Verizon announced it had seen 17 terabytes of cellular traffic at the recent Indianapolis 500 race, an event where Verizon continued its string of high-profile game-day applications using its 5G services.
Like at this year’s Super Bowl and also at the recent F1 race in Miami, Verizon customers at the Indy 500 were able to see multiple real-time camera views of the event via the Verizon 5G Multi-View app, which was part of the official Indy 500 race-day app. According to Verizon, Verizon customers who were not at the race could get an augmented-reality experience from the race via something called the 5G Ultra Pass, which linked to a portal where fans could get see 360-degree views from several different camera positions around the course.
While Verizon would not reveal exact user numbers for its Multi-View app at any of the recent events where it made an appearance, the company is moving from using the app as a 5G “proof of concept” to making it a viable business that can be sold to event and venue operators who are looking to provide fans with a more immersive experience.
“We saw a huge uptick [in app usage] at Miami,” said Brian Mecum, vice president of device technology for Verizon, in a phone interview. While historically fans at football and other stadium-based sports have not made wide use of app-based replay or live streaming options, according to Mecum events like auto races — where the tracks can be so big that seated fans simply can’t see all of the action — are perfect for a live, multi-camera solution.
“At an F1 event there’s a real business case [for the Multi-View app] because you can’t see all of the track,” Mecum said. While auto races have long had the ability for fans to purchase services that can provide live race audio (such as via rentable headphones), live video had just never been an option.
“This is a case of us showing up with massive bandwidth and meeting an opportunity to provide live video, which has never been available,” Mecum said. According to Verizon, its customers used 15 TB of data at the Miami F1 event. Mecum did not provide any pricing or availability details on the app-as-a-business plan, which he said still had some hurdles to clear, including negotiating TV broadcast rights, which can be widely different for each sport or venue. Mecum noted that the app could provide more than just race coverage, saying that in Miami app users could also get exclusive views of the entertainment acts that were a part of the overall F1 event.
Overall Mecum said that Verizon is seeing big lifts in 5G-based traffic thanks to its aggressive rollout of services in the 5G mid-band range, or C-band sepctrum, which Verizon is calling its 5G Ultra Wideband offering. According to Mecum, C-band services from Verizon are now available in 117 sports and entertainment venues in the U.S.
