Sportradar (A): From Data to Storytelling

In 2013, the Swiss sports data company Sportradar debated whether to expand from its core business of data provision to bookmakers into sports media products. Sports data was becoming a commodity, and in the future, sports leagues might reduce their dependence on third-party data feeds such as Sportradar’s, prefering to develop data services in-house. Thus, CEO Carsten Koerl believed the company needed to branch into sports media, not merely supplying data to companies but finding ways to tell stories about that data. However, Sportradar's core business was thriving, whereas a recent attempt to branch out into video player tracking systems had proved to be a costly failure. The team weighed the pros and cons of various media ventures, including online sports betting minigames, a social media site, and streaming of sports content.