We’re at an early point in the expansion of the virtual reality industry where a lot of “firsts” will be claimed as companies blaze their own paths toward prominence. LiveLike, a broadcasting company, has staked their claim as the first virtual reality platform to watch live sports with friends and plans to press forward with new partnerships and new developments. The company previously broadcast events like the NCAA football game between Ohio State and Oklahoma back on September 17th and now, they’re expanding upon their partnership with Fox Sports VR by streaming the Major League Soccer Championship.
Just this past Saturday on December 3rd, LiveLike handled the broadcast of the Wisconsin vs Penn State game in VR through the Fox Sports VR application. The LiveLike platform provides game stats, individual player information, multiple angles, social viewing, and the malleability to be branded by any sponsor with their own images and ads. Barely a week later, LiveLike is upping the ante with new features that will debut on Dec. 10 when they show Fox Sport’s Major League Soccer Final broadcast between Toronto FC and Seattle Sounders. In it they’ll be debuting a replay feature for iOS users and, within the application, users will be able to rewind the broadcast in 30-second increments up to 30 minutes.
In addition to the replay feature, LiveLike will be introducing highlights that include 360-degree footage from previous events like the UFC faceoff between Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes, and the campus view during the Kansas State vs Stanford college football game. On top of all this, LiveLike and Fox Sports will be welcoming the first 3rd party sponsorship with branding from Audi by way of virtual suite placement and the “Audi Player Index” which is an accumulated score based on a player’s performance.
Having a platform that can easily include financially beneficial sponsor efforts bodes well for the future of FOX Sports and LiveLike, and LiveLike CEO Andre Lorenceau believes the evolving partnership and support of MLS and Audi is instrumental in “making huge headway into bringing VR into more and more households”. The FOX Sports VR application is available for download on iOS, Android, and for the Samsung Gear.
