How streaming is changing sports broadcasting and what to do about it
From F1 to Football, major international events are now covered via video streaming. It’s a great way for companies to capitalize on growing markets, such as esports and women’s leagues.
Sports federations and tournament owners are actively pursuing new revenue streams.
Some may not have the equipment to deliver footage to broadcasters. What is the solution?
Sports Broadcasting: The New Face
Sport consumption has evolved dramatically over the past decade. In addition to traditional TV broadcasts, highlight shows and subscription streaming services are now available. There are also live feeds, videos and replays available via social media and video websites, as well as dedicated apps for smartphones and tablets.
These delivery systems are online-only, so they don’t have to adhere to any television standards. You’re therefore more likely to find 4K and HDR footage in over-the-top broadcasts. In many cases, it is a more enjoyable viewing experience than traditional linear TV. The content is enhanced by interactive elements, augmented reality and exclusive content to engage the audience.
In fact, OTT subscriptions services like ESPN+ DAZN, and Eleven Sports, have been making huge gains in recent years. ESPN+ has more than 3 million subscribers despite only being founded in April 2018. In the last three-years, DAZN set up operations across nine countries. It now has 8 million subscribers. There are many opportunities for rights holders and there is no shortage of fans willing to pay premium prices to watch their favorite sports.
Exploring Bottlenecks
It is easy to capture video footage from a sporting event using a smartphone or laptop. Without the right infrastructure, you may encounter bottlenecks when transferring this footage to broadcast partners.
You need to understand the sheer volume of data. A raw hour of 4K footage requires around 320GB in storage, multiplied by the number of cameras. Multiple cameras can be used for large live events to capture different angles. The semi-finals and finals of the 2019 Rugby World Cup were broadcasted in 8K throughout the host nation and used a 34 camera setup.
Fox Sports’ coverage for the 2019 Women’s World Cup generated around 2 million gigabytes of data 메이저리그중계.
Why media asset management is important
No matter how big or small your operation is, you need to archive and store all of the footage. If you keep it all in one big file, the value of your footage will be lost. It is also important to label and annotate the content so that it can be searched for and used as highlights, clips for social media or for the team.
Media asset management can be a real help in this area. Imagen’s Media Asset Management (MAM) system supports live streams and allows you to add metadata both automatically and manually.
Media Logger is a powerful system that allows the addition of time-based meta-data. An operator can simply annotate the action in real-time using pre-defined icons or keywords. You can add metadata to a video whenever someone scores a goal or an incident with the referee occurs. The whole thing happens in real time, and since it is web-based, you can do it on-site, or even outsource it.
