Another year, another IBC. The International Broadcasting Convention 2024 was a special one not only for Cuez but also for the whole industry. While we presented our new digital newsroom solution Storiez, we also observed a big shift towards more efficient, cloud-based workflows for media production. Some trends have already been dominating the media industry for a long time, while it also seems new trends have just emerged. In this article, we explore the (not so) new and emerging trends in media broadcasting that we noticed.
AI and Automation for media production
AI technologies have been on the rise in media production for a while. It is used both in pre- and post-production in sports, TV show production, and other LIVE events. As a result, the audiences are now presented with more engaging, personalised, and optimised content thanks to AI.
Broadcasters have been leveraging AI to enhance workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and improve operational efficiency, particularly in sports and news broadcasting. One good example of such technological improvement is the IBC Accelerator Project — Evolution of the Control Room – Leveraging XR, Voice, AI & HTML-Based Graphics Solutions — where a consortium of tech innovators (TinkerList, Nxt Edition, Loopic, SPX Graphics, Erizos.tv, and Cuepilot) worked together to integrate AI, XR and voice controls to optimize the production workflow.
The days of the traditional control room are over. Together with other partners, we focused on the transformation of the control room. This project aimed to streamline live production for broadcasters, making it faster, more efficient, and accessible without needing advanced technical expertise. We demonstrated how with the help of AI, producers can navigate and manage their rundowns more easily. In addition, we used voice commands to help reduce unnecessary technicalities and find information in the rundown in seconds.
Watch the full video here.
AI is here to stay and it is high time the broadcasters adapt to and adopt the new technologies without the fear of machines replacing humans. Rather, this shift allows production teams to focus on creativity, ensuring smoother operations and more sustainable content creation across devices and platforms.
In our new story-centric and publish point-centric newsroom tool STORIEZ, we offer an integrated AI feature that can help you automate multiple manual tasks, such as text and visual adjustments for different publishing points (e.g. social media channels, websites, etc.). Learn more about Storiez here.
Cloud-Based Solutions
Cloud is the future, that we know for a fact. The industry has been shifting toward cloud-based solutions more and more. Those technologies have dramatically changed how content is created, managed, and distributed. But why is this happening?
Essentially, the idea of cloud-based tech started as a way to support remote collaboration but now is rapidly evolving into a powerful backbone for the entire production process. Cloud has several essential benefits compared to on-prem production. It is a much more sustainable way of creating content, as cloud-based technologies allow teams to not only reduce excessive travel to shooting sites but also to decrease the amount of hardware that needs to be transported. In turn, that affects the overall budget, allowing to reduce the overall production cost. That might not be as important to huge production houses, however, for smaller productions with limiter resources, this is a game-changer.
In addition, with the rise of cloud-native platforms, broadcasters can now access scalable, flexible solutions that allow teams to work and manage everything from live events to post-production from anywhere in the world.
A big part of the evolution is the integration of AI, mentioned previously, which goes hand in hand with the cloud, helping with everything from automating manual tasks to rewriting text in multiple formats. AI and cloud-based solutions are pushing the boundaries of innovation, creating more collaborative and efficient environments.
We go hand in hand with cloud-based production, and our Cuez Suite, consisting of Cuez Script & Rundown, Automator, and Storiez, offers a complete set of production tools for broadcasters — all fully cloud-based. We believe in the future of the cloud. It can open new horizons previously unknown to production workflows. Learn more about Script & Rundown, Automator, Storiez.
Esports and OTT Expansion
Another trend was Esports and OTT (over-the-top) platforms expansion, which has become a major trend in the media industry, driven by the growing demand for live streaming and interactive content. The rise of esports, i.e. competitive video gaming events, has spurred innovation in both production and delivery, particularly with the expansion of OTT platforms. These platforms provide viewers with the ability to stream live content across multiple devices, with more flexibility and accessibility than traditional broadcasting.
OTT technology is transforming how esports content is delivered, enabling real-time engagement with global audiences, without the constraints of linear broadcasting. Cloud-based solutions play a key role here, allowing broadcasters to scale their operations, support remote production, and streamline the entire content creation process.
As esports continues to grow, particularly among younger, tech-savvy audiences, the expansion of OTT platforms will be critical in reaching new markets and meeting the demand for high-quality, interactive streaming experiences. This evolution isn’t just shaping the future of gaming but also setting new standards for how all live content is produced and distributed.
We understand the importance of esports in the broadcasting industry like no one else. Our own CEO, Erik Hauters, gave a speech at IBC Esports Zone on “Streamlining Chaos: Rundowns in Esports”, where Erik talked about the unique challenges of esports production — from managing multiple camera angles to keeping up with live action, it can get pretty wild. As a former multi-cam director himself, Erik has experienced every production challenge. In fact, that is how Cuez by TinkerList came into being — as a response to a gap in the production workflow.
When it comes to esports production, Cuez offers several advantages as a fully cloud-based platform:
- it allows to communicate better during live events, making it easier to manage such high-paced environments as esports tournaments
- Bring order to chaotic productions and help structure the production process from start to finish
- Automate the repetitive tasks that slow the production down, allowing for more focus on the creative part
XR and Immersive Tech
The use of XR in live production has been on the rise, quickly transforming the way audiences experience content. By blending the real and the virtual, XR technologies like augmented reality AR and VR create immersive, more interactive environments for live broadcasts. These innovations are particularly impactful in sports and entertainment, where you can render virtual worlds in real-time, with photorealistic graphics and digital avatars to enhance viewer engagement.
In our Accelerators project, we also focused on how XR technologies can improve the current setup of a control room. With the help of XR technologies, we can create an immersive control room environment, combined with our Cuez automation tool. This can allow broadcasters to observe multiple screens at a time and easily locate the information in the myriad of items. Although still very raw, this technology could open up a whole new world for immersive and automated broadcast production, taking the gallery to the next level.
Learn more about this technology here.
Ecaterina Caprari
Content Marketeer