By Ophir Zardok, head of sports strategy & business development, LiveU.
If 2024 was the year the industry declared AI would transform everything, then 2025 was the year we realised how far there is still to go. AI dominated every keynote, panel and pitch deck; however, its impact inside live broadcast workflows was largely confined to specific use cases. This gap between expectation and real-world implementation characterised much of sports broadcasting through 2025, while laying the foundation for what could be a breakthrough year in 2026.
Looking back across 2025, three themes shaped the global sports broadcasting ecosystem:
- AI shifting from enhancement tools to potential workflow orchestration
- Continued innovation in so-called tier 2 and tier 3 sports properties, driven by cost pressure and the need for creative production models
- The rise of multi-feed, multi-format distribution and the end of the single-feed era.
These forces will shape how live sports broadcasts are produced, distributed and experienced in 2026.
AI at a turning point
In 2025, AI proved valuable in focused areas of video production, such as generating automated highlights, enriching metadata, enabling commentary, facilitating AI-driven analysis and rapid content adaptation for different platforms. These capabilities strengthened elements of live streaming, video contribution and cloud production, but AI has yet to deliver the broader transformation expected across live broadcast workflows.
The key question for 2026 is whether AI can evolve beyond isolated tasks to orchestrate end-to-end workflows – managing signal routing, resource allocation, scheduling, multi-feed output and real-time scaling across cloud production and remote production environments. This shift would fundamentally redefine live broadcast operations, supported by IP video technologies and new connectivity solutions that are increasingly equipping field crews.
The industry’s innovation engine
Across 2025, tier 2 and tier 3 competitions solidified their position as the testing ground for emerging broadcast technologies. Operating with lean budgets and big ambition, these properties have in recent years typically been early adopters of video over bonded IP technologies, remote production and fully cloud-based workflows to deliver compelling live streaming and live broadcast coverage.
This year, I witnessed a motorsport series evolve from occasional single-camera streams to consistently producing multi-camera race weekends using cloud production, mobile roaming angles, drones and onboard feeds. This approach can unlock both cost efficiencies and authentic content that resonates with younger, digital-first audiences.
Increasingly, top-tier leagues are adopting these innovations. For example, EuroLeague Basketball’s real-time social content, multi-format storytelling and cloud-enabled video production workflows demonstrate how long-tail, niche experimentation continuously shapes top-tier strategies.
Multi-feed as the new default
2025 marked the definitive end of the single-feed era. Rights holders no longer choose between a traditional broadcaster or a proprietary OTT platform; instead, they design for multi-feed, multi-format delivery as the baseline expectation for modern sports broadcasting.
This shift is made possible by increasingly flexible cloud production, scalable IP video transmission and the ability to generate multiple parallel versions of the same event through cloud-based and remote production workflows.
Today’s rights holders routinely produce:
- A premium primary broadcast feed for traditional partners
- Vertical and mobile-native formats for social platforms
- Creator-led or athlete-led companion feeds
- Betting operator feeds
- Behind-the-scenes and shoulder content
- Localised versions for multilingual markets
Even as distribution fragments, the big-screen experience remains central during global events. The upcoming football World Cup in the Americas and Winter Games in Milano Cortina will reinforce a dual mandate: deliver a world-class main broadcast feed while simultaneously powering complementary digital formats.
Rights market volatility
The turbulence in media rights values during 2025 was illustrated most clearly when Ligue 1’s rights were returned by their global streaming partner, forcing the league to build its own production operation. It revealed an uncomfortable truth: rights valuations are no longer guaranteed.
In 2026, this means that many more rights holders must be prepared to produce reliably at scale using cloud production and remote production workflows, rely more heavily on bonded cellular and IP-based video contribution for resilience and cost control, and deliver multi-feed live broadcasts without depending on a single broadcaster or OTT platform. Production autonomy is now firmly intertwined with financial stability.
Predictions for 2026
Against this backdrop, the following outcomes are likely to emerge as we move through 2026:
- AI workflow orchestration becomes the defining test – the industry will learn whether AI can meaningfully integrate across end-to-end workflows and increase automation rather than supporting specific tasks.
- Tier 2 and tier 3 sports continue leading production innovation, shaping how top-tier leagues approach live broadcasting.
- Multi-feed production becomes operationally unavoidable – modern audiences and business models require platform-specific versions of each competition.
- Production capabilities become a board-level issue, with rights holders investing in flexible, cloud-based and remote production.
The industry’s next phase
In 2025, AI hinted at a new production era, creating a lot of anticipation. Tier 2 and tier 3 sports leagues continued to prove how central they are to innovation, and the consumption landscape splintered further into layers, without diminishing the big-screen moment.
2026 will bring the true test: a year of huge global events, tighter budgets, higher expectations and a rapidly diversifying audience. Those who can deliver scalable, flexible, multi-layered production, powered by smarter automation and rooted in authenticity, will define the next phase of live sports broadcasting.
