IBC2024 Innovation Awards: Live sport and sustainable production are key drivers for finalists

The five categories in this year’s expanded IBC Innovation Awards include Content Creation, Content Distribution, Content Everywhere, Environment & Sustainability and Social Impact, recognising the very best in collaborative efforts to develop new solutions to real-world technical challenges and address social and environmental issues.

This year’s entries once again showcased the global reach and appeal of the IBC Innovation Awards with projects of the highest quality received from six continents. Meanwhile, constantly evolving delivery methods and audience consumption patterns demand that content producers around the globe innovate dynamically to stay relevant and competitive in the modern media and entertainment technology ecosystem.

I would personally like to sincerely thank our panel of judges for their diligence and ability to adapt, as we brought our three Content categories together with Environment & Sustainability and Social Impact this year for our new-look IBC Innovation Awards. The 2024 awards will be announced in a ceremony hosted by presenter and former news anchor Sasha Qadri, taking place in the Auditorium Complex at the RAI on Sunday, 15 September at 18.00 CET.

Content Creation finalists

NFL Toy Story Football Funday: This project leveraged AI and real-time 3D virtual recreation technologies to create a fully animated NFL alternative broadcast, integrating Toy Story characters and storytelling. Combining single-point tracking from Next Gen Stats and optical tracking from Hawk-Eye Innovations, Beyond Sports created detailed, reliable animations.

The project enabled seamless streaming across ESPN+ and Disney+, with a real-time data-enhanced viewer experience. The collaboration resulted in a highly engaging broadcast, attracting 800,000 viewers and generating 140 million social media interactions, winning three Emmy awards. Beyond Sports, Hawk-Eye Innovations, Next Gen Stats, NFL and Silver Spoon Animation were the technical supporters.

OBS Paris 2024: Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and partners for live broadcast production with a 250 smartphone video contribution for the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony and a sea-based 5G network for sailing competitions in Marseille. This project supported live broadcast production over standalone private 5G networks during the 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and sailing competitions.

During the Ceremony, despite the torrential rain that fell all evening, OBS simultaneously captured live video in HDR from 250 smartphones onboard boats with Haivision’s MoJoPro App. During the sailing competitions, smartphones were used with a sea-based 5G network, for the first time in history, by placing 5G cells onto three catamarans covering the field of play. Samsung delivered S24 smartphones, Neutral Wireless, Orange and Cisco provided the private 5G network using Intel-powered solutions, CyanView enabled remote camera control, and AMP VISUAL TV managed the remote production.

Read more Paris 2024: OBS gets up close and personal to capture Olympic spirit | Industry Trends

Virtual Reality over RF for A2RL: Vislink, in collaboration with technology partner FocalPoint VR, developed and provided a cutting-edge virtual reality over RF wireless solution for use during the inaugural season of the A2RL (Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League) Series in 2024. Vislink’s RF wireless technology empowers the A2RL by providing reliable and low-latency video and data communication between the race cars and their control systems.

The project is the first of its kind in motorsport entertainment, as it allows racing fans to experience a real-time VR view of the cockpit of autonomous race cars straight to their headsets onsite and at home. A2RL was established, and managed by, ASPIRE to advance R&D in autonomous vehicles and AI, and push the boundaries of the future of mobility. ASPIRE is the dedicated technology program management pillar of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), the R&D technology body of Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Content Distribution finalists

The new TV platform: ‘TV of the Future’ is a platform that intelligently aggregates content to meet consumers’ needs for personalisation and curation. Claro Brazil is redefining the pay TV distribution value proposition, in collaboration with Amazon Alexa, Bang & Olufsen, Broadcom, Dolby, Harmonic, Nagra, Sagemcom, Spideo and Teleidea Middleware. The customer base is expected to grow, reaching one million customers by the end of 2024, reversing consecutive years of subscriber decline.

This service is 100% digital, eliminating the need for cables or technicians, with autonomous installation and support via internet/Wi-Fi. The new efficient operation model reduces operating costs and offers better value for money for consumers. The product has garnered strong market acceptance, offering an exclusive value proposition unmatched by local competitors, and demonstrating positive monthly growth.

NHL with Verizon Intelligent Broadcast Edge: Verizon, in partnership with the National Hockey League, AWS, Zixi, Vizrt and Evertz, has produced a 5G and edge compute framework for assembly, control and delivery of live broadcasts. These workflows enable remote integration model (REMI) production opportunities for camera-to-cloud, replay, graphics, and technical direction to enable broadcast quality, low-latency delivery of live NHL games. This solution accelerates the speed of on-ice content capture to broadcast from seconds to milliseconds.

Additionally, because of the rapid delivery that 5G coupled with cloud efficiency can drive, the league can now streamline content distribution to multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), social media channels and new platform partners and create enhanced fan experiences. Today, production teams can use this framework to achieve complete autonomy by enabling mobility of all components. These components — including video switching and their associated control surfaces — are successfully run over 5G networks.

NBCUniversal redefining channel operation for cloud playout: NBCUniversal collaborated with Amagi on a pioneering project to transform its processes and technology for linear channel playout and distribution to optimise for the new streaming paradigm. This involved migrating NBCU’s Cable, TV Station and FAST channel operations to the cloud, creating a unified broadcast and streaming environment, managing 30,000+ assets and 10,000+ schedule updates per day.

This initiative enabled agile channel launches, rapid deployments, and sophisticated software staging environments, while ensuring a low-latency, highly redundant multi-region deployment, achieving optimal reliability and cost efficiency. The project demonstrates a fundamental shift in how linear channels are planned, built, operated and supported. Technical supporters: Appear, AWS, Dolby, EEG, Harmonic, Imagine Communications, Intopix, Nevion, TAG Video Systems, Techex.

Content Everywhere finalists

Franceinfo first 100% interactive news show: Franceinfo worked with PimpMyCompany to aggregate text/audio/video/photo messages from various platforms and broadcast them live on air. The project enabled real-time interactivity and increased audience numbers plus viewer loyalty, while combating disinformation and promoting diverse perspectives.

Since integrating PimpMyLive, Franceinfo has seen a rise in live participation, with more messages received during broadcasts. There has been an increase in the number of viewers during the show, particularly during the interactive segments. By allowing viewers to ask questions live, Franceinfo has also addressed a broader diversity of questions on sensitive topics. This interactivity has integrated a variety of perspectives, better representing public concerns and opinions.

Live contextual interactivity for LaLiga: The Spanish league worked with Ease Live and Play Anywhere to launch ground-breaking interactive experiences on broadcasts and OTT streams with dramatically increased viewing times, whilst generating fresh advertising and sponsorship inventory for itself and its 75 broadcast partners.

In deploying Ease Live’s highly scalable interactive sports solution and Play Anywhere’s compliance and clearinghouse platform, LaLiga has enabled true fan interactivity that is already showing results, with high levels of user engagement, dramatically increased viewing times, and new revenue streams. This fresh advertising and sponsorship inventory creates an entirely new revenue stream that does not get eaten up by technology vendors, with roughly 70% of the proceeds being disbursed among LaLiga and its broadcast partners.

Red Bull Erzbergrodeo: Despite camera blind spots and inconsistent live timing in a remote, active iron mine, the team’s technical implementations for athlete GPS tracking, data aggregation, validation and visualisation elevated the storytelling and race viewing experience across platforms. This project showcases Red Bull’s ability to overcome challenges faced by on-site production team in delivering an engaging four-hour broadcast of a race featuring 500 athletes on a 40km mountain track.

The project achieved comprehensive cross-platform production, elevating the viewing experience across platforms including live broadcast, web-based data widgets, and an AR experience on the Red Bull TV mobile app. This new digital chapter showcases best-in-class athlete tracking and broadcasting technologies alongside technology vendors Girraphic, ProteGear and TeraVolt.

Environment & Sustainability finalists

Anton/Bauer Salt-E Dog: Traditional power sources like diesel generators pollute and create noise, while lithium batteries present safety and ecological issues. Anton/Bauer’s Salt-E Dog addresses the environmental, safety and operational challenges of TV and media production, harnessing the power of sodium chemistry to enable sustainable production practices. Replacing fossil fuel generators with a clean sodium-based power source like Salt-E Dog can help broadcasters achieve their net zero carbon goals.

Traditional generators emit greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. Sodium-based power sources, however, produce no emissions during operation, reducing the carbon footprint. They are also more efficient and safer, minimising environmental impact. By developing a clean energy solution, Anton/Bauer aims to help broadcasters lower their reliance on fossil fuels, reduce emissions, and move closer to their net zero objectives.

France.tv Paris 2024: In collaboration with Obvios, TDF and TVU Networks, France.tv broadcast a 24/7 channel dedicated to the Olympic Torch Relay with up to 12 hours of live coverage daily for 11 weeks, utilising the first hyper-compact moving private 5G network throughout its 1625km journey. The ambitious project reduced CO2 emissions by over 600 tons and achieving 92% cost savings via a 100% glass-to-glass cloud production and private 5G network.

This collaboration redefined technological limits and opened the door to a new world for live sports coverage, setting new standards for environmental and cost efficiency in live production. The project has shaken the industry in terms of what cloud is truly capable of - ready for Tier 1 content - resulting in 30 of the world’s biggest broadcasters travelling to France Télévisions to study this workflow in June and July. It inspired others like the BBC who saw what could be done with cloud and influenced its approach to how the subsequent UK General Election was covered.

Greening of Streaming: An organisation with international reach and nine working groups, created to address growing concerns about the energy impact of the streaming sector. Members include DAZN, DTG, EBU, Franhofer Fokus, IABM, Intel, Mainstreaming, Microsoft and Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA). The working groups help refine the language and measurement the industry uses to progress ESG objectives; develop outreach strategies to raise awareness of issues and to help public affairs/regulators and press engage with the industry meaningfully and reduce conjecture; develop best practices and respond to public consultations; and actively measure energy through the supply chain to ensure ‘real’ reductions in energy rather than ‘moving’ energy problems around.

Social Impact finalists

CultureQ: This new technology platform was initiated by Kiwa Digital (KIWA) an indigenous-owned media tech company based in New Zealand that works with indigenous groups globally to amplify their voices through publishing apps, video and other digital solutions. The new SaaS platform is developed from KIWA’s cloud service for the post-production industry, VoiceQ Cloud, similarly hosted by AWS.

Tech meets tradition as this innovation brings new life to language and cultural revitalisation strategies: protecting data and narrative sovereignty; increasing cultural capability and language skills at grass-roots level; opening revenue opportunities including in tourism and entertainment; and nurturing an indigenous ecosystem committed to sharing knowledge and ethical adoption of future technologies.

Watch Play Learn Distribution Hub: A web application from Sesame Workshop showcasing the Watch Play Learn: Early Learning Videos, 140 animated segments that promote education and development for children in crisis settings. The Hub allows government agencies and aid organisations to preview and request videos. It is a cloud-based solution integrating Airtable, Frame.io and Telestream Vantage, streamlining video processing and delivery.

The 140 Watch Play Learn animated segments were designed for children three to eight years old and feature the beloved Muppets of Sesame Street who help promote specific early childhood development outcomes in math, science, social-emotional learning, and child protection, health, and safety. Sesame Workshop’s 50+ years of experience has demonstrated that consistent and regular access to high-quality educational media can have a positive impact on learning and development outcomes for children.

Star Sports sign language for IPL 2024: Star Sports, in collaboration with India Signing Hands (ISH), introduced live sign language with descriptive commentary for IPL 2024. This feature brings cricket to 66.7 million deaf, hard-of-hearing and vision-impaired fans in India. Skilled interpreters use expressive gestures to convey the game’s emotion and atmosphere. Star Sports’ innovation highlights its commitment to inclusivity, ensuring everyone can enjoy and participate in cricket equally.

India Signing Hands (ISH) was founded with the goal of providing solutions to the ‘Accessibility’ issues faced by deaf people in India. It helps the deaf community acquire news from TV channels and enables hard-of-hearing people with accessibility tools such as interpreters and subtitles. India Signing Hands provided on-screen interpreters to assist with the live translation of audio commentary into sign language for Star Sports.

Read more IBC2024 unveils conference keynotes and sessions tackling critical media challenges