SVG Australia Summit Puts Focus on Women’s World Cup and the Australian Sports Industry

AI, virtual advertising, staffing dominated the conversations

Timed to coincide with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, SVG’s annual 2023 SVG Australia Summit on Aug. 9 drew more than 230 attendees to Sydney’s Telstra Customer Insight Centre for an afternoon of networking, panel discussions, presentations, and more. Look for all sessions to be available on SVG Play in the coming weeks.

More than 230 industry pros attended the 2023 SVG Australia Summit at Telstra Customer Insight Centre in Sydney.

After a welcome by Telstra Broadcast Services Head of APAC Karen Clark, FIFA Head of Broadcast Production Florin Mitu joined SVG/SVG Europe, Co-Executive Director, Editorial, Ken Kerschbaumer for a one-on-one conversation focused on the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Topics ranged from Mitu’s career to the 2023 World Cup operations and the potential legacy of the workflows from this year’s event.

SVG’s Ken Kerschbaumer (left) and FIFA’s Florin Mitu in conversation at SVG Australia Summit

Following that session, Sarah Butler, founder, Sport Business Connected, moderated a panel — Steve Cliffe, sports commercial specialist; Maura Everett, PUMA; Ethan McLean, group creative studio director, Octagon; and Paul Meltz, head of original content, A-Leagues — on the growth of women’s sports and the current rights landscape.

Panel on women’s sports: (from left) Sport Business Connected’s Sarah Butler, moderator; sports commercial specialist Steve Cliffe; PUMA’s Maura Everett; Octagon’s Ethan McLean; and A-Leagues’ Paul Meltz

A presentation by LiveU Pacific’s Chris Dredge covered content distribution by the Oceania Football Confederation.

A presentation by LiveU Pacific Country and Sales Manager Chris Dredge zeroed in on the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and its need for an affordable and reliable method of distributing content to the wider Pacific Island Community. LiveU Matrix helped OFC get the job done.

Then the focus turned to one of today’s hottest topics: AI, automated production, and what it means to sports-content creation. Moderated by Doxia Brownlow, head of broadcast services, Tabcorp, a panel comprising Sudharshan Aravamudan, head of APAC strategy and market engagement, media and entertainment, Google Cloud; Monica Forlano, head of AFL Studios, Australian Football League; and Guy Port, head of Asia, WSC Sports, examined how, with sports-content creation exploding and fans looking for more-personalized experiences, a future with AI is not a luxury but a necessity.

Panel on AI and automated production: (from left) Tabcorp’s Doxia Brownlow, moderator; Google Cloud’s Sudharshan Aravamudan; Australian Football League’s Monica Forlano; and WSC Sports’ Guy Port

After a networking break, the audience returned to the theater for a discussion on finding the next generation of production talent.

Kerschbaumer led the chat with Suzzie Lawrence, freelance director/vision mixer; Caroline Ramsay, senior program manager, major events, global PMO, NEP; Kahleah Webb, head of operations, Gravity Media; Celine Wienand, broadcast engineer, NEP Australia; and Narelle Vine, Australia GM, AE Live. The key takeaway? The global challenge to find young talent may take a lot of work by different industry players, and reaching out to high schoolers may be a key to success.

Panel on finding young talent: (from left) SVG’s Ken Kerschbaumer, moderator; freelance director Suzzie Lawrence; NEP’s Caroline Ramsay; Gravity Media’s Kahleah Webb; NEP Australia’s Celine Wienand; and AE Live’s Narelle Vine

The cloud and its role in the current production and distribution landscape was up next. Paul Whybrow, chair, Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific, SMPTE, led the discussion with Paul Devlin, principal, Sports Enterprise Australia, AWS; Adrian Jenner, director, technology, Australia, Gravity Media; Anna Lockwood, VP, international, Telstra Broadcast Services; Christopher Palmer, global director, pre-sales, APAC, Vizrt; Domenic Romeo, director, LayerCake; and James Wyld, principal infrastructure engineer, Riot Games. With the panelists reporting different ways of deploying the cloud, attendees were offered a comprehensive overview of how the cloud will ultimately impact nearly every aspect of content creation and distribution. The issue to resolve now is whether it always makes sense and what is the right mix of private- and public-cloud services.

Panel on the cloud in production and distribution: (from left) SMPTE’s Paul Whybrow, moderator; AWS’s Paul Devlin; Gravity Media’s Adrian Jenner; Telstra Broadcast Services’ Anna Lockwood; Vizrt’s Christopher Palmer; LayerCake’s Domenic Romeo; and Riot Games’ James Wyld

Business-development executive Paul Slowey led a case study about how Australian Professional Leagues uses Supponor’s modular virtual-advertising platform to expand its virtual-ad–placement inventory across Asia-Pacific (APAC). Presenters were David Adams, COO, Supponor APAC (AMC); Ian Hogg, co-CEO/founder, Global Advance; and Jack Mesley, chief commercial officer, Australian Professional Leagues. Use of virtual-board replacement is increasingly important to leagues looking to offer more-relevant (and thus valuable) advertising opportunities, and virtual replacement can do just that.

Panel on Australian Professional Leagues and virtual advertising: (from left) Moderator Paul Slowey, Supponor’s David Adams, Global Advance’s Ian Hogg, and Australian Professional Leagues’ Jack Mesley

The event concluded with a wide-ranging discussion about World Cup workflows, the cloud, AI, and IP. Moderated by Kerschbaumer, it featured Kevin Callahan, VP, field operations and engineering, Fox Sports; Robert Erickson, VP, live production and sports, TAG Video Systems; Josh Hanson, associate director, projects, creative and content technology, Optus Sport; Marc Segar, director, technology, NEP Broadcast Services Australia; and Ian Stokes, director, engineering, Australia, Gravity Media.

Concluding panel: (from left) SVG’s Ken Kerschbaumer, moderator; Fox Sports’ Kevin Callahan; TAG Video Systems’ Robert Erickson; Optus Sport’s Josh Hanson; NEP Broadcast Services Australia’s Marc Segar; and Gravity Media’s Ian Stokes