WME, AGT Form Joint Tech Venture

The so-far unnamed venture is expected to provide a real-time social app to connect patrons before, during and after events, “infusing their online interactions with their physical, real-life experiences,” according to the joint Oct. 22 announcement. With WME’s acquisition of IMG, the sports and fashion giant, the application will have practical uses beyond the concert venue, including more than 800 sports, entertainment, culinary and fashion events.

The consumer-facing Social IoT platform, based on AGT’s analytics and “deep web social analytics, data science and creative IoT technologies,” will be rolled out at a number of sports, fashion and culinary events in the U.S. and Europe this year, with a more comprehensive rollout expected through 2016.

The new venture will be headquartered in New York, with R&D centers in New York, San Francisco, Germany and Israel, according to the announcement.

“Consumer and entertainment companies have been collecting insights for years, but very few of our clients and partners have had access to analytics that allow them to act on those insights to deliver relevant content and better experiences for their audiences,” WME / IMG co-CEO Ari Emanuel said. “Our partnership with AGT marks a paradigm shift, recognizing that IoT technology and data science will fundamentally change the way people experience live events, as well as how they consume and share content that matters to them.”