IAB Tech Lab Summit: Manny Puentes on how Genius is taking on live sports

Summary

Marketecture Podcast Summary: IAB Tech Lab Summit Featuring Manny Puentes on Genius Sports

Podcast Information:

• Title: Marketecture: Get Smart. Fast.
• Host: Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi, Marketecture Media, Inc.
• Episode: IAB Tech Lab Summit: Manny Puentes on how Genius is taking on live sports
• Release Date: December 2, 2024
• Link: markitecture.tv

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1. Introduction to Genius Sports

In this insightful episode of the Marketecture Podcast, hosts Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi sit down with Manny Puentes, a key executive from Genius Sports, to explore how the company is revolutionizing the live sports advertising landscape.

Key Points:

• Company Overview: Genius Sports has been a pivotal player in the sports data industry for over two decades, employing around 2,500 people and partnering with 400 leagues globally.
• Core Competency: The company specializes in collecting and analyzing play-by-play data across various sports, providing a robust foundation for integrating data into the advertising ecosystem.

Notable Quote:

“Genius Sports is actually been around for decades, two decades… they founded their roots in data collection. So, like, think about play by play data.” – Manny Puentes [01:08]

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2. Advanced Data Collection and Technology

Manny Puentes delves into the sophisticated technologies that Genius Sports employs to gather and process data, emphasizing the transition from manual data collection to advanced computer vision and optical tracking.

Key Points:

• Data Precision: Each player is tracked with 7 to 10,000 mesh points, capturing every movement and action on the field.
• Technological Evolution: From traditional data collectors on the field to state-of-the-art computer vision systems, Genius Sports has significantly enhanced data accuracy and reliability.

Notable Quote:

“They have unbelievable technology where just imagine everything that you have to know… what the actual play is and so on and so forth.” – Manny Puentes [02:25]

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3. Integrating Data into Advertising Ecosystems

The conversation shifts to how Genius Sports leverages its extensive data collection to create unique advertising opportunities within live sports environments.

Key Points:

• Data Utilization: The integration of play-by-play data into advertising allows for highly personalized and contextually relevant ad placements.
• Sports Betting Synergy: As sports betting grows rapidly in both EMEA and the U.S., Genius Sports' data capabilities position it as a crucial player in creating tailored advertising experiences for this sector.

Notable Quote:

“Sports betting is essentially one of the fastest growing sectors in both EMEA and the U.S.… It’s a lot of data. It’s a lot of interactions.” – Jeremy Bloom [05:11]

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4. Enhancing Fan Engagement

Genius Sports doesn’t just stop at data collection; they actively engage fans through interactive products like games, quizzes, and surveys, fostering deeper connections between fans and leagues.

Key Points:

• Free-to-Play Products: These tools enhance fan engagement and provide valuable data that Genius Sports can further analyze and utilize.
• Ultimate Touchpoint: By creating interactive experiences, Genius Sports establishes meaningful conversations with fans, enhancing brand loyalty and engagement.

Notable Quote:

“They work directly with the leagues to find that engagement. So if you go to a particular league and you go, you know, to games… they power that.” – Manny Puentes [04:19]

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5. Personalized Advertising through Stable Identity

A significant focus of the discussion is on how Genius Sports creates a stable identity graph for fans, enabling precise targeting and personalization in advertising.

Key Points:

• Stable Identity: Unlike traditional cookies, Genius Sports employs a stable identity that transcends devices and platforms, ensuring consistent and accurate targeting.
• AI and Machine Learning: Leveraging decades of expertise, the company uses advanced AI to segment and profile fans based on psychographic and behavioral data tailored to sports.

Notable Quote:

“We think about identity… with all this privacy and regulation… it's actually a really nice point in our evolution because what you end up with is stable identity.” – Manny Puentes [09:01]

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6. Dynamic Creative Suite and Real-Time Optimization

Genius Sports introduces a next-generation creative suite that dynamically updates advertisements based on real-time data from live events, transforming how brands interact with fans during games.

Key Points:

• Dynamic Ads: Integrates live play-by-play data to adjust ad creatives on the fly, ensuring relevance and engagement.
• Creative Personalization: Ads can reflect specific moments in the game, such as goals or notable plays, creating a seamless and immersive experience for viewers.

Notable Quote:

“You have creative that’s going to dynamically update based on everything that’s going on… we are pushing these updates… we are always going to be updating the creative so marketers can be up to real time.” – Manny Puentes [07:08]

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7. Moments That Matter: Extending Brand Engagement

One of the standout features discussed is the ability to connect advertising with pivotal moments in sports, thereby extending brand engagement beyond the live event.

Key Points:

• Real-Time Alignment: By identifying and responding to significant in-game moments, Genius Sports ensures that advertisements are contextually relevant and timely.
• Web Extension: The platform can align advertisements with moments as they trend online, amplifying the reach and impact of brand messages.

Notable Quote:

“We put a creative on top of the goal… They were showing when the goal happened, the creative came up.” – Manny Puentes [16:54]

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8. Future Vision: Redefining Sports Experiences through Technology

Manny Puentes articulates a forward-thinking vision where Genius Sports continues to innovate, integrating AI, machine learning, and creative strategies to transform the sports advertising industry.

Key Points:

• Activation Platform: Moves beyond traditional DSPs by activating ads programmatically within the live sports experience.
• Industry Transformation: By combining stable identities, dynamic creatives, and real-time data, Genius Sports aims to revolutionize how brands engage with sports fans.

Notable Quote:

“We are an activation platform that really will have that conversation with you.” – Manny Puentes [10:53]

“We have AI, machine learning…the platform that will change the industry.” – Manny Puentes [19:48]

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9. Conclusion

The episode wraps up with hosts expressing their enthusiasm for the transformative potential of Genius Sports' technologies in the realm of live sports advertising. Manny Puentes highlights the seamless integration of data, AI, and creative strategies as the cornerstone of Genius Sports' innovative approach.

Closing Quote:

“We are here again. And it’s with creative, it’s with identity, it’s with taking everything we’ve known in advertising… now you have a platform that will change an industry.” – Manny Puentes [19:48]

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Final Notes: This episode of the Marketecture Podcast offers a comprehensive look into how Genius Sports is leveraging cutting-edge technology and data analytics to redefine live sports advertising. Manny Puentes provides valuable insights into the company's strategic initiatives, highlighting the intersection of sports, data, and personalized marketing.

For more episodes and in-depth vendor interviews, visit markitecture.tv.

Transcript

[Current Podcast Host]

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[Jeremy Bloom]

Hi, everybody. I am Jeremy Bloom. I am here with Manny Puentes.

[Manny Puentes]

How's it going, Jeremy?

[Jeremy Bloom]

I'm great, Manny. How are you?

[Manny Puentes]

Fantastic. Glad to be here.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Awesome. I am here with the Advertising Forum and we are partnering with the IAB Tech Lab at the International Summit. So to kick things off, Manny, as you can see right behind me, this is the end of the beginning. Nothing will be the same. Now that's a line from Churchill. But how does that relate to Genius Sports and what you're doing at Genius Sports? Why don't you tell us a little bit for those that don't know?

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah, for sure.

[Jeremy Bloom]

What's Genius Sports?

[Manny Puentes]

Well, look, Genius Sports is actually. It's been around for decades, two decades. Their public company, about 2,500 people. They work with 400 leagues globally. Like, it's an incredible company. And they basically, you know, founded their roots in data collection. So, like, think about play by play data.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

So if you know things that are happening on the field. So in the case of the NFL, everything that happens on the field, Genius Sports knows about it.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

And it's really incredible because it's this unique opportunity to start to bring that type of data into the advertising ecosystem, but just a little bit more about them. Yeah, please. So essentially, like, if you know everything that's going on in the field.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Then you can use that data and you can normalize it and you can create a taxonomy around it. And, you know, they're really interesting. They're really amazing company in that they started out where they'd go and collect data and maybe you'd have somebody out in the field collecting that data. And now they're advanced to using computer vision and optical tracking.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Amazing.

[Manny Puentes]

Just imagine what that means.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Let me ask you this. What does that mean? What are they doing with all that data analysis?

[Manny Puentes]

Well, I mean, it's absolutely incredible.

[Jeremy Bloom]

You're talking billions of data points.

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah. For one, for like just a player, there's like 7 to 10,000 mesh points of like, everything that's happening, you know, on the field. But also they even understand the density of a player.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

And it's just they have unbelievable technology where just imagine everything that you have to know, right? You have to know all the players, you have to know, you know, identify them and then running models on, you know, what the actual play is and so on and so forth. So it's just, it's just an incredible like technology, right. They actually have, you know, exclusive, with their exclusive data distributor for the, for the NFL, you know, official data distributor for the Premier League and you know, basically incredibly advanced when it comes to knowing what's happening on the field. Sure, right, sure. Okay, so, so what does that mean in advertising?

[Jeremy Bloom]

What does that mean for us, the actual advertising community? Okay, so, but thank you for the background.

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Just, you know, so they have a product portfolio where when they work with leagues, they also have what they call free to play product portfolio. And they work with providing like games and quizzes and surveys and they work directly with the leagues to find that, you know, that engagement. So if you go to a particular league and you go, you know, to games, if you will. Yeah, they power that.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

So think about what that means. You know, you now you are, you know, helping the league with that fan engagement.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

And that is like the ultimate touch point with a fan.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

You start to have like a conversation because, well, you can interact with them and ask questions. And so they're really advanced when it comes to building those types of games and surveys and so on and so forth. So if you think about now, they have data, play by play data. And you also work with leagues to highly engage the fan with quizzes and surveys and so on and games and so on and so forth. You naturally, they have years and decades of experience really managing that data.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

And modeling that data. And modeling that data.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

And so they power sportsbooks globally.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

So they know everything about the data to create markets.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right, sure.

[Jeremy Bloom]

And as sports, as sports betting is essentially one of the fastest growing sectors in both EMEA and the U.S. that's right. It's a lot of data. It's a lot of interactions.

[Manny Puentes]

Oh yeah. So we talked about the data on the field, we talked about the fan engagement product portfolio, and then let's talk about what that means. So if you now have optical tracking and you can really understand the coordinate space of any digital stream, all of a sudden you can open up these unique opportunities, advertising opportunities.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Because you are able to interpret this 3D coordinate space. And so the thing that is incredibly exciting is that as we continue to Progress. You know, we are always caught up in, like, we think about linear, and we think about the, you know, the transition from linear to digital. Then we think about vast. Yep.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

So the way that we actually engage with advertising today is like you're watching a video stream and then there's an ad break.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Sure.

[Manny Puentes]

And then you watch the ad.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

And then you go back to the stream and you're like, okay, well, that's pretty disruptive.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

It's basically getting in between, like, you're excited, and then, oh, here's an ad game.

[Jeremy Bloom]

You're truly watching about 15 minutes of actual play time, and you're spending three, three and a half hours of just.

[Manny Puentes]

Well, it gets even worse in digital because, you know, in linear, at least when you're getting the advertisements, you're like, okay. You know, you're kind of just walking through them.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Sure.

[Manny Puentes]

In digital, there's a little spinner at the top that says you got two minutes left. And you're like, what? Right now I know how long I'm gonna be here. Right, sure. So.

[Jeremy Bloom]

So where does Gina Sports fit into this?

[Manny Puentes]

Okay, so this is the incredible part, which is because you understand everything on the field and you can understand the coordinate space, you can now seamlessly integrate ads within the experience.

[Jeremy Bloom]

That's awesome, right?

[Manny Puentes]

Incredibly awesome. Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Because now you can take what's happening on the field and you can get creative where you can start to personalize that it's the next generation of. You know, because we always wonder about, like, what. Okay, well, we have vast and we have the way, you know, there's. We have, you know, the way that we incorporate advertising today into streams. But as we're continuing to evolve in technology, it's like, you know, there's actually a time and place that it's truly part of the ecosystem that you're enjoying. So from.

[Jeremy Bloom]

From our viewers perspectives, I'm a Chicago Bears fan. You were telling me that you have been Boulder. So if you're a Denver Broncos fan.

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Help me understand if I am watching, if I'm watching the Bears game and if I'm cheering on my favorite athlete, how is this going to be personalized to me as a fan versus to someone that is in Pittsburgh, someone that's in Boston, someone that's in Los Angeles.

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah. So we know. I mean, look, we sit at the center of sports, Right. And so we know everything about the fan, and that's actually one of our true core product pillars, is that if you think about, like, identity. Right. And sure, there's a lot of evolution identity, there's privacy, there's everything else. But I look at all those things as positive because essentially what you're getting out of this is a stable identity.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Like if you think about the cookie, we've been around this for a long time. You think about the cookie. If you think about the cookie, right. And you think about the publisher, then you think about the SSP and then the dsp, they all have a different version of the cookie because you have to actually cookie tie. And so it's only the over. Okay. With all this privacy and regulation coming in and really starting to change the industry. It's actually a really nice point in our, in our evolution because what you end up with is stable identity. And I'm starting to talk about this. But. But the reason why that's important. Yep. Is because if you think about identity graphs.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Most identity graphs, the center of that in our case is a fan.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Sure.

[Manny Puentes]

Right. The first ring around that is cross device.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Second ring around that is cross platform. If you can connect the IDs, you can have cross platform and find the audience. What I'm incredibly excited about is that like the third ring of that is understanding the seasonality of where the sports fan is going to engage. And because we know this entire ecosystem, we know on the timeline of the year where you're highly going to be engaged. So if it's like football season, we're going to give you football. Yeah, exactly. We're going to know exactly the team you have an affinity to. We're going to know the players you like.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

We have the data to understand that.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Where does AI fit into this kind of data and into the modeling just.

[Manny Puentes]

Like it would like psychographic, behavioral. It's just applied to sports.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

So like others are applied to like the device and the cross platform and then the attributes to that. So like our segmentation will be, you know, will be an intelligent profile.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Like they, they've had AI machine learning forever.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

They've had to, they've been around for 20 plus years. Like, like they've had to. So it's core to who they are. But you get someone like me that comes up and you see all of these ingredients. Like I still have, you know, one more product pillar I'd love to tell you about. But like you start to see all of these things as someone like me that's been in advertising for 26 years and I'm like, this is going to change the world. Right. We're not generically going and Finding audiences like a DSP would. We're an activation platform that really will have that conversation with you.

[Jeremy Bloom]

So tell me about that next pillar.

[Manny Puentes]

Okay, so here's the next pillar, which I think is incredible. You have. So basically what I laid out here was, and I still have to tell you how we use the play by play data. But basically what I'm laying out is proprietary inventory and new formats that the world has never seen.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Can you get into any of those formats for us?

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah, I can actually. I actually showed some of it on the screen here today.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Amazing.

[Manny Puentes]

You. We now have the understanding of a fan, right. Because we've been in the industry for a long time and we Identity graphs have been around forever and they're really important.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Sure.

[Manny Puentes]

But with the stabilization of the ID and the identity graph. And then if you think about why we're even here, it's because linear is moving to new fronts, digital. And what does that mean for marketers? It's like, oh my goodness, I can actually use the end of the beginning. Nothing will be the same. I can use addressability. Right. I can actually measure measurement, personalization or I can actually personalize. That is the, like that is the gold mind.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

For a marketer.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

To be able to do that. So the third pillar is that we have what we call an activation platform that has programmatic as a channel of many channels. And the third part of it is we have what we call a genius creative suite. So now imagine love some good creative suite. No, no, no. So now think about this. You've got AI coming in over the top, right. You have a creative suite that incorporates these native data play by play feeds.

[Jeremy Bloom]

So like of course, for individual players.

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah, so we, yeah, so we work well, we have to.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Because we create markets for the sports betting industry.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Of course.

[Manny Puentes]

So now imagine having, like I said, we were like exclusive with the NFL and we are official for the Premier League. All these data feeds that we work with 400 leagues globally, they're all integrated into the creative suite, right. So now think, now let's put it all together, which is for the first time in the world, you have these feeds that will dynamically update creative and optimize and depersonalization down to like. We have AI that says here's where you're going to have a lot of attention in the creative and here's the moment within the creative. Like, you know that we believe like may have a call to action because people are engaged in it.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right, right.

[Manny Puentes]

Oh, but on top of that, we're always Constantly knowing what's happening in the live game that's happening right now. And we're also, we're always going to be updating the creative so marketers can be up to real time. So when. So we think about like you hear in advertising all the time, like, moments that matter. Yeah, but what does that really mean for traditional platforms? Like, what does it really mean? It's like, okay, well, I have a bash request from a live game. I mean, that's about it. Oh, and I can pace really well. You have predictability, right? Yeah.

[Jeremy Bloom]

This is amazing.

[Manny Puentes]

So now think about. So now think about. You have. This is why we differentiate from a dsp, because we're saying, okay, well, we know access to programmatic channels can get to the live events. Great, we have that. But we also can get to the live event itself. Now I'm going to tie it all together for you. You have creative that's going to dynamically update based on everything that's going on. Because we have to know everything that happens in the field. Of course, at the time that it happens, we're pushing these updates. We give marketers the ability to actually understand and know the fan and be able to target them, but have a conversation with them. And what I'm most excited about is that it's stable identities that have this ability to not, you know, because people talk about frequency capping and everything else. Like when you have a strong, stable identity and you reach a fan, you all of a sudden you're in this moment where you're like, oh, I can also use it for the mechanics of knowing how many times I've talked to you. Oh, and by the way, I'm not going to shout at you. Like, advertising tends to shout at you.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right?

[Jeremy Bloom]

Like a lot of shouting.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right?

[Manny Puentes]

A lot of shouting.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Frequency issues, reach issues, a lot of shouting, right.

[Manny Puentes]

So I like to talk about this in the form of conversation. Right, okay. So, okay, so we have access. You can access all the channels that you are comfortable with because the activation platform does that for you. And here's the big. Here's the really incredible part. So because we've basically tied all of that together, now imagine a world which is true, and this creative format, I'll actually share that with you. But now let's just imagine that, like in the case of what Jude kicked the bicycle kick and brought England back to life. Incredible moment. Right, well, we knew about that, right? We had to.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

We're feeding markets, so all of that data is fed into our platform as well. So now that Moment happened. Let's just say that the new creative format was already in programmatic, because actually we worked with Brentford and basically we would put a creative on top of the goal.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

What's Brentford soccer? Right, thank you. And. And we put a creative on top of the goal, and then we had replays within the stadium where they were. They were showing when the goal happened, the creative came up.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Okay, so now let's talk about moments that matter for just one second. I mean, like, I love talking about this was.

[Jeremy Bloom]

My next question was, tell me what about moments that matter? Tell us about. Just your vision is to be everywhere in sports, redefining experiences through technology. And so that was the last thing I wanted to hit on.

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Bloom]

And you're talking about it right now, so please.

[Manny Puentes]

Okay, here it is.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Yep.

[Manny Puentes]

This is. This is now where we have evolved.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

I've told you about the evolution. We've talked about this ability, the three pillars. Here's where it gets really exciting. Yep. So now if you can. If you incorporate the creative within the experience, like we talked about, being able to put creative on top of the goal. Because genius is who it is and knows that something, some moment happened that mattered. Like in the case of the bicycle kick, you can actually align a brand next to that moment. But it gets better than that because all that data is fed back to us. We take all the metadata, like who it was, where the stadium is, what time it was, the actual game, the players, the teams, and we actually create a dynamic segment that then, you know how contextual works, that then crawls the web looking for all of the metadata that we took out of the game in real time and start aligning that same brand that happened on the goal in the case of the bicycle kick, and start aligning it to. As journalists are starting to write about it on the web.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Because it's dynamic, moment that mattered, contextual segment. And all of a sudden, that same brand gets to extend the moment that mattered into the extension of the moment, to continue to align the brand to that particular event that is monumental to a fan.

[Jeremy Bloom]

So from a soccer or a football perspective, not American football, but from a soccer perspective, a basketball perspective, it's an assist is what's taking place.

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Bloom]

You're assisting your media partners and you're assisting your brands that are believing in your technology, helping them expand above and beyond.

[Manny Puentes]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jeremy Bloom]

So it's awesome, man.

[Manny Puentes]

Think about that. Like, so I am like, I think about, you know, this brilliant moment that we have, you know, and there are pockets of it.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right.

[Manny Puentes]

Like, I remember when we were doing direct and it was just simple ad serving. And then, you know, you start working with the industry and like, oh, we have this thing called rtb and everybody's like, well, what's that?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Right?

[Manny Puentes]

And that. But that was a, that was a very, like, that was a shift.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Sure.

[Manny Puentes]

In advertising, we're here again. And it's with creative, it's with, it's with identity, it's with taking everything we've known in advertising, it's with creative and artificial intelligence and machine learning. And now you have LLMs. You tie that together and you're talking about a platform that will change an industry.

[Jeremy Bloom]

Amazing. Manny. Thank you very much.

[Manny Puentes]

You got it. Thank you.

[Unknown Speaker 3]

Thank you for listening to the Markitecture podcast. New episodes come out every Friday and an insightful vendor interview is published each Monday. You can subscribe to our library of hundreds of executive interviews at Markitecture tv. You can also sign up for free for our weekly newsletter with my original strategic insights on the week's news at News Market tv. And if you're feeling social, we offer operate a vibrant Slack community that you can apply to [e-mail].