How Wimbledon is using AI to up its content game as it takes over BBC as 'lead broadcaster'

The upcoming Wimbledon championships mark the last before All England Lawn and Tennis Club (AELTC) takes responsibility from the BBC as the tournament's lead broadcaster, a shift that has seen it double-down on content production and experiment with new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). The AELTC has been flexing its digital muscles for some time now, working with IBM over the past two years to overhaul its data-capabilities, website and apps, and forge tech partnerships in the hopes of shedding its self-described "stuffy" image. As it stands, Wimbledon trebled its mobile audience last year, while its app was downloaded 1.5 million times in 2016. Now, as it faces a future with greater control of its content output it's testing the waters on how technology might help its still-limited team scale, particularly on video. With an average of three matches per court per day there is hundreds of hours of footage an editor might have to sift through for a highlights reel.