There is plenty of great action on the field at ANZ Stadium tonight with South Sydney taking on the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs in the 2014 NRL Grand Final, but we at Telstra are just as excited about a new innovation up in the stands.

It’s called the Telstra Connected Lounge and it’s the next part of our strategy to provide brilliantly different experiences for our customers.

Debuting last week at NRL Preliminary Final, it’s the first of its kind in Australia where our customers, NRL fans and partners will get a chance to be part of a new type of live game experience.

The Telstra Connected Lounge is effectively an interactive technology centre where fans will be able to immerse themselves in the latest technology and enjoy bespoke content including;

Our team from Sportsfan are providing bespoke video content for everyone at the game tonight, which will be accessible via the ANZ Stadium App over the Stadium’s WiFi. Great content such as fan emotion pieces captured outside the ground will be available, as well as special features and interviews filmed from inside the Connected Lounge.

Other features of the Lounge include;

• A wall of interactive televisions with Gesture Recognition Software will showcase customised video content and live stats
• Bespoke content will be generated from the Lounge from our media partners Triple M who will call the game live for fans at the stadium
• Channel 9 will produce half time content from the suite which will (at selected games) be displayed on the big screens in the stadium
• Social content created specifically for the fans at the stadium will be generated direct from inside the Lounge
• Telstra Thanks Loyalty initiatives can be promoted in real time to our customers in the form of instant ticket upgrades or a chance to visit the Lounge

Beau Ryan interviewing Daly Cherry-Evans. Daly the 2014 Dally M Halfback of the Year. A fantastic season for the Manly Sea Eagles, Queensland and Australia.

The Telstra Connected Lounge is setup as a blueprint of how we’ll continue to deliver on our Connected Stadium strategy, and how we’ll engage with customers and fans through digital channels.

We want to connect with our customers on a personal and meaningful level through tailored content, to deliver on Telstra Media’s strategy to create brilliantly different content experiences anywhere, anytime on any screen.

Beau Ryan has been fantastic to have in our Telstra Connected Lounge during the NRL finals. Where you from Beau ? http://youtu.be/9xCO3Ie0xp8

It’s our vision to have Connected Lounges at all major sporting venues across Australia as part of our Connected Stadium rollout… so stay tuned to hear more in this space!