Artificial intelligence was the undisputed star of this year’s CES, the world’s most powerful tech event. It was the thread connecting thousands of innovative products on display with the insights shared during the five-day speaker sessions. From sport and fitness gadgets that adapt to your body to AI’s transformative role in sports broadcasting, the event showcased how AI is reshaping industries at an unprecedented pace.
From participating on stage, to networking among the experts, here are my key takeaways on the impact of tech and AI on the future of sport.
Personalization leads the way in sport and fitness tech
On the CES show floor, the standout theme was personalization. It is no longer sufficient for devices to merely track data; they must now transform that data into actionable insights. Whether it’s a smartwatch urging you to push harder or a golf club correcting your swing, sport and fitness technology is increasingly intelligent. So, the question looms: Are personal trainers and instructors becoming obsolete?
Two CES 2025 Innovation Award honoree winners encapsulated this shift toward personalization. Touted as the world’s first AI-powered intelligent golf club, G-Grip does more than track your swing — it analyses it in detail. By measuring speed, angle, and grip pressure, the club delivers instant feedback through an intuitive app. This includes video overlays and tips to refine your technique, making it ideal for golfers of all skill levels.
Meanwhile, combining a 3D body-scanning device with AI, Bodydot creates a digital musculoskeletal avatar of its user. This enables hyper-personalized workout routines and progress visualization, helping users achieve their fitness goals more effectively.
Other notable innovations included:
Additionally, the rise of at-home health testing solutions was evident, offering AI-powered insights into metrics like blood glucose, stress levels, and fertility.
The AI revolution in sports broadcasting and fan experience
While the exhibition floor offered glimpses into AI’s practical applications, the speaker sessions explored its transformative potential across the sports industry. AI is reshaping how games are produced, consumed, and monetized, with profound implications for fans, brands and broadcasters.
AI has become a cornerstone of sports broadcasting, from augmenting live coverage to personalizing viewer experiences. We saw this manifest in several ways. Prime Video and ESPN+ use AI for real-time player stats, prediction overlays and custom content libraries. It can also be used for reviving the broadcasting archives. AI tools upscale historic footage, breathing new life into old content and creating fresh monetization opportunities. And then there are the significant production efficiencies — by automating mundane tasks, AI frees creative teams to focus on crafting compelling narratives for fans.
And for the gambling companies — an adjacent sector to the sports business — AI-driven systems enable real-time, in-play bets, heightening engagement for gamblers as games unfold, introducing previously impossible levels of interaction.
AI is revolutionizing sports infrastructure. Stadiums now employ AI for crowd management, facial recognition at entry points, and queue monitoring. Dynamic ticket pricing optimizes attendance while improving fan satisfaction while on-site experiences are increasingly interactive, with AI offering personalized content and services to attendees.
For fans, AI promises a more immersive and personalized sports experience. As sports is an increasingly global industry, its role in breaking language barriers is critical. AI localization tools make content accessible in multiple languages, broadening global appeal. Meanwhile, customized content means fans can tailor their viewing preferences, whether it’s following a specific player or team. AI is democratizing sports consumption, allowing broadcasters to cater to diverse audiences and ensure reach and inclusion.
New horizons for brands and athletes
Digital personas are changing the landscape of fan interaction. Hyper-realistic avatars and deepfake technology allow athletes to engage with fans across traditional and digital platforms, including the metaverse.
However, the integration of AI raises ethical and legal questions around intellectual property. For instance, who owns the likeness or voice of an athlete when AI generates their digital persona? Brands must tread carefully to avoid misrepresentation or misalignment.
Looking ahead
Despite its transformative potential showcased at CES in Las Vegas, AI adoption in sports remains slow. According to the PWC Sports Survey 2024, 59% of global sports executives lack a formal AI strategy. This hesitation underscores the need for education and collaboration to harness AI responsibly.
Agencies should partner with sports lawyers to address concerns around IP rights and ethical use, empowering brands and athletes to innovate confidently and ensure that AI solutions enhance the fan experience without devolving into gimmicks.
CES is less a map and more a compass, pointing to trends that will define the future. This year, the signal was clear: AI is no longer an emerging technology — it is a fundamental force shaping the next generation of innovation in sports and gaming.
Sport & Entertainment partnerships that are changing the game in advertising.
The world of advertising is constantly shifting, and right now, the most exciting campaigns are coming from the most unexpected places — particularly from the world of sport, culture and entertainment. It’s no longer just about placing a logo here or there; it’s about genuine, purpose-driven collaborations that tap into something deeper, something more aligned with both a brand’s values and the energy of the sport or cultural phenomenon they’re partnering with.
In the last 18 months, we’ve seen some truly game-changing partnerships that have reshaped how brands are engaging with audiences on a global scale through sport and entertainment. Here are a few standout campaigns that prove how much more is possible when brands get it right.
PepsiCo & The NFL – ‘This Is the Pepsi’
For my first ad, I had to pick Pepsi’s ‘This Is the Pepsi’ campaign. Why? It showcases Pepsi’s long-standing relationship with the NFL hitting a new level – bringing together the electric worlds of Beyoncé and NFL stars. The ad wasn’t just about football — it was about culture.
The Super Bowl isn’t just a sporting event, it’s a global spectacle. And Pepsi used that moment not just to market a product, but to create a conversation. By blending sports and entertainment, Pepsi didn’t just capture an audience, they engaged a culture. It’s proof that sponsorship can be so much more when it aligns with both sport and the broader cultural zeitgeist.
Puma & Usain Bolt – ‘Faster Than Sound’
Puma’s partnership with Usain Bolt has been a match made in advertising heaven. The ‘Faster Than Sound’ campaign wasn’t just about speed; it was a statement.
Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, perfectly embodied Puma’s brand message of performance and precision. Bolt’s global legacy helped Puma speak to an audience far beyond the world of athletics, tapping into the wider cultural conversation around speed, excellence, and determination. This collaboration is a brilliant example of how aligning with the right cultural icon can elevate a brand to truly global impact.
Adidas & FC Barcelona – ‘Impossible Is Nothing’
It’s not just about individual icons. Adidas and FC Barcelona’s partnership shows the value of powerful messaging. Limits are meant to be broken. That’s the keystone of this campaign, and by partnering with one of the world’s most iconic football clubs, Adidas could tap into a global fanbase and shout from the rooftops about ambition, unity, and overcoming obstacles.
It’s great because it’s more than just aligning with a team. For Adidas, it was about creating a movement that spoke to anyone who believes that nothing is impossible.
Visa & The Women’s World Cup – ‘One of Us’ World Cup 2023
The growth in women’s sports has also championed in an era of powerful advertising. Visa’s campaign for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup wasn’t just an advertisement — it was a statement. With ‘One of Us,’ Visa celebrated female athletes who have fought for equality in sport, putting their strength, resilience, and dedication centre stage.
It’s made my list because it’s meant to inspire, and in my eyes it does. It gives a platform to discuss issues in global sport, empowering women and helping them take their rightful place on the global stage. Visa’s support of the Women’s World Cup wasn’t just about visibility; it was about driving change, pushing for more recognition and more opportunities for women..
Adidas & The FIFA World Cup – ‘The World Is Ours’ 2023
And finally, a campaign that brings it all together! Adidas has once again shown how to perfectly marry global sport with meaningful brand messaging. The ‘The World Is Ours’ campaign for the 2024 FIFA Women’s World Cup not only tapped into the energy and global reach of football but reinforced Adidas’ commitment to gender equality.
The campaign was as much about football as it was about the world-changing power of sport — showcasing women’s football as more than just a growing trend but as a force to be reckoned with. Adidas took a bold step in making sure the tournament didn’t just feel global — it felt inclusive and empowering.
These partnerships are more than just ad campaigns — they’re cultural touchstones. They represent the power of aligning a brand with not just sport, but the culture that surrounds it. When brands collaborate with the right cultural figures, sports teams or global events, they don’t just amplify their message — they create movements that shift the way we think about advertising. It’s not just about products any more; it’s about values, impact and connection.
Advertising Week: Beyond the Buzz: What Needs to Change in the Industry by Next International Women’s Day
Conway states, ‘There are many areas the industry could improve between this IWD and the next, however, a change in work-life balance expectations is an area that would make the working week easier for women both in and out of the office.
Women often face societal expectations to prioritise family and caregiving duties, which can clash with the demanding nature of some roles in agencies, especially client-facing roles. The lack of flexible working hours or remote work options can make these industries seem less accessible to women.
By offering flexible work arrangements, such as shared maternity/paternity leave, return to work support and creating a culture where work-life balance is valued, handling the pressures of personal and professional life is in the hands of women. Ensuring that career progression is not hindered by caregiving responsibilities.’
Creativepool: Talking Heads: Overcoming the hurdles preventing creative women from making it into the boardroom #IWD2025
Conway states, ‘Balancing high-pressure roles with family responsibilities remains a challenge, particularly for women. This makes flexible working, shared parental leave and a genuine commitment to work-life balance essential.
Networking is another barrier. While men have long leveraged their networks, women don’t always do the same. Mentorship programs like WACL, Bloom, and Omniwomen and Allies help bridge this gap, connecting women with invaluable support and opportunities.
Unconscious bias still holds women back, particularly in male-dominated industries like sports marketing and finance. Even AI adoption reflects this, with men leading the charge – embedding gender bias into its very fabric. To break these cycles, we need more representation, more voices at the table, allyship from male colleagues to support change, and a relentless push to challenge outdated norms.’
Creative Brief: Supporting women through the messy middle of their careers
‘The industry has made strides in recent years in terms of career opportunities and progression for women. However, the “messy middle” of a woman’s career is an area often overlooked. It’s at this point where work pressures and personal responsibilities collide and where too many women step back or drop out altogether. Which not only hinders career progression but the industry as a whole suffers from a loss of talent.
As women often face societal expectations to prioritise family and caregiving duties, businesses need to be transparent and vocal on simple solutions that will support and encourage women to stay in the industry and not feel that personal and professional responsibilities have to be at odds with each other. These include flexible working, shared maternity/paternity leave and clear return to work support. Mentorship and sponsorship are just as important. Women need both other women and men in their corner—not just to offer advice, but to actively champion them for future opportunities. Networks like Omniwomen and Allies help women connect, share experiences, and push each other forward.
Continuing to demonstrate pathways to the boardroom by offering women to take on commercial, revenue-driving roles is also key. Ambition is fueled by achievable targets and demonstrating the potential to thrive, lean and progress will be crucial to retaining women in the industry.’
Louise states, ‘Formula 1 has long been synonymous with premium audiences, backed by luxury, automotive, and B2B brands, like Rolex and Mercedes. Traditionally, its fanbase skewed older and male, but since 2017, under Liberty Media’s ownership, the sport has undergone a cultural shift. F1 is now using entertainment to engage new audiences, such as the F175 car launch at The O2, blending motorsport with music and comedy, and June’s Brad Pitt-led F1 movie.
Netflix’s Drive to Survive has also been a game-changer, fuelling a cultural renaissance that has opened F1 up to a whole new audience. But the sport’s digital-first approach, giving drivers more direct fan access through social media and gaming, has been just as transformative.
There’s also been a clear effort to boost female representation, from engineers and presenters to the F1 Academy. And with around 40% of F1’s fanbase now women, we’re seeing the likes of LVMH’s landmark 10-year deal and Charlotte Tilbury’s sponsorship of the F1 Academy cementing sport as the ultimate runway for luxury and beauty brands.
But it’s not just luxury labels. Mainstream consumer brands—KitKat, Lego, McDonald’s and Hot Wheels—are all getting involved, recognising F1’s power to drive engagement with the next-gen fan. Does this mean F1 is losing its premium sheen? Far from it. Instead, it’s evolving to remain relevant, seamlessly aligning itself with the cultural shifts shaping modern fandom.’
“On social media, the shape of the tennis court from the main TV angles does not lend itself neatly to short form 1080 x 1920 reels or stories, and the stars, as a rule, haven’t wholeheartedly bought into the medium,” said James Tollington, Group Director of global sports marketing agency, Fuse.
“For these reasons, the ATP’s announcement with Overtime would seem to make sense – particularly if it produces socially native content that matches the quality of some its biggest content successes.”
“The WTA will no doubt be watching the output closely, and the ATP will be doing the same with the WTA’s rebrand. The design is perhaps not as game-changing in the Gen Z space as the Overtime deal for the moment, but it will have been created with Gen Z in mind and will look to build on some promising 2024 numbers that saw the WTA’s social following increase by 25%,” said Tollington.
Louise Johnson, global chief executive of Fuse, a sports marketing agency, said that “streaming platforms like YouTube are now also embracing longer, unskippable ad formats, mirroring traditional TV slots and allowing for more immersive storytelling”.
James English, Managing Partner at Fuse states,
“The expansion of Netflix’s live sports portfolio will change the way fans consume sport. The number of subscriptions required to view sports is growing, and while multiple broadcasters for the same sport has long been common in the US – the NFL is already shown across seven different broadcasters – in Europe, it’s traditionally a different story.
People in Europe are accustomed to paying for fewer big subscriptions to watch all the sports they love, but Netflix is further challenging the status quo. Netflix will shift things further – because it has access to a vast amount of data. In a world where AI is accelerating personalized content for fans, Netflix is in a strong position to offer levels of personalization for fans that they’ve not previously experienced.
Brands now need to get their paperwork in order, to ensure their contractual rights are updated and reflective of the shift away from traditional broadcasters.
It’s also never been more important to revisit media strategies to jump on this growing trend. For the wider market, many rightsholders will welcome the arrival of Netflix on the scene – as another bidder will mean more competition in the market.”
James Venn, Group Director at Fuse states,
“Advances in streaming technology have allowed Netflix to carefully enter live sports, prioritising key events with massive viewership potential. These moments, or ‘not-to-be-missed’ cultural phenomena, attract audiences at scale.
Netflix’s live events create major revenue opportunities through its 2022 advertising model and its ability to drive subscription growth. Advertisers follow audiences and benefit from Netflix’s data-driven personalisation, audience segmentation, and real-time measurement—positioning live sports as a powerful tool to engage viewers and drive growth for the platform.”
Marie Binet, Head of Insights and Effectiveness at Fuse states,
“Brands really went for gold in this year’s summer of sport, but the effectiveness of measuring their sponsorship investments came in last place. Despite being a complex marketing platform, media equivalency is still being used as the primary form of measurement to determine sponsorship’s holistic value. But sponsorship doesn’t answer just one objective, meaning various techniques must be put in place to isolate its long-term impact from the rest of the marketing mix.
For brands looking to leverage huge sporting opportunities in 2025, we can expect to see a shift to more sophisticated measurement frameworks and methods. Brands need to be looking at measurement across three pillars: media performance and reporting of any fast-moving metrics, impact on brand health and
econometrics modelling. All of these reported holistically to extract actionable insights and support optimisation as well as long term strategies.”
Max Goodbourn, senior PR manager at Fuse states: “Given the focus on darts players’ hands during matches, there is also ample opportunity for jewellery and watch brands to become sponsors of players in future tournaments. For example, Adrian Lewis was spotted wearing a Rolex.
“On a more strategic footing, darts is now attracting a younger crowd but the longevity of player careers, compared to footballers for instance, means darts makes way for different generations of fans, as well as the potential for long-term player partnerships that can be very effective at driving association (think Lineker and Walkers).
“With 2.62 million tuning in for the Cross vs Littler match, surpassing major sporting events like The Ashes and Ryder Cup, the sponsorship potential for the sport could be on a remarkable trajectory.”
Despite the sensational recent rise of women’s football, there are still a number of barriers holding back the growth of the game, with the scheduling of matches currently front and centre.
Understandably, there is a strong desire from those at the top of the game to avoid clashes with Premier League fixtures, given the obvious impact this would have on both attendances and TV viewership.
However, the side product of this is that Women’s Super League fixtures are often shunted to the fringes, impacting not just viewership numbers, but matchday attendances as well.
The 6.45pm Sunday slot is particularly unsociable, an issue exacerbated by the out-of-the-way stadiums in which many WSL games are still played. Borehamwood, Kingsmeadow and Leigh Sports Village are all far less accessible than their male equivalents, meaning fans may often not return home until after 10pm on a Sunday, a big ask for young families in particular.
With all this in mind, taking the hallowed Saturday 3pm slot can appear a no-brainer for the women’s game: it’s an available, lucrative window for broadcast, with no competition for TV viewership, and is much more sociable for the match-going crowd.
Yet dive a little deeper and a few concerns arise, particularly for smaller clubs. The 3pm slot is protected for a reason, with real concerns that match-going attendances across the rest of the pyramid would be impacted by a readily available alternative in your living room.
Despite its upwards trajectory, driving attendance is still a key challenge for the majority of women’s clubs, and the prospect of competing not just with the broadcasted WSL fixture, but the other men’s games taking place at the same time, is not one that many clubs would relish.
Arsenal may well be confident enough in its ability to continuously fill out Meadow Park, but what about Reading, Leicester and even Liverpool? These are clubs that still fall below capacity at most of their games.
At a time when the WSL is finally making great strides in growing matchday crowds, to immediately force clubs to compete with their Premier League equivalents would feel a massive own goal – particularly when a significant proportion of the smaller sides’ commercial revenue is driven by ticket sales.
Not only would this drop in attendance impact the fixtures themselves, it would also dilute the broadcast product that this switch is meant to champion. Any realistic women’s football fan is aware of the stereotypes that still exist around the game from less educated fans, and TV screens full of empty stadiums would only perpetuate that, and undo the great work the Euros did to change those perceptions.
A possibly significant increase in broadcast revenue and TV viewership is a natural counterpoint to these arguments of course, and that resulting investment could provide a huge boost to the development of the domestic game.
Yet it is hard not to think that this shift would benefit broadcasters most, the big clubs who can take the hit to attendances (and whose games will be televised the most) second, and the rest of the pyramid least of all.
At a time when women’s football is facing a significant crossroads in its development, with a new company set to take on the running of the top two divisions, any decision that seems to prioritise broadcast revenue and super clubs, over matchday attendances and the pyramid, should be interrogated closely before it takes place. Not quite the no brainer it might seem.
