engaged regularly with the sports app during the Rio Olympics, and we’re excited to bring these changes and enhancements forward and make the X1 sports experience even more pervasive for our customers,” he said.
For more:
- read this Comcast blog post
Related articles:
Comcast turns Olympics into X1 showcase for subscribers and fellow operators
Comcast/NBCU to broadcast 85 hours of Olympics coverage in VR
Comcast: We'll ditch set-tops, just not anytime soon