SVG Europe’s FutureSport 2024 event, sponsored by Tata Comms Media, brought together leading minds from sports broadcasting to explore how cloud production, artificial intelligence (AI), and data-driven insights are shaping the industry’s future.

Hosted at the iconic All England Lawn Tennis Club London, the day’s presentations and panels also featured insights into the innovative coverage of the Wimbledon Championships and SailGP.

After some networking and the chance to take a tour of the historic venue, the opening remarks were delivered by Brijesh Yadav, vice president and global head of media business at Tata Media Comms.

Yadav set the stage for Maria Stanley, SailGP, director of production; Amanda Lawson, Hang Loose Media Group, co-founder; Claire Wilkie, Limitless Broadcast, CEO; and Georgina Green, AELTC, senior broadcast and production manager who all took part in the Sports Broadcasting in 2024: The big debate panel during which they examined the big issues challenging the industry.

Talking about 1080p versus UHD HDR, Green said: “We deliver in the highest quality we can and then derive everything else from that. You can find yourself trying to deliver everything to everyone and we try to balance that as much as we can.”

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Lawson added: “We work mostly in esports so there isn’t a need for UHD in our space because the platforms we’re delivering on don’t take it and the cost can be an issue for streaming platforms. For us it’s about where the end user is consuming content and that’s largely on mobile, so it would be a waste of time.”

As the discussion moved on to artificial intelligence (AI), Wilkie said: “I think AI is something that should be embraced. I’m fired up by the creative opportunities it brings.”

Green added: “It’s interesting where AI could take us, particularly with regionalised or localised content – that could be an interesting direction for us.”

“If you look at what we’ve bought into this industry – like REMI and cloud production – new technologies like AI coming into media are of course going to change people’s jobs. But it doesn’t mean there will be fewer jobs; it will mean there are different jobs.”

Next up was a case study: Behind the Scenes – Creative Technology’s Impact on Live Event Production Worldwide delivered by Steve Purkess, Creative Technology, head of sport and James Rivers, Imagine Communications, solutions engineer.

After some networking and lunch, Rebecca Jackson from Caretta Research provided a forward-looking presentation that forecast where European sports broadcasting and production is likely to be in 12-18 months’ time.

Jackson said that while tech spend is set to grow, that spend is being prioritised on products and services that will improve efficiencies, such as AI and cloud. And she added that manufacturers need to help buyers and support them in during tumultuous times.

Picking up on the subject of AI, the next panel – titled Generation AI: What we know, what we don’t know and what we need to understand better – explored current use cases and the potential for not only boosting creativity but also driving efficiencies and helping the industry to do ‘more for less’.

The session was introduced by an AI-generated avatar of SVG Europe editor Will Strauss, before Pete Leone, Veritone, sales director for Media, Entertainment and Sports, Saleha Williams, SW Inc, CEO, Darren Long, media consultant and Neil Ralph, AWS, principal industry specialist shared their knowledge of the subject.

The buzz word for the discussion was efficiency. Williams said: “The brilliance of Gen AI is to create and drive creative – and enhance original – content. The artistic, creative side of Gen AI means the ability to engage in the audience you already have, and engage with new audiences.”

She added that being able to use Gen AI to create new content in an efficient way will enable the industry to drive forwards with new audiences.

Long commented: “If you look at what we’ve bought into this industry – like REMI and cloud production, the new technologies coming into media are of course going to change people’s jobs. We need to understand that will happen. But it doesn’t mean there will be fewer jobs; it will mean there are different jobs.”

Next up was another case study, this time from Glenn Broere, Eluvio head of UK and EMEA who spoke about his organisation’s work with European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR, which is using Eluvio Content Fabric to share its content with viewers.

Next, Matt Samuel, Formula E, post production manager, Jonathan Smith, Net Insight, Solution Area Expert Cloud, Lachlan Smith, EMG/Gravity, Cloud Production Developer and Mike Lethem, Sky Sports, Software Operations Manager took part in the lively panel discussion Live Cloud Production: Dispelling some myths, which set out to explore the reality of working in the cloud.

Responding to the assertion that “the cloud saves money”, Smith explained that it’s not always the case. He said: “It’s the right architecture that will save you money.”

Letham said working in the cloud is helping Sky Sports with sustainability. He noted that the broadcaster had condensed 12 bays of equipment running 24/7 into two half bays, massively reducing its workflows on kit that was sitting still for a significant amount of time.

The session concluded with moderator and SVG Europe editor Will Strauss urging the industry to adopt ‘software production’ rather than ‘cloud’, as the latter is just a facet of software production.

After more networking, Melissa Lawton, SailGP chief content officer discussed the broadcast and media innovation being deployed on coverage of the international sailing competition.

Lawson said: “Owning the data is massive. 46 billion points of data is a lot for anyone – I didn’t really know what we did with all that data till we started using AI and algorithms to start pulling information out of that.”

Working with SailGP sponsor, Oracle, SailGP now has an anomaly detection tool which is benig used to work through those data points to predict what might go wrong with that boat, both technically and on the water.

She noted that many people that are new to SailGP are attracted to the sport through social media via “surprise and delight” clips of incidents such as crashes and disasters on the water, so it is important to ensure those points are captured and then made available quickly.

She said: “There are situations that could unfold that could turn into spectacular moments, so now we have more eyes on those spectacular moments that could then be rolled out on social media.”

A panel titled ‘More than just a game: Embracing interactivity for live sports’ then discussed personalisation, engagement, gamification, immersion, interactivity and other viewing experiences for live sports.

Featuring Anders Raden-Rygaard, DF (Divisionsforeningen), head of commercial and Alan Bruno, ATP Media, head of business development, the duo explored subjects such as how to appeal to casual fans.

Bruno said: “We’re still on a journey of learning what’s most appropriate for our content. I think where this will get interesting is in creating a club environment through community interactivity. But you don’t want to bombard the viewer, just add more interactivity. It’s about finding something that enhances and complements.”

Next up was a third and final case study: The Future of Sports Content – Bridging Technology and Storytelling. Ursa Presern, sports editor, Reuters and Liz Eastham, business development director, Reuters Imagen explored the future of sports content distribution and consumption.

And the final session of the day ‘New balls please: Tech and editorial innovation at The Championships, Wimbledon (pictured above) welcomed Paul Davies, AELTC, Associate Director, Broadcast, Production & Media Rights, Chris Clements, AELTC, Digital Products Lead and Joe Bennett, Whisper TV, Creative Director, Digital and Content to the stage to discuss how the AELTC, in-house division Wimbledon Broadcast Services and production partner Whisper are working to enhance and improve coverage of the Championships.

Davies said: “Like all rights holders these days, it’s about a bespoke delivery. ESPN will have around 250 people flying across the pond. We had a Disney wing built for them last year. And the BBC have around 150 people, and there are a lot of smaller broadcaster presences as well.

“So, they’re all different. Amazon Prime is a great example. They were the first streamer we onboarded. Their requirements were for an outdoor studio, covered, so we got them that outdoor presentation position. So every broadcaster gets that treatment; it’s tested all our assets. It’s about personalisation of that content for each broadcaster.”