Sports Media President Eric Weinberger looks at the changing landscape of sports production.
RYE, NEW YORK, 2022 — With an ever-increasing interest in live sports production due to expansive streaming options upping both the digital and broadcast game, new technological developments appear regularly. Eric Weinberger, president of a sports media company and an Emmy award-winning executive, advises the rapid pace of development shows no signs of slowing in the near future.
Five Ways Sports Productions are Changing
Adding value is essential for the contemporary broadcasting of sports media. Fans aren’t content with the status quo Eric Weinberger advises. With streaming, there is an expectation for dynamic content, and day-old analysis doesn’t cut it. Being locked into one view only is also a vision of the past. Fans want choices going forward.
5G enhances options
While 5G connectivity is helping more and more sports fans enjoy streaming options, it is also revolutionizing filming and transmission. Transmission of video footage for live broadcasts was once a proprietary art, but that is changing. The power of 5G makes it easier for broadcast and streaming entities to deploy numerous cameras into live multi-entrant events, such as bicycle races and marathons, and receive a steady stream of footage from various devices.
Maintaining the security of footage is still key, but private 5G networks help bridge the primary concerns, Eric Weinberger advises. As this method of recording and delivering footage expands, even more security options will emerge.
Robots leading the way in augmented coverage
Products such as the NFL’s Sunday tickets have demonstrated the demand for access to multiple games at the same time. For other sports and sporting events, such as the Olympics, tennis tournaments, and golf, the amount of access provided to fans was often limited by staffing for camera crews on the court, course, or field.
New robotic cameras with enhanced tracking abilities have increased the opportunities for capturing dynamic footage. When there is no need for overall production and storytelling from above, these cameras and managing systems can take the helm with minimal oversight, allowing fans to check in at all active areas of an event.
Coverage from the air offers new views
Like robotic cameras, drones provide new ways to capture sports and fresh perspectives. For a video game generation, drones can provide the same high-tech motion tracking for a golf ball strike or follow favorite racers on the asphalt with new angles and high-speed tracking.
Data crunching and new tech deepens fan involvement
Enhanced data collection and compiling, coupled with unique sharing capabilities, are making it possible to present fans of a variety of sports with increasingly detailed maps, team updates, weather insights, and individual analysis of competitor progress for a wide range of events. With better data, major competitions like the Olympics and Commonwealth Games of the future can make it easier for more casual fans to become oriented to newly viewed sports and become familiar with players in a snap.
Content is king
While the sport is always the mainstay of a broadcast, a new generation of fans demands fresh content. From in-depth analysis to biographical information and enhanced storytelling, the best sports productions of the future will be a layered experience with the game as the driver and perspective augmenting video and infographics providing dynamic, on-demand insights.
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