FuboTV Acquires AI Vision Platform Edisn.ai

Live sports specialist FuboTV has announced that it has completed the acquisition of computer vision platform Edisn.ai in Bangalore, India. The technology can recognize and track important elements of live video feeds, including players, actors, brand logos and products. The acquisition will enable fuboTV to provide a more immersive experience for both brands and viewers. Earlier this year, streamer CTV  launched  a free prediction game and a scoring and stats feature called FanView.

According to the company announcement, Ashok Karant, Co-Founder and CEO of Edisn.ai, will join fuboTV as CEO of fuboTV India. Edisn.ai's approximately 20 data scientists and engineers will  work to promote fuboTV's data science and engineering organization under the leadership of Akshay Chandrasekhar, co-founder and CTO of Edisn.ai. 

Using some of these features, in the future, fuboTV observers will be able to see a brand logo on an athlete's uniform and get closer to the shopping experience for that brand. Alternatively, AI tools can trigger  contextual ads based on what the viewer sees. 

Why do we care? During the summer, fuboTV reached 1 million subscribers and annual revenue growth increased by 156%. Total third-quarter revenue was  $156.7 million, of which $18.6 million came from advertising. Streaming time also increased by 113% year-over-year. This is an important audience we need to work with to revolutionize CTV advertising. AI technologies like 

Edisn.ai could enable live contextual advertising. There is no clear timeline for when these opportunities will be available to fuboTV's viewers and advertisers, but the "buy what you see" experience is similar to e-commerce and social commerce  in digital publishing and social media.

For some consumers, making it easier for users to purchase that product when viewing an influencer video that contains product images becomes a convenience feature  that makes the interaction process easier. 

A longer overview shows the potential to revitalize brand placement in older  series and films. Traditionally, this brand placement has been used to build awareness. But if the same show is streamed on a tablet, CTV commerce is an entirely different field  where it could become a reality.