SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Sports data provider Enetpulse has spent the extra year rethinking its solutions for this summer’s showpiece Euro 2020 football tournament.
We spoke to Lyuben Starev (pictured), head of products and content at Enetpulse, about changes to its original approach, new data points and features planned for Euro 2020.
SBC: Can you tell us about your lead sports data solutions for Euro 2020?
LS: The way we look at sports data in Enetpulse is ever-changing due to the always dynamic market and growing needs of our customers. We strive to improve our products by adding new stats, features and solutions in the most beneficial way for our clients.
And our preparation for Euro 2020 has shown no exception to this, rather the opposite actually, so we have used the extra year given due to the pandemic to adjust our products.
A special feature worth mentioning is the Enetpulse Euro 2020 predictor, which provides our clients the opportunity to activate users by competing with each other – either for a prize or simply bragging rights. The predictor was a popular product for the 2018 World Cup, and this time we have improved upon some small details to make it even more user-friendly.
SBC: Given you’ve had the extra year of preparation, what has been the main focus for solutions such as this as we move closer to the tournament?
LS: Our main focus has been to create a complete solution, easy to implement and customise for our clients. We also focused on creating a bigger number of standalone products (widgets) that can be used in the most suitable and beneficial way for our customers. Thus, we give the option to either go with the complete solution or parts of it.
While we are happy to provide a full Euro 2020 Universe for those who benefit from that, our standalone products – especially for media clients – are what makes us flexible and able to meet the requirements for a major event like this.
SBC: So this marks a change in approach from your original plans for last year?
LS: In an ever-changing field like ours, I believe that it is always a challenge to be fully prepared. The extra time has provided us with the opportunity to look at ourselves and our products: Why do we list our data like this? Can we tell more stories about our products? I believe those thoughts are making the biggest difference from our original Euro 2020 solution to the 2021 version.
That said, the past year has been full of losses and disappointments – also in the world of sports. We like to see it as a responsibility to bring happiness, joy, and excitement about football back. We most definitely cannot do it alone, but we can start by providing engaging and attractive solutions for our clients to spoil the fans among their users.
And how does it show in the 2021 version? Most importantly, we have put extra resources in the user journey, meaning our clients’ users. This shows with smoother designs, but also with improved product visualisations to actually highlight all the quality data that we provide.
The data itself has no value without being used in an engaging way, and that is what we have put our focus into exploring even more during the past year. Especially by optimising our front-end solutions, not only with the purpose of selling these but also to showcase to other clients how our data could be activated in order to excite the sports fans.
SBC: Are there any specific new data points we should look out for this summer?
LS: We have added a bunch of new features to our product portfolio such as extended live coverage of player and team stats, milestones, heatmaps for goals, assists, shots on target, shots off target, crosses, etc. We have redone and improved our unique Enetpulse rating system which will be also available for the coming seasons.
SBC: And has this focus on more data made new products available to your clients?
LS: The additional data points are significant and something only a few providers on the market match. Besides data, and knowing how important fan engagement is in 2021, we are very proud to now have one of the best and modern video edit services available on the market for all our rights-holders clients.
With our Live video highlights service, ‘PEAK’, our clients can have professionally cut videos for different data points depending on their needs and available in just a few seconds. PEAK ensures us another dimension in the coverage, and commercially it can be a great asset for businesses. Not only for the Euro 2021 tournament, but also looking forward to other major leagues and events.
SBC: Okay, so why should Enetpulse be the ‘go to’ partner this summer?
LS: Being one of the most reliable sports data providers in the world for the last 20+ years gives us the confidence that we can help our clients succeed. There is nothing more satisfying for us here at Enetpulse than seeing our clients grow. Euro 2020 is definitely the “cherry on top” for the football world this year and we have “it all” covered.
SBC: Just finally, what trends have emerged in the world of sports data? And how do you expect to see this change in the coming years?
LS: For many years, a lot of data has been collected and provided without always knowing why and how to use it. If I am to guess, there will be a more selective way of looking at data in the future. Questions why and how will be more important than how much.
We have put a lot of resources into figuring out not only what our clients ask, but what they actually need. It is our hope that our products will be even better optimised and precisely selected looking forward.
