Millions of viewers worldwide are turning to streaming platforms to watch sport this summer. This shift towards streaming for live sports consumption marks a significant evolution in how we experience athletic competitions, bringing both excitement and new challenges to the forefront of broadcasting technology.
Streaming has rapidly become the preferred method for watching live sport, offering unparalleled convenience and accessibility. The audience for the biggest multi-sport event on the planet expects to witness every leap, sprint, and victory in real time, regardless of their location or device. This demand for instant, high-quality content has pushed broadcasters and media streaming services to prioritise the fan experience like never before.
Delivering this level of real-time action ensures viewer engagement while maximizing audience coverage. It also enhances the impact of the high-ticket sponsorships and advertising campaigns that run alongside the broadcast. However, the path to achieving this goal comes with a set of unique challenges.
Low latency
In the world of live sport, thousandths of seconds can make or break a viewer’s experience. Latency, the delay between the actual event and its appearance on viewers’ screens, is therefore a critical factor. Minimising this delay is essential to maintain the real-time experience and ensure that when viewers react, cheer, and strategise, they are doing so in sync with the action.
High frame rate
Unlike regular video content, live sport demands higher frame rates to capture the intensity and precision of athletic, action-packed performances. While standard video might suffice at 30 frames per second (FPS), modern sport broadcasting often requires 60 FPS or more. This higher frame rate is crucial for presenting every movement, every goal, and every record-breaking moment with crystal-clear clarity.
Multi-platform restreaming
Sport fans are spread across various streaming platforms, from dedicated sport apps to general-purpose sites like YouTube. Broadcasters must simultaneously deliver content across multiple channels while meeting the specific requirements of each one. This necessitates a robust solution capable of consistently restreaming content across different media.
Uninterrupted streaming
With all eyes focused on the action, technical hiccups are totally unacceptable. Buffering, lag, or disruptions can cause viewers to miss crucial moments, diminishing their overall experience. Providers must ensure flawless, uninterrupted streaming to deliver the immersive experience that fans crave.
Global delivery at scale
Content must be delivered swiftly and effectively to viewers around the world, ensuring that everyone enjoys the same high-quality experience regardless of their location. This global scale presents significant technical and logistical challenges for streaming providers.
To address these challenges, innovative companies in the streaming industry are developing comprehensive solutions catering to the demands of live sports broadcasting.
Advanced streaming technologies
Solutions like Low-Latency HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) can drastically reduce delays, bringing viewers closer to real-time action. Some advanced protocols can even achieve latencies as low as one second, revolutionising the live sport viewing experience.
Robust Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)
To meet global scale demands, providers are expanding their CDN networks. These distributed systems of servers deliver content more efficiently to a widely distributed audience, reducing buffering and improving overall streaming quality.
AI-powered enhancements
The ubiquitous influence of artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role in sports streaming. Automated speech recognition for real-time subtitling, for example, allows broadcasters and live streamers to reach global audiences by automatically generating accurate subtitles in multiple languages.
Codec innovations
Advanced video codecs like AV1 are being embraced to improve video quality while optimising bandwidth usage. These new codecs support higher traffic numbers without the need for extensive hardware upgrades, leading to cost savings and improved performance.
These technological advancements will soon be put to the test on a global stage. Viewers can expect more immersive, responsive, and accessible streaming experiences than ever before with real-time translations, multi-angle views, and personalised content delivery.
As athletes push the boundaries of human performance in the stadium, streaming providers are pushing the limits of technology behind the scenes. The result is a new era of sport consumption in which every viewer, regardless of their location, can feel as if they are sitting in the stadium, experiencing every moment up close and in real time.
Andre Reitenbach is CEO of Gcore
