The way fans watch sport has changed enormously in recent years.
Whether it's watching through streaming platforms, their mobile devices, or simply having a game on in the background while they go about their lives, watching sport is not what it once was.
That holds just as true for the NRL, and while crowds are up year-on-year since the end of the COVID pandemic, so are most major metrics around media consumption for the sport.
There are no prizes for guessing that most NRL fans will have one more of the following: a Supercoach, fantasy, sportsbetting or tipping account, with statistical and data analysis playing a larger role in sports engagement than it ever has done before.
There is also little surprise that the majority of fans watch games with a device (or a second device!) in their hand, chatting to mates or posting on social media.
When you add that betting on the NRL with online bookmakers is as strong as it has ever been, it's clear the way we engage with footy is constantly - and rapidly - evolving.
But there has never been a way to efficiently combine these elements together in an environment where the chance of losing your hard-earned is zero.
Until now.
This is where TBC Live has arrived - a new, innovative footy app powered by the ever-changing face of AI and statistical analysis which allows fans to make live, in-game predictions or vote on a community of predictions within set time frames.
Available across mobile platforms, TBC Live also features a chat room for each specific match, where rugby league fans can interact with others on the app, chatting about the game and the predictions being made.
The founder of TBC Live, Kyle Pattison, speaks passionately about his platform, aiming to enhance the way fans consume rugby league by combining community engagement with footy knowledge.
“At its essence, footy is more enjoyable with friends. Its ‘coming to be' was a comedy of errors. I had been thinking for some time around ‘how do I connect community engagement with footy knowledge, and how can I make that experience better?” Pattison told Zero Tackle.
“It actually came to my mind at an AFL game, oddly. I know nothing about the AFL, but I was literally there with a bunch of mates and so I just started making random predictions, and just started geeing them up about how good my AFL knowledge was. Some of them came off - most of them didn't - but we basically ended up creating a whole game of it.
“It came to me that there was a product I'd like to explore with footy.. in effect, TBC Live is an online, non-gambling, live game experience. It actively engages the community with challenging your footy knowledge.
“The experience created enables you to boast to your mates that you got your prediction right in a gambling-free environment. It's trying to get fans from being a passive [fan] to an active fan in the game.”
The app allows predictions on the game to be made pre-game, or during the live action, either setting a predictive time frame of three, five or ten minutes, as well as making “anytime” predictions.
Stats-based projections - for example, a player making two line breaks, or making five tackles in the next ten minutes - can also be joined by your custom suggestions. Think a certain TV ad will be played during the halftime break, or a Random Souths fan might show up on your screen within a certain time frame? You can predict it in TBC Live.
The likelihood of these events are calculated using artificial intelligence linked to statistical data within a game, while the predictions are marked as correct or not by the individual posting the prediction, and then can either be agreed on - or disputed - by the community.
Players start each game with 50 points, and the aim is to get as many predictions right by “gambling” your points throughout the course of each game to build your tally.
The person with the most predictions right throughout a game in essence “wins” the bragging rights for that game, with each NRL match having its own thread, each weekend.
Pattison says he sees the platform as a competitor to everything fans currently use as a secondary platform to watching sport.
“My greatest aspiration is that we will compete with everything [social media, gambling and tipping platforms],” Pattison said.
“We look at ourselves as a complement to the existing markets today, but where we see ourselves differentiating and growing is enhancing that live game experience - adding those social components, a banter channel and hub pre-game, so fans can continuously engage, and then players themselves can boast about their ‘Footy IQ.'”
Through the AI, the platform has created a metric which is currently in final testing based on accuracy and boldness of in-game predictions to give each user a score, while a user's profile also tracks their overall win percentage on predictions made and voted on.
Pattison told us the platform has already had a significant take up among the fanatic rugby league-watching community in its first eight weeks since launch, with up to 50 users already regularly playing four to five games per weekend, and a handful tuning in for every game., with overall weekly leaderboards also included.
In Pattison's view, the more the platform grows, the better the experience will become with a wider range of predictions and perspectives on the games taking place in real time.
And as for the name?
Pattison initially named the concept 'TBC Live' with the idea that he'd revisit it later, while 'Live' emphasised the real-time, in-game prediction aspect. However, an early adopter reached out directly, interpreting the name as 'To Be Confirmed Live,' referring to predictions yet to be verified. This new interpretation resonated, and Pattison decided to stick with it.
Yes, to be confirmed - whether a prediction would come true or not.
From this writer's experience over the most recently completed weekend of action, TBC Live completely changes the way fans consume rugby league, calling events before they happen and being able to engage in live game banter with other like-minded individuals who are watching the same action you are.
Whether live at the ground or watching at home or the pub, TBC Live is a growing platform which will undoubtedly develop further as fans become hooked on the idea of being able to track their own live predictions… and, of course, use it to prove to their mates that they're the smartest footy fan alive.
Download TBC Live today to make your own NRL predictions on every game this season, and battle the community of tipsters to be crowned the NRL's smartest fan.
You can also stay up to date with TBC Live's growing journey by following them on Instagram.
