The Big Debate: Industry leaders discuss production formats, AI, sustainability and more
UHD HDR versus 1080p HDR, the need to engage Gen Z, AI and sustainability were just some of the topics touched upon during ‘Sports Broadcasting in 2024: The big debate’ at FutureSPORT 2024.
Georgina Green, senior broadcast & production manager, AELTC, kicked off the discussions, explaining how the organisation meets the needs of broadcast partners during the Wimbledon Championships.
“On a daily basis, we have over 22 live feeds going out,” she explained, “so how we manage that process and meet both those demands is really important. We deliver in the highest quality that we can, and then derive our other formats from that. So we only do Centre Court and Number One Court in UHD HDR native, everything else is derived from that. It can be really tricky trying to get that balance between what the demand is, because most broadcasters only have one UHD channel, so we feel that by delivering Centre and Number One, we are pretty much covering all of our output for those two weeks with that.”
Claire Wilkie, Limitless Broadcast CEO, offered the facilities provider perspective, explaining: “We’re working with broadcasters and production companies, but also digital content creators as well, so from our perspective, resolution and quality are all tools. For example, we might be capturing content in 4K and then providing HD streams for content providers to then take that. Ultimately, it comes down to what the end user is watching in and how they’re consuming their content. The vast majority of people are consuming in 1080p or in vertical. So perhaps the question is, should we be multiformat and multiplatform going forwards in terms of different resolutions, different aspect ratios?”
For Maria Stanley, SailGP, director of production, the answer to this question is a resounding yes. “All our content is tailored to every platform that it goes out on, and every platform has a different generation, like TikTok, we’re definitely looking at Gen Z, and that could be their first touch point of our league, our sport,” she told the FutureSPORT audience.
Amanda Lawson, co-founder Hang Loose Media Group, agreed, adding: “If you’re not thinking about digital content, and you’re thinking of just linear, then you’re not moving with the times. You have to be thinking about digital first.”
Given the amount of content being created, the need for robust, efficient workflows is greater than ever and the role AI has to play in achieving this was also explored by the panel.
Wilkie said: “AI is really shaking the world up at the moment, and we’re fearful it will take away jobs, but it also will bring efficiencies in content production and facilities. I think it’s something to be embraced as a tool that can work and complement our workflows, but also bring efficiencies and cost efficiencies.”
Stanley added: “We are fully embracing AI across our archive systems, and we’re also looking at integrating it into some cameras. But our edit team have actually been using it a bit controversially with AI voiceover. It’s just a really quick, efficient editing tool. So we use it initially a little bit more as a track guide, but then we’ve been showing it to our partners and they’re like, ‘oh, we like that voice. Can we have it?’ They have no idea it’s AI, but it’s not a direct replacement for our talent, they’re definitely still part of our brand.”
Lawson added: “I think it has to be embraced, because we would be foolish to ignore it. I think AI will be amazing in doing the mundane jobs in a production workflow, especially when it comes to data archiving, that kind of thing.”
Sustainability versus budget pressures
While cost and efficiency goals are clear targets for many across the industry, the panel highlighted how these can often be at odds with the push to implement more sustainable working practices.
Lawson explained the dilemma: “Sustainability, as an independent producer, when you’re doing budgets for clients, it’s always something that they look at to see how you’re devising a production that ticks the greener boxes, if you like. But, as an independent producer, again, it’s not always been the most efficient way of doing a production. So from a live event perspective, you always have to have a significant amount of people on site, and then we would have to hire a remote production facility in order to bring all the feeds back and to make the production, so if you’re not a facility, or you’re not a broadcaster, or potentially a federation that has your own setup, it hasn’t necessarily driven efficiencies in the production workflow. So what you save on – flying, people, accommodation – all that almost matches up with what you then have to spend in hiring a facility and doing it that way. So when we’ve presented that, it’s kind of like, ‘oh, okay, well, I thought it was going to be loads cheaper to do it remotely’, and it actually hasn’t turned out that that’s the case. However, there is still a real demand from our clients that we need to be seen to be doing things sustainably in a greener way.”
Finally, the panel touched on the topic of skills shortages and the need to attract a younger workforce. On whether broadcasters and production companies should be more active in providing funding for training, Wilkie said: “There is no doubt that we’re struggling to attract people into our industry who are bringing in the skills for a changing technology landscape. There are some amazing outreach programmes happening, such as Rise Academy, where one of our people went and volunteered and had the best time. I think it would be wonderful to have more of a centralised industrial, industry-led programme, I think that would be great. What I think these young people desperately need is to be inspired and to want to come and work here in the first place. And having spoken to a few of these younger people at IBC, go and talk to them. They have amazing ideas.”
FutureSPORT took place at the AELTC in London on 23 October. Session recordings are available here.