Pixellot develops automated sports video and data solutions that revolutionize traditional video capture, production, and distribution processes, enabling professional and amateur sports organizations to affordably cover, analyze, and monetize their events. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Pixellot CEO Alon Werber to learn more.
Alon Werber’s Background
Werber has been working on Pixellot for eight years and in the tech industry for many more, managing high-tech companies and activities locally and abroad. And Werber said:
“I lived in Silicon Valley for five years and served on several boards. My expertise lies in providing strategic, business, marketing, and operational leadership in the high-tech industry and in consulting as the Co-CEO at P.O.C., a leading management consulting firm in Israel.”
“My primary responsibilities are to set the company’s vision and strategy, working with the executive team to come up with both strategic and tactical long-term plans.”
“I work with the various departments to make sure that they are in line with the company’s goals and contribute to growth, innovation, and efficiency. I am the face of the company to the media, investors, and other stakeholders, and I am committed to leading the company to continued success because I am passionate about the company’s mission to democratize sports coverage.”
Challenges Faced
What are some of the challenges you face in running the company? Werber acknowledged:
“Pixellot has pioneered an automated production approach in the long tail sports market, and as such, taken the challenging task of educating the market on the huge opportunities and advantages which such a technology can drive for sports organizations worldwide.”
“Through the years, some competitors emerged, and I need to make sure that we are constantly innovating and differentiating our products and services in order to stay ahead of the competition.”
“The sports media industry is heavily regulated. This requires us to make sure that we comply with a variety of regulations, including those related to privacy, data protection, and intellectual property.”
“As Pixellot is a global company with customers in over 70 countries, I manage the complexities of doing business in a global environment in a cost-effective manner. With Pixellot’s rapid growth, we are always looking for ways to efficiently scale our operations and infrastructure to keep up with demand.”
Macroeconomic Climate
Has the current macroeconomic climate affected the company? Werber pointed out:
“Yes, of course. When it rains, everyone gets wet. However, while the current macroeconomic climate has caused a slowdown in the industry, the cost-effectiveness that automated systems provide has increased in importance as budgets become tighter. During the COVID-19 lockdowns as well, there was a sudden upsurge in demand for our technology to connect fans to the games. So, despite the initial challenges in the beginning, the lockdown helped us introduce our innovative technology to the market, and it proved to be an opportunity. Luckily, we face the current challenges well-funded, with field-proven market-leading products and solid business models that allow both us and our clients to monetize their content in numerous ways, so we strongly believe that this is also an opportunity.”
Core Products
What are Pixellot’s core products and features? Werber explained:
“Pixellot is the world’s leading provider of AI-automated sports video and data solutions. The solutions incorporate cameras, hardware, software, and cloud computing. The company features fully automated game capture, production, live streaming, analytics, a powerful OTT channel, and a content management platform with a wide range of broadcasting and monetization options.
Our main products include:
Pixellot Prime – our broadcast systems Pixellot Show – our streaming line of systems Pixellot Air – our portable cameras, Vidswap – our analytics platform and our OTT solution that is fully customizable for every client.
Pixellot also provides a range of video coaching services for the analysts and the coaching staff of clubs, leagues, and scouts. Our coaching solutions are in use today by elite clubs and top leagues.”
Achievements
What has been one of Pixellot’s greatest achievements so far? Werber cited:
“In 2022, Pixellot crossed the threshold of producing and streaming over 1 million live games in one year, making us the biggest sports production platform in the world. We recently also broke our daily record with more than 10,000 games produced on a single day, of which 5,080 were streamed simultaneously. With products and services that are used in over 30,000 sports venues across 77 countries, the company is committed to providing affordable, easy-to-use, and innovative solutions that help sports organizations of all sizes produce and distribute high-quality sports content. But beyond the numbers, we are always excited about the stories that our customers share with us unraveling the impact and importance of every game for athletes and their families. This is what makes us such a unique company and this goes beyond any award”
Evolution Of Pixellot’s Technology
How has Pixellot’s technology evolved since launching? Werber noted:
“Originally, the company focused on developing systems for high-end broadcasting. It soon became apparent that despite the initial adoption, the top leagues would continue to produce games as they had in the past with sophisticated cameras and production crews. Today, we are focused on enabling 99% of the sports world to get access to live coverage and data. Women’s leagues, youth competitions, lower divisions, and niche sports are our focus today. We are also proud to develop video analysis solutions for the top competitions and clubs in the market, and some of the top names in sports we work with include FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, the MLB, Serie A, Ligue 1, and the leading federations around the world such as the world champions AFA (Argentina) the DFB (Germany) and FPF (Portugal).”
Customer Success Stories
Upon asking Werber about customer success stories, he replied:
“Sure! Let’s take the NFHS – a joint venture between the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and PlayOn! Sports. Our system is their technology of choice for sports production, and today our systems are installed in about 10,000 schools, with the NFHS Network producing over a million games annually. Previously they used to broadcast live sporting events in two ways: either network production, which was expensive and difficult to scale, or student production, which was inconsistent and difficult to manage and stream to the public. With Pixellot’s fully automated end-to-end production system, the production quality is now standardized, the cost is low, and the system has been a boon for schools, which have been able to use it to connect with their fans, generate new revenue streams, and improve their sports programs.”
“Another example is Cooperstown All Star Village (CASV), which hosts weekly U12 Baseball Tournaments with 10,000 youth players from 700 teams. Filming the games was a significant undertaking as some of the fields lacked power and Internet access, and the games took place from 9 am to 9 pm every day. Pixellot built a dedicated platform to stream the games behind a paywall and installed our DoublePlay system – the world’s first AI multi-camera solution for baseball to cover all the matches while eliminating the need for a camera operator and director.”
Funding
After asking Werber about the company’s funding, he revealed:
“We secured over $220 million of funding in all our rounds throughout the years. The last round (D) was $161 million in May 2022.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is Pixellot pursuing? Werber assessed:
“The total addressable sports video market from youth to semi and pro is about $15 billion.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Pixellot from its competition? Werber affirmed:
“There are many things that differentiate Pixellot from the competition. We were the pioneers of automated filming and have pioneered AI automation for the past decade. Our solution is an all-encompassing end-to-end solution that covers filming, production, broadcasting/streaming, a full OTT broadcast and management platform, full analytics and data provision, as well as a wide variety of tools for monetization. Pixellot’s solutions offer more types of sports at better video and image tracking quality than any of the competitors, and we address more market types. Our solutions range from elite clubs and leagues down to grassroots and amateur. As the largest producer of live sporting events in the world, our database for machine learning is huge and allows our algorithms to learn faster and better.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Pixellot’s future company goals? Werber shared:
“We never rest on our laurels, and so we continue to work relentlessly to improve the quality of our automated production, add additional services and angles, and provide new monetization options for our clients. One of the goals is also to bring the sports democratization revolution to new markets like China where we just started working with Baidu as well as India where we have some very promising projects lined up. Generative AI is becoming an important layer of our service, and we are using it to implement features such as automated game recaps, highlight editing, and more.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Pixellot so far? Werber reflected:
“I have to admit that one of the most touching stories that I love to share was the joy of a father who was serving as a marine in Afghanistan and finally, after years of being away from his family, was able to catch his daughter’s high-school basketball games. He wrote a letter that he was sitting with his laptop at 3 am in the barracks with tears of joy as he watched her play live. This was possible thanks to our technology.”
Contribution To Brighter Future
How is Pixellot contributing to a brighter future for society? Werber concluded:
“Realizing our vision for a world where the most important moments in life can now be viewed, saved, and shared easily with family and friends is a blessing for families and communities who are not able many times to be physically present at games. In addition, we offer millions of young athletes video, training, and self-improvement tools that were previously available only to a select few. We are not saving the world, but we’re making it more fun by sharing millions of great moments that would have been lost.”
