Inside AFP

AFP, a major player in global sports coverage, has signed a new multi-year agreement with Gracenote, the world's leading provider of sports and entertainment data. This deal builds on a successful 15-year relationship and broadens the range of sports covered by the Agency including schedules, live results, rankings and other statistics.

By incorporating Gracenote Sports data, AFP meets its customers’ expectations for up-to-date reporting while benefitting from its editorial expertise, delivering content in six languages (French, English, Spanish, German, Arabic and Portuguese). The data provided by Gracenote from sporting events around the world is made available to AFP customers via its usual feeds, as well as a stream that can be automatically integrated on all digital media and broadcast TV platforms.

"Gracenote is one of the world's leading entertainment metadata companies with deep expertise in creating engaging sports experiences. Our long-term relationship is proof of the special attention we give to the management of the world's sports results," explains Didier Lauras, Head of the Sports Department at AFP. "Sports coverage today still requires so much groundwork, interviews and in-depth descriptions. By integrating Gracenote’s sports data and modern delivery methods, we are allowing our clients to access the critical statistical, real-time data that the professional world of sport has become so accustomed to."

"This new agreement with AFP is testament to their commitment to becoming the premier destination for global sports coverage,” said Guido Bouw, Managing Director of Gracenote Sports. “In order to help AFP achieve this, Gracenote will continue to deliver the highest quality sports data with the speed and accuracy that they’ve come to expect. Our unique editorial sports coverage, rankings and real-time results and statistics allows our clients like AFP to create engaging user experiences across all media platforms.” 

Gracenote sports data adds to AFP’s already incredibly rich multimedia offering. In addition to text, provided in six languages by reporters deployed across the globe, AFP has been innovating in photography for decades, allowing the Agency to establish itself as one of the world's leading specialists in the field. The fast-growing AFPTV Sport video service is focused on football and is currently supplying hundreds of broadcast clients. The graphics and Innovations Department completes the Agency’s offering, providing fixed and animated graphics and videos created via the latest web tools, rich summaries of this data displayed live, in formats that are more original and innovative each day.

About Gracenote

Gracenote, a Nielsen Company, provides music, video and sports metadata and technology to the world’s hottest entertainment products, services and brands. The Gracenote Sports team captures, curates and distributes in-depth sports data, including live scores, play-by-play stats and results, for more than 4,500 leagues and global competitions, including FIFA World Cup, the Olympics, English Premier League and North American leagues such as the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. All of this information is used by the biggest media companies and major sports organizations to keep fans engaged with their favorite players and teams across the Web, mobile and pay-TV platforms. For more information, visit www.gracenote.com.