IMG acquires majority share in sports data provider Enetpulse

MUMBAI: IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, has bought a majority share in Enetpulse, the global provider of live sports data.

Enetpulse, which is the exclusive worldwide distributor of official live scoring data for the ATP and the WTA, will become the data arm of IMG Media, where its purpose will be to service data exploitation within the scope of the IMG broad media representation agreements with governing bodies.

This follows IMG?s recent strong minority share in a new joint venture with Bloomberg Sports to provide enhanced marketing, sales and production assistance for both the existing Bloomberg Sports analytics products as well as a new series of projects.

IMG Media president Michel Masquelier said, ?The supply of data to the sports business world is becoming increasingly important and Enetpulse, with their progressive vision, excellent technological infrastructure, key federation relationships and industry expertise, is a company who are at the forefront of this market. We have strong relationships within tennis, in particular with the ATP, so this is a good fit for IMG and our clients. We believe strongly that governing bodies, promoters or personnel should share in any revenue that involves data used for digital entertainment platforms and predictive analytics from their sport.?

Enetpulse CEO Leo Noer said, ?As the exclusive worldwide distributor of live scoring tennis data for the ATP & WTA, Enetpulse are already at the forefront of an exciting and dynamic time for the global sports data market. As such, we welcome the opportunity to now being part of a company that shares our vision and desire to be the market leader in this space."

ATP & WTA Tour Senior Vice President Murray Swartzberg said, ?We are delighted that IMG Media and Enetpulse will be working as one to maximize the potential of data from the ATP and WTA. IMG is a company that has a long and successful history in the world of tennis and I?m sure the expansion of its media operation into sports analytics will be a huge success as well.?

Since announcing the five-year ATP and WTA contracts in September 2011, Enetpulse has secured agreements with several major leading operators for the supply of its data.