5 Things We Learned from Broadcast Disruptors

Leaders Week kicked off with two specialist forums this year. One of them, Broadcast Disruptors, took place at the BT Tower and delved into the latest technology being embraced – or not – by the sports broadcast industry, as well as the funding models and consumer habits that are re-shaping the business. With the help of our man on the ground (and up the tower), Andrew Serio, we invite you to sit back and get super-served with the following insights:

1. The future’s bright, the future’s personalised

Remember your maths? Well, the new broadcasting formula is: One Million Viewers = One Million Channels. Spotify has done it for music, Amazon for shopping, but who will do it for television? That was one of the questions posed at the Snell Advanced Media roundtable on ‘removing destruction from the production process’. And if that’s the formula, then the equation is a personalised one. According the Snell’s computer scientist extraordinaire, James Cain, the end goal for content producers is the ability to mix and match ingredients (read: content, graphics, ads) to create unique recipes (read: broadcasts) tailored to fans’ preferences.

2. The future’s bright, the future is IP

BT Sport has done some pioneering stuff already in its brief existence so far. From AR to VR, through to mass adoption of single-truck 4K production from over 350 live events last year, BT has revelled in its ‘new kid on the block’ status and is willing to push the envelope. And COO Jamie Hindhaugh was willing to give a glimpse of what’s around the corner: IP-based delivery (signal through the internet, basically). It might not make a substantial difference to the consumer, but the efficiencies gained will be game-changing for broadcasters. And when it comes to, as Hindhaugh put it, “getting the return path”, we can only imagine.

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3. What’s sport got to do, got to do with it?

The hype around VR in the sports industry is palpable, and, although the work done by forward-thinking operators such as the PGA Tour and Fox Sports has been broadly well-received, there was a reality check from the execs charged with implementing the technology. Sport can absolutely capaitalise on the technology, they agreed, but it may never generate enough VR business to satisfy the VR tech providers itself.

4. OTT – it’s not about the tech (well, it is a bit)

DAZN CEO James Rushton was admirably candid about the technological difficulties encountered over the first year of Perform’s OTT service. Streams dropping out – particularly on the opening weekend of DAZN’s J-League coverage – have occurred with refundable repercussions. But technology will evolve, and glitches can be ironed out. Mindsets, though, might take a little longer to change. According to Eurosport Digital Managing Director Ralph Rivera, “The difficulty isn’t in the technology, the difficult is in the mental model that storytellers are used to for linear broadcasts.”

5. Think global, act local

It’s a buzzphrase, sure, but it’s one that Manchester United are employing for their media operation under new media CEO Phil Lynch. What that means in reality is an impressive investment in international resource, local content experts, fata analytics teams and the rest. In fact, it’s almost certainly easier to think global, act global, but no-one says that, do they?