Future gazing: Matrox Video predicts the four trends shaping sports production

By Francesco Scartozzi, Matrox Video vice president of sales and business development.

Sports production accounts for a large portion of the media and entertainment business, and sports broadcasters are often at the forefront when it comes to implementing the latest technical innovations. This is evident in a few key trends….

Adoption of SMPTE ST 2110

One clear trend in sports production is the adoption of SMPTE ST 2110 and IP-based workflows. It’s no secret that ST 2110 implementation was rocky at the beginning. That’s largely because traditional broadcast engineers weren’t yet versed in IT and IP-based networking. They spent their days putting together SDI workflows, so they hadn’t developed the knowledge and skills required for those early installations to go smoothly.

But now, after many years, more broadcast personnel have learned crucial networking skills that make it easier to set up a high-end ST 2110 environment. Broadcasters also have expanded their engineering teams to include networking experts. And with that, the standard has really taken off. We are seeing more tier one and tier two broadcast facilities adopting ST 2110, and our own sales numbers suggest 30% year on year growth in adoption.

Based on ST 2110, the newer IPMX standards and specifications for AV over IP are driving a key trend that I believe will continue to pick up steam in 2024; the use of ProAV gear in broadcast workflows. The increasing expansion of IPMX into broadcast, I believe, will naturally give rise to more ProAV gear.

Refresh of stadiums and sports venues

Sports venues are responsible for a good bit of ST 2110 uptake. Sports organisations the world over have either been overhauling their operations to accommodate ST 2110 or building entirely new stadiums or arenas based on the standard. It started with the new SoFi Stadium and Allegiant Stadium, as well as refreshed stadiums like Lucas Oil. They all rely on ST 2110.

This trend will take off in the US venue space as the industry prepares for the FIFA World Cup in 2026, and I predict all venues set to host matches will be updated to use ST 2110 equipment. With all major OB truck manufacturers committing to ST 2110 for new builds this past year, it’s safe to say that the future of mobile production trucks is IP-based too.

Using the cloud for personalisation and smaller events

But not all sports broadcasts are global or national events. Many are local or niche broadcasts that don’t draw massive audiences and/or don’t have the associated production resources that come with a premier event. That’s where the cloud can shine. Media companies can use the cloud to do “light” (read: less expensive) production of smaller sporting events and offer more localized, personalised content.

In fact, sports broadcasters are among the many media companies that are looking to move to the cloud because they want to produce more content in a more compelling way. And as they do, they are starting to ask the right questions; questions that will help them better define what “moving to the cloud” really means for their technical operations and their business model. How can we distribute the workload? How can we be resilient enough to protect our workflows? The logical answer is to become more software-centric.

In essence, the main reason sports broadcasters want to move to the cloud is to be more flexible. Flexibility breeds efficiency, with access to a wider range of technical resources. And the only way to be more flexible is to use standard IT equipment with software that solves a particular problem.

Moving workflows to the cloud (ie, using software) will result in more content being produced in a more personalised way. Because the cloud makes it possible to spin workflows up or down, depending on what you want to cover or how you want to monetize, sports broadcasters can deliver live events to each viewer in a way that focuses on exactly what interests them. This is an example of how sports production is changing, and it’s only possible if we really embrace what the cloud has to offer. Fortunately, the technology exists today to make it happen.

Using AI to boost fan engagement

Attracting, engaging, and keeping viewers is one of the biggest challenges in sports broadcasting. That’s one reason the sports production industry has embraced artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for producing better live content. An AI-curated personalised viewing experience can combine various media feeds, based on clients’ past habits, to maximise fan engagement.

But here’s a word of caution; when it comes to expanding the use of AI in the production pipeline, it pays to ask the right questions, just as sports production companies are doing with the move to the cloud. Why do we believe AI can make live sports production better? Can it help tell a better story? Can it save money? The answers to those questions will help determine what problems we need to solve. Only then should we turn to AI to solve them … and we should use it only when it makes sense to do so.