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The SPORTSi Brand Recognition software is being developed with BrandTraX Inc., which already offers advertising hoarding tracking software.
The image recognition software was originally developed by Bell Labs, the R&D division of Lucent Technologies.
Bell Labs first developed the technology to detect and extract data from documents such as financial statements and faxes.
Over the past 20 years, television exposure data has been collated manually, a hit and miss affair for sponsors.
Requiring relatively little manual input, the soon-to-be-released recognition software measures the exposure time a brand receives during a sports broadcast. Lone breakaways will now become even more valuable because sponsors – should they avail themselves of TNSSPORT’s tracking software services – will be able to tot up the exposure and evaluate the cost-benefit analysis of supporting pro cycling.
Mark Cornish, TNSSPORT’s MD, said:
"This will have a significant impact upon the [sports sponsorship] industry. The technology is such that it improves both the accuracy and type of data we can extract from sports broadcasts, ultimately allowing us to precisely and consistently measure value. For years the industry has demanded that sponsors’ television exposure should be sold like advertising – but this is difficult due to accurate measurement. This new technology now makes this a distinct possibility."
