The Weather Company Aims To Enhance the Fan Experience

The Sports Video Group is pleased to welcome The Weather Company, an IBM Business, as a corporate sponsor. The company understands that weather can wreak havoc on operations and the fan experience at outdoor sports events, costing millions of dollars. Its entertainment-specific solutions enable users to actually use weather to their advantage, sending out customized mobile videos that not only assist and alert workers and fans but also increase fan engagement and revenue.

The Weather Company helps sports professionals make better, faster decisions based on the world’s most accurate, trusted forecasts; use the most advanced weather-monitoring and alerting dashboard to ensure safety and improve operational efficiency; leverage the power of artificial intelligence to message impacted fans and employees via mobile before, during, and after events; and easily embed relevant weather content into digital properties to drive engagement and revenue.

“Since weather has such a major impact on the sports industry and we have solutions that allow sports professionals to embrace weather to their advantage using weather-driven mobile videos, it made complete sense to become a member of the Sports Video Group,” says Marketing Leader, Media and Entertainment, Therese DeMatteo. “The Weather Company hopes to educate and assist the sports industry with achieving their fan-experience, safety, and revenue goals by leveraging the power of weather.”

No one wants bad weather at an event, but users can advise fans and actually improve what would be a negative experience by sending out custom mobile messages at the event with recommendations on what to do.

Before: Send out alerts and subsequent videos to fans within a certain radius of the stadium, providing the weather forecast and weather-related statistics relevant to the upcoming match.

During: Provide hourly forecasts, user-generated content, and safety alerts about impending inclement weather via a push notification and explainer video.

After: Offer traffic alerts for the ride home and local public-transportation schedules. If the weather will cause congestion on roadways, provide alternative routes.

Weather can also influence fans’ food and beverage decisions. For example, if the temperature drops below freezing, users can let fans in attendance know where they can find their favorite hot beverage — or even send a coupon for hot chocolate to those using the app. Users can let weather negatively impact their business or use weather insights to grow their bottom line.

In October 2017, The Weather Company announced a multi-year agreement that would optimize the weather-related decision process for NASCAR, incorporating hyper-local weather data and forecasts to improve race-day operations and fan engagement. The Weather Company, via The Weather Channel brand, is now the Official Weather Partner of NASCAR.

In collaboration with Flagship Solutions Group, The Weather Company is providing critical information to NASCAR through an advanced Flagship-developed weather-insights dashboard integrated into its racing operations and decision-support system. Additionally, The Weather Channel is working with NASCAR on educational content, which will present fans with information on things like how weather impacts vehicle performance.