Aircast.Tech won the Golfweek Tech Lab 2026 for its platform that delivers live sports video and audio to mobile devices in under a second. The technology aims to solve streaming delays for fans attending live events by integrating into existing mobile apps to provide custom, near-real-time viewing experiences from various camera angles.
Reducing in-venue latency is a critical hurdle for live event organizers looking to drive digital engagement without spoiling the live action. Aircast’s ability to hit sub-300ms speeds effectively permits real-time 'second screen' experiences that supplement, rather than distract from, the live field of play. For the broader industry, this white-label approach signals a shift toward embedding advanced video capabilities into existing fan platforms rather than requiring standalone downloads. The market's reception of this technology through integrated sports betting or multi-view highlights will be the key metric to watch as venue-specific media rights evolve.
Aircast.Tech, founded by Australian entrepreneur Craig Horobin in 2017, has built its low-latency streaming platform on a one-way distribution model that avoids congesting cellular networks at crowded venues. The company has already gained traction in tennis, working with the Australian Open and preparing to support other tennis events, and its partnerships now span cricket, baseball, and basketball in addition to golf. Horobin's background in broadcast technology for the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups, and Commonwealth Games informed the platform's architecture, which sections off a small part of the network so fans can access feeds directly from broadcast without contending for bandwidth.
The Golfweek Tech Lab 2026 event, held at Aronimink Golf Club during the PGA Championship, evaluated startups across categories including Media & Digital Solutions, Business Solutions, Player Performance, and Fan Engagement. Aircast won both the Media & Digital Solutions category and the overall Grand Prize, with other category winners including Clubhaus (Business Solutions), Groove Golf (Player Performance), and Piing.Events (Fan Engagement). The company claims its 0.3-second latency figure represents a global benchmark for streaming performance, and it positions its infrastructure footprint as lighter than legacy CDN or WebRTC stacks, with meaningful reductions in energy and hardware overhead.
Aircast's white-label SDK approach means the technology embeds into existing tournament, league, or venue applications rather than requiring a separate download. The platform uses geo-fencing to detect when a fan arrives on site and automatically surfaces available feeds over the local network, eliminating the 30- to 60-second delays typical of conventional streaming services. This model targets rights holders and venue operators seeking to monetize multi-view experiences without fragmenting their audience across additional apps.
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