Santa Monica-based GumGum Inc. has developed a platform to answer that question, and the company this month announced a new analytics module that gives sports teams and other rights holders key insights when selling branded campaigns to sponsors.
Dominic Zuccarini, the company’s head of sales, said the new module automates the GumGum Sports platform, allowing teams to more easily determine how much to charge brands for, say, a logo located directly behind home plate.
“Prior to this module you could manually do this, but it was time-consuming and complex,” Zuccarini said. “We’ve automated it in a way that democratizes it for everybody. You don’t have to be the most sophisticated analytics and sponsorship team in sports to use this kind of mechanism. You don’t need to hire an agency. You can pop in the software and do it yourself.”
Founded in 2007, GumGum has developed artificial intelligence platforms to analyze the value of branded campaigns through live broadcasts, social media and other outlets.
In February, the company announced the close of a $22 million Series D funding round, bringing its valuation to $272 million, according to PitchBook Data Inc.
GumGum uses a metric to capture the value of sponsorships that’s based on what brands might expect to pay for equivalent exposure through a television commercial.
Zuccarini said the metric accounts for factors like the amount of time a logo appears on screen during a broadcast, how visible it is in a shot and whether it appears alongside other branded images.
These calculations are made with the company’s computer vision technology, and the new module allows GumGum’s customers to filter and categorize data based on customizable presets.
Zuccarini said the platform gives users a chance to reassess sponsorship opportunities on the fly — a particularly valuable asset at a time when sporting events are being played in empty stadiums and broadcasts look very different.
“Measurement needs are becoming complex because teams are playing in different stadiums, or they’re shifting camera angles because they don’t have fans, so they need to be very agile and flexible,” he said.
Potential sponsors, meanwhile, may be more skittish about shelling out big money for sponsorships in a time of economic uncertainty.
GumGum’s software, Zuccarini said, gives teams the ability to work with sponsors to ensure their branded campaigns are getting attention.
“Rights holders who are doing that are going to exit this uncertain time in a much more solid position,” he said.
