Going global: localising sports for millions of fans

This week Yanni is joined by Ben Reynolds, CEO and co-founder of Spalk, the remote commentary platform that enables sports from around the world to be localised for different audiences through language, dialect and even team allegiance.

Spalk combines its Virtual Commentary Studio with a Talent Marketplace. This means broadcasters and right-holders have the software to put out broadcast-quality commentary from anywhere with an internet connection, and have access to a vast array of sportscasters spanning tens of sports, languages and regions.

Today Spalk boasts more than 2,500 commentators across some 50 countries, covering 30+ sports, including some of the biggest events on the global calendar.

We catch up with Ben to hear about the successes of 2022 (including the football World Cup), the potential of remote commentary for providing niche audiences with unprecedented levels of personalisation, and how Spalk customers are turning what was previously a cost centre into a revenue stream.

In this episode we reference:

• Sports Loft – Want to take a sport to new markets? Speak their language
• Sports Loft Podcast – How technology is changing sports broadcasting