Crystal ball gazing: Ten sports broadcasting predictions for 2024
From the rise of AI and the importance of social media content to increased remote production and engaging younger audiences, here are 10 trends pervading the sports broadcasting and production sector, as highlighted by our contributors.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) will free production teams from the limitations of the set video cameras used to capture events, relieve editors of tedious post-production chores, and enable real-time generation of AR graphics without any operator intervention.”
Olivier Barnich, EVS, head of innovation and architecture
“The sports broadcasting industry is increasingly transitioning towards IP-based systems and remote and cloud-based production but SDI technology will still have a role to play and will remain relevant for the foreseeable future, with a significant portion of the market expected to continue leveraging these solutions for at least the next decade.”
Jimbo Haneklau, Imagine Communications. senior account manager for sports and live events
“By recognising that social media can convert and sustain long-term audience engagement, rather than being just for fleeting virality, broadcasters will ensure maintained relevance in the evolving landscape of digital media consumption.”
Andrew O’Neil, Vizrt head of sports, EMEA and APAC
“Sports rights owners and their broadcast and production partners can ensure the longevity and success of live sports production and broadcasting in 2024 by adapting to younger audience preferences, leveraging innovation for greater cost efficiency, and meeting rising ESG standards.”
Ophir Zardok, LiveU head of sports strategy and business development
“The integration of 5G, IP networks, HDR’s image enhancements, and cinematic aesthetics will create an immersive, interconnected ecosystem, redefining audience engagements and the very essence of the live sports experience.”
Norbert Paquet, Sony Europe, head of live production
“Whether it is the Paris Olympics, the Super Bowl, the Euros or any other major tournament, 2024 is going to be the year of experimentation and seeing how much more we can do with processing, remote working, AI and machine learning.”
Mo Goyal, Evertz, senior director of international business development, live media solutions
“With many major sports organisations running big live events preparing to do even more remote production in 2024 than in 2023, the use of 100G networks will become more widespread, boosting flexibility and cost-effectiveness by reducing travel and shipping but also supporting the industry trend toward sustainability.”
Robert Szabo-Rowe, The Switch senior vice president, engineering and product management
“Broadcasters will no longer need to plan for the next five or ten years. Whenever they need more processing capability, they can take out additional subscriptions, perhaps only for the duration of an upcoming event. Everything can be charged to the operating expense account.”
Phil Myers, Lawo, CTO
Read more: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/fast-love-lawo-on-the-year-of-absolute-elasticity/
“The growth of esports as an innovation powerhouse will not only transform the gaming landscape but also reshape how we perceive and enjoy sports across all platforms.”
Harry McCombe, M2A Media business growth executive
“A combination of short-form highlight videos and social media push will help non-traditional sports get wider coverage and exposure to big audiences – but in order to do so in a cost-effective manner, they will need to effectively maximise technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.”
Vinayak Shrivastav, Magnifi by VideoVerse CEO