Cloud-based production: The next step in the evolution of sports broadcasting
Let’s start with the obvious: media production for live sporting events is costly and complex. It requires a massive number of resources, a small army of onsite personnel – plus all their equipment — to take sports from the stadium to audiences around the world.
With intense competition for viewers, sports broadcasters must operate as leanly as possible.
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to cut back on anything that would compromise the quality of the coverage. Viewers demand rich content that delivers not just the competition taking place on the field, but all the emotion, history and context that make sports so compelling.
A cloud-based production model has the potential to reduce costs and staff, but is it scalable and reliable enough for major sports leagues and events?
The move to mobile production
For local events, a reporter and a camera operator with a backpack transmitter can send a high-quality live video stream via a 5G network. While this model provides speed and agility, it lacks the stability and scalability required for major sports events.
Beginning in 2020, Formula 1 moved from an onsite model to a hybrid, semi-remote model due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than move the entire production capacity from city to city for each race, they deployed a smaller onsite team to relay the video and data feeds to the Formula 1 Media & Technology Centre in the UK.
They reduced the number of onsite staff (and the associated travel and lodging costs), equipment and physical footprint at each race.
Scaling for success
This model works well for F1 (with less than 25 races per season), but what about leagues that broadcast dozens of games per week across a continent? Can a cloud-based production model work for them?
Fortunately, the answer is a resounding “It depends.”
The remote model isn’t appropriate for large, established venues in large markets — many of which already have built-in broadcast facilities. In contrast, the cloud-based model is perfect for broadcasting lower division games or matches held at smaller venues that would not otherwise be televised. This democratization of sports can increase the fan base by drawing in casual supporters and deepening bonds with the die-hards.
We expect broadcasters to test the cloud-based production model with smaller events, but we believe it will eventually become the standard for live TV sports.
For major events like Paris 2024, a cloud-based model can be a major source of efficiency and cost savings, eliminating dozens of trailers, equipment and onsite staff. Let’s talk about how it works.
How cloud-based sports broadcasting works
In the current model, cameras capture the game from multiple angles and commentators narrate the action. The raw audio and video feeds are sent to an onsite production center — typically one or two truck trailers — where producers select feeds, overlay graphics, mix audio and render the program for broadcast.
The cloud-based model reduces the onsite staff to minimum. All the raw audio and video feeds are streamed to the cloud in real-time. The producers use a cloud-based app to communicate with camera operators, switch between video feeds, overlay the graphics, mix audio and render the program for broadcast.
The hardware-based equipment is replaced by software with the same functionality. There’s virtually no limit to the processing power or speed available. Because it’s cloud-based, you can provision all the hardware you need without being limited by space constraints.
Sounds amazing, right? Despite its advantages, this cloud-based production model is still quite rare, and there are some hurdles to overcome before it gains more traction.
The challenges of cloud-based sports broadcasting
Most of the challenges are related to the network connection. The most problematic issue is latency between remote producers and the onsite team. When split-second timing and precision are critical, network latency can be the difference between getting the right shot or missing the action completely.
Bandwidth is also critical. Producers require a full program feed from every camera and microphone onsite. More cameras require more bandwidth, but this can usually be overcome with a dedicated “dark fibre” connection to the venue.
Finally, the stability of the connection also is a big factor. With tens of thousands of viewers and millions in advertising at stake, an unstable internet connection can spell disaster for a sports broadcast.
There are also economic and behavioral challenges to overcome. Broadcasters have invested heavily in equipment and may be reluctant to abandon hardware in favor of cloud. In addition, experienced technical teams may be resistant to learning new software or adopting different workflows.
The advantages of cloud-based sports broadcasting
The cloud-based model drastically reduces the cost and carbon footprint of sending tons of equipment and dozens of staff from city to city. It also enables more efficient use of personnel by reducing downtime between matches — easing scheduling restrictions and letting broadcasters assign their top production teams to the top contests.
The cloud-based model enables more consistent graphics production through centralization. It also promotes data safety, since data never leaves the premises, but is securely stored on a cloud repository.
The cost of a software-based editing suite is a fraction of a broadcast trailer, and it is vastly more scalable.
With cloud, more events can be televised, and automatically rendered in multiple languages with no additional equipment. Separate hardware is required for each language, but cloud can simultaneously output graphics in multiple languages with just one action from the producer.
How to move forward
The first step is to assess the requirements for each event based on the program format, number of cameras and other factors. Additional networks for media or public internet use can also be considered, but they must remain separate from those used for production.
Based on these requirements, new fiber connections can be brought in as needed. The big stadiums are all wired already, but smaller venues may require new fiber optic links to be installed. This may be cost prohibitive in some cases, but as fiber penetration increases it will become less of an issue.
We’re not glossing over the importance of selecting the right cloud-based software production suite, but once it’s implemented and staff resistance is overcome, there will be little change to the actual way that programming is produced.
Finally, broadcasters must weigh the advantages that cloud-based production delivers – in terms of increased fan engagement, greater ease of scheduling, lower costs and a smaller carbon footprint — with its risks. Any instability in the network connection can have a huge impact on viewers and advertisers, so a thorough risk/benefit analysis is essential.
As this model gains traction, we expect broadcasters to “test the water” with smaller events to tweak their processes and work out the bugs. Eventually, we believe that cloud-based sports production will become the standard for live television events.
Posted on: September 10, 2024
