Video Analytics Help Event Venues Gain Real-Time Insights from Video Data

Stadiums and event venues have traditionally relied on video surveillance data for evidentiary purposes—retrieving and investigating footage only in the unfortunate event of an incident. However, in recent years, future-looking venues have discovered that they can turn their existing security infrastructure into a source of real-time insights into their customers.

By incorporating analytics software into existing video surveillance solutions, venues are now able to use the data they already collect to enhance security and increase revenues. These technologies have tremendous potential—from tracking bad actors in real time to quickly mining demographic data and social media accounts to drive targeted marketing campaigns.

Taylor Swift and the Rise of Video Surveillance Analytics

As one of the biggest, most-successful pop singers around, Taylor Swift has more than her share of devoted, enthusiastic fans. But fame has its dangers. Taylor and her security and management teams are now using video surveillance technology to identify potential stalkers at her concerts.

As excited fans walk into Taylor Swift’s concert venues, they are greeted by kiosks playing looped video footage of the pop star. When fans stop to take a look, the kiosk takes a discreet photo, which is sent to a central monitoring station. The photos are automatically cross-referenced with a database of people who have been identified as potential stalkers, allowing her security team to quickly and accurately identify threats to her safety.

Facial Recognition Technology and the 2020 Olympics

The 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo will have the distinction of being the first Olympics Games to use widespread facial recognition technology.

The upcoming Olympic Games present a unique security challenge in that it will not have a single Olympic park. Instead, for the 2020 Olympics, multiple venues will be spread throughout the city. This approach will require athletes, employees, media, and spectators to authenticate their credentials at each location. In years past, this would have resulted in the need for hundreds more employees, long wait times to enter venues, and a greater potential for ticket fraud.

To combat all these issues and more, Tokyo 2020 event organizers have turned to video surveillance analytics and facial recognition. All attendees will carry a unique ID card that is linked with their photo, enabling the system to authenticate their credentials by using strategically placed video cameras. This system ensures that attendees can’t use someone else’s ID card to enter a venue, increasing security and decreasing the potential for ticket fraud.

With the Summer 2020 Games predicted to be the hottest Olympics in more than a century, waiting in long lines out in the heat is a serious concern. The highly efficient facial recognition software will allow several people to walk through entrance gates simultaneously, significantly decreasing wait times and mitigating the risk of heat-related illness.

Turning Video Surveillance Data into Customer Insights

In the past, the enormous quantity of video footage made it impossible for entertainment security teams to effectively identify and track potential threats. Combing through thousands of hours of footage would have been a Herculean task for even the most dedicated security teams. With the NetApp^® video surveillance storage solution built on NetApp E-Series storage systems, this task becomes not only manageable, but highly effective.

Data analytics allows event venues to go beyond traditional video surveillance, using the data they already collect to enhance security and drive real-time insights. NetApp partners with leaders in the video analytics space, such as UNICOM Global, whose end-to-end solutions are changing the way that stadiums and event venues are protecting and engaging with their customers.

These innovative video analytics solutions require fast, reliable video storage that can scale to support massive data requirements. With hundreds, often thousands of cameras recording huge amounts of data, you need video storage that can keep up. The NetApp E-Series video surveillance storage solution ensures that you never drop a frame. Need more video capacity? NetApp E-series storage can scale quickly and easily to meet your growing data storage needs.

To learn more about how NetApp is turning existing security infrastructure into real-time customer insight and revenue, read the UNICOM Global case study.