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Marketing That Moved Us: How the Australian Open Turned Tennis into a Video Game
From bypassing broadcast rights to smashing viewership records, this animated experiment could change how we watch live events. Could avatars be the next frontier in sports - and even conferences?
Summary:
During the 2025 Australian Open, Tennis Australia brought a bold twist to sports broadcasting with AO Animated - a YouTube livestream of matches recreated in real time using lifelike player avatars. This “video game” style coverage not only bypassed strict broadcast rights but also hooked a younger audience, drawing 2.7 million viewers in just 10 days - 8x more than the previous year.
When it comes to sports broadcasting, innovation usually means better camera angles or crisper HD. But at the 2025 Australian Open, Tennis Australia served up something completely different and it worked.
They launched AO Animated, a YouTube livestream that replaced real players with lifelike avatars, creating a “video game” version of live matches. Using sensors on the court, the system recreated every serve, volley, and player mannerism with only a two-minute delay, complete with crowd noise, commentary, and even the occasional racket smash.
The results: 2.7 million viewers tuned in during the first 10 days of the 2025 tournament - 8x more than in 2024
Global media coverage from The Guardian, ESPN, The New York Times, and more.
Huge engagement from younger, gaming-savvy audiences who might not normally watch tennis
Why it Works?
AO Animated wasn’t just a fun gimmick. It was a smart workaround to broadcasting rights restrictions, allowing Tennis Australia to share avatar match clips freely on social media. It also made tennis more accessible and shareable for a whole new demographic - some clips were downright comical (yes, the avatar smashed its racket too).
What's Next:
This tech could expand beyond sports --think trade shows, conferences, and other live events streamed with avatars, creating new revenue opportunities for brands and advertisers.
See how Tennis Australia pulled it off - and what it could mean for the future of live events - in the full article from ONE:ONE Magazine.
Read the full story here