Saudi Pro League Case Study | Building the SPL Media House

Introduction

SPL Media House is a media entity established by the Saudi Pro League in 2023 to manage the broadcasting and digital content needs of Saudi Arabia's premier football competition. Moving away from the Saudi Sports Company, and in partnership with major technology and media firms, SPL Media House was tasked with rapidly developing a state-of-the-art remote production facility to handle the increasing global interest in the Saudi Pro League. This, in turn, was driven by a number of high-profile player acquisitions and the SPL’s desire to become a top tier league with international recognition.

The Problem

SPL Media House faced the daunting task of setting up a new media production facility within an extremely tight timeframe. The urgency was driven by a significant increase in global attention following the arrival of prominent international football players like Anderson Talisca, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane. With the Saudi Sports Company owned by NBC and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), an independent entity was needed to provide high-quality league content.

“Exposure became very high,” said Peter Van Dam, COO of SPL Media House, “and we had to do something quickly, both on the broadcast part - the distribution - and also on social media.”

Managing multiple types of content was a critical challenge. With the influx of international attention, the demand for different types of content - from live broadcasts and highlight reels to player-generated social media stories - skyrocketed. This necessitated a sophisticated content management system, one that was robust, scalable and capable of handling high volumes of varied media efficiently. Decisive technology choices needed to be made fast to meet the league’s high expectations and tight deadlines.

The Solution

"We had nothing when we started,” says Van Dam. “So. we could do whatever we wanted...”

SPL Media House partnered with several key technology providers to build a comprehensive media production and distribution platform for the Saudi Pro League. The first step was forming a collaboration with IMG and Imagen for worldwide content distribution and rights management. This core partnership enabled SPL Media House to offer special programming, including English commentary and graphics for international broadcasts.

To handle its social media content needs, SPL Media House also implemented Greenfly, an AI-driven tool that helps players and clubs create and distribute content. Additionally, WSC Sports was integrated as a clipping tool to produce and manage highlights and short clips efficiently. Content created in both tools can be pushed to the Imagen platform for use by international broadcasters.

The guiding principle behind the technology choices was speed of delivery. With the combination of Greenfly and WSC, and with the Imagen media archive management platform sitting on top, SPL Media House has the ability to produce fast, accurate highlights and other content without legacy constraints. The use of AI tools streamlines content workflows, enabling the creation of personalised content for various regions and helping to cater to a diverse international audience.

This comprehensive solution not only met the immediate needs of the Saudi Pro League, but also provided a scalable foundation for future growth, including the integration of the Women’s Pro League and other sports federations within the Kingdom. “The main goal is to enable people to come back to sports and be more involved in sports,” says Van Dam.

“We needed some platforms to distribute content to our broadcasters. That's where Imagen came in… We have Greenfly running as an AI tool, specifically to clubs and players and we have WSC as a clipping tool, also based on AI, to make sure that Imagen gets content in the platform and that we can also publish to social media”

Peter Van Dam, COO, SPL MEDIA HOUSE

Results and Benefits

Rapid Scaling

The fast deployment of Imagen, Greenfly and WSC allowed SPL Media House to meet its urgent deadlines. "…contract was signed on the 1st of August,” says Van Dam. “I think the league started on the 11th of August. We quickly established a partnership with IMG that is doing the distribution and the rights management for our international broadcasters."

Enhanced Social Media Engagement

The ability to generate and distribute player-driven content boosted social media presence. "We wanted to give our players much more content to publish on their social media and the ability to also give content back to us that we could then publish on our social media or give back to the clubs."

Increased Global Reach

Personalised content for different regions enhanced international engagement. "We want to create more content, more personalised content for different regions… We will either make it ourselves or give our broadcasters tools so that they can make it easily on their own.”

Future-Ready Infrastructure

The scalable solution, powered by Imagen, set the foundation for future expansions, including women's and lower-tier leagues. "The women's league is coming from next season officially under the Saudi Pro League. Then the second league will come under it and the reserve league also. That means about 1,000 games that we need to cover.”