Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

AI Facial Recognition Can Deliver New Audience To Sport Television

03/12/2020

AI Facial Recognition Can Deliver New Audience To Sport TelevisionBy Paul Shen, TVU Networks

December 2nd, 2020

View Related Products

Local broadcasters have known for years that viewers like watching their children, nephews, nieces and grandchildren playing high school sports on TV.

Some include reports in Friday night newscasts with video highlights of high-profile high school football games. Others have dedicated a multicast channel to entire high school athletic tournaments and championships. Similarly, some local cable TV operators regularly cover high school sports as well.

What if there were a way broadcasters and other video producers could tap into that same enthusiasm for watching athletes-not necessarily high school athletes, but all participants at a big event-that viewers are particularly interested in, such as a spouse, a child, a friend or co-worker?

Thanks to the power of the facial recognition algorithm running on our TVU MediaMind AI engine and the power of social media and digital distribution to augment the reach of traditional telecasts doing so not only is possible but will soon become table stakes for video producers.

Marathon Man And Woman

In 2019, more than 30,000 runners entered the Boston Marathon. In the Big Apple, nearly 54,000 runners finished the TCS New York City Marathon last year.

Most coverage of these events focuses on the leaders in the race-both the men and the women, which makes perfect sense overall. However, by taking advantage of facial recognition algorithms it is possible for broadcasters to begin rethinking how they approach their coverage.

Nothing will change as relates to the leaders in the race, but with facial recognition identifying runners as they cover the 26.2-mile course, broadcasters have the opportunity to produce custom race coverage.

Viewers who have connections to specific runners -co-workers, friends or relatives-could track their personal favorites as they progress through the race watching shots from cameras trained on the route shooting runners as they pass and the MediaMind AI engine identifying them in real time.

The Social Media Complement

Social media and online distribution can complement this AI application, making it possible for broadcasters to offer viewers personalized video footage of these runners, who typically would never or only fleetingly receive coverage during the main race.

Offering this type of coverage taps into a level of fan engagement that's analogous to the interest in high school sports broadcasters take advantage of in their local markets. In the process, producers covering a marathon in this fashion can build audience, interest and viewer engagement in a way that otherwise is unimaginable.

Beyond the Race

The same facial recognition algorithm can be used to identify celebrities and other high-profile individuals lining the race route, opening up one or more other special-interest channels for distribution via social media and online.

Doing so further heightens interest in the race and potentially attracts a new category of viewer who never before thought about watching a marathon.

Obviously, a marathon is only one of many such applications in which video producers can leverage social media and digital along with AI facial recognition to enhance coverage and audience engagement with an anchor event.

But to paraphrase a well-known aphorism: A journey of 26.2 miles begins with a single step.
LINK: https://www.tvunetworks.com/story/ai-facial-recognition-can-deliver-ne...
See more stories from tvu

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: BitFires Colin Bonzey on Growing Spark Platform for Live Cloud-Based Productions

Cloud-based production isnt going anywhere, and BitFire is doubling down by prov...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: AWSs Jason Dvorkin, Regina Rossi on Driving Innovation With Al-Based Workflows

The topic of artificial intelligence has a stranglehold on the sports-video-prod...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: T-Mobile for Business' Jason Schnellbacher on Enhancing 5G for Sports Fans, Broadcasters

5G is still a hot topic in live event production, and this workflow continues to...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Appears Ed McGivern on Fox Sports Deal, New XM Platform, and VX Software Debut

At the 2026 NAB Show, Ed McGivern, GM and President of Appear US, discusses the ...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Studio Network Solutions launches on-premise AI suite for media production workflows

Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has announced an on-premise AI suite designed for...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Suite Studios integrates file-streaming technology into Frame.io Drive

Suite Studios has integrated its file-streaming technology into the newly announced Frame.io Drive, a desktop application from Adobe company Frame.io. The colla...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Net Insight integrates InSync FrameFormer into Nimbra Edge for media processing

Net Insight has integrated InSync Technology's FrameFormer into the Nimbra E...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Fox Sports selects Appear X Platform for live production infrastructure

Fox Sports has selected Appear as a technology partner to support the next phase...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Diversified appoints Tyler Affolter as Chief Revenue Officer

Diversified has appointed Tyler Affolter as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to lead the company's commercial organisation. The appointment follows the firm'...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Layercake integrates Bitmovin into Streamcake platform for end-to-end media orchestration

Layercake has formalised the integration of Bitmovin's video streaming infra...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: International Judo Federation extends global content distribution partnership with SES

The International Judo Federation (IJF) has extended its distribution partnershi...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Glookast integrates Cinnafilm Tachyon plugin to enable GPU-accelerated video processing

Glookast has launched the Cinnafilm Tachyon plugin for its Media Producer and Me...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Cadena Tres selects Eutelsat for television signal distribution in Mexico

Eutelsat has entered into an agreement with Cadena Tres, a division of Grupo Ima...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Dolby and TV Azteca deploy Dolby Atmos for free-to-air broadcast

Dolby Laboratories and TV Azteca have partnered to introduce Dolby Atmos immersive audio to free-to-air television broadcasts. The implementation utilises the A...

21/04/2026

Verizon and FOX Entertainment leverage 5G and AI for remote production of Extracted

FOX Entertainment partnered with Verizon to overcome significant production hurd...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Osprey Video to showcase expanded IP infrastructure and orchestration at NAB Show 2026

Osprey Video has announced its technology showcase for the NAB Show 2026, highli...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Riedel introduces IP-based production updates including multiviewer, commentary control and audio connectivity solutions

Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) introduced a range of new solutions at NAB S...

21/04/2026

SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2026, Day 3: Live Reports From the Show Floor in Vegas

The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design Announces URSA Cine Immersive 100G and URSA Cine Live Encoder

Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine Immersive 100G, an immersive cinem...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Clark Wire & Cables David McCarthy Showcases New Connectivity, Enclosure Solutions for Modern Broadcast Workflows at NAB Show 2026

Clark Wire & Cable is continuing its evolution from cable supplier to full-scale solutions partner for broadcast and live production. At the 2026 NAB Show, we s...

21/04/2026

Ricky Sensitively Portrays a Post-Incarceration Coming-of-Age

Rashad Frett attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Ricky at Eccles Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by George Pimentel/Shut...

21/04/2026

5 Years of Spotify in Pakistan: The Trends Shaping the Country's Music Scene

Five years ago, Spotify arrived in Pakistan, opening a new chapter in the country's music scene. Since then, local listeners have explored across genres, ge...

21/04/2026

The Next Wave of RADAR Spain Artists Arrives for 2026

Since its launch in 2020, RADAR has been our program for spotlighting emerging artists around the world. This year marks the sixth edition of RADAR Spain, our o...

21/04/2026

EverSync SP-10 from Cloudvocal

Offers compact wireless solution for pedalboards Taiwanese audio brand Cloudvocal have announced the availability of a new pedalboard-friendly wireless syst...

21/04/2026

Arturia launch Augmented Persia

Latest hybrid sampling/synthesis instrument arrives Arturia's Augmented series offerings rely on a mixture of sampling and synthesis, allowing users to ...

21/04/2026

Rohde & Schwarz to host Power Electronics Online Conference From Design to Validation in May

Rohde & Schwarz to host Power Electronics Online Conference From Design to Vali...

21/04/2026

MAS and Lockheed Martin Announce F-35 Sustainment Partnership in Quebec

MAS and Lockheed Martin partner to establish an F-35 depot in Canada, enabling in-country sustainment and creating high-skilled aerospace jobs....

21/04/2026

Nielsen data shows Australian outdoor and sport retailers are changing how they advertise to win over outdoor enthusiasts

Advertising strategies shift as competition grows for a large, active and qualit...

21/04/2026

ATSC Celebrates 3.0's Global Expansion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

Cinematic Feel Makes Survivor' Built to Last

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

Live Event Technology Expands Fan Engagement

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

MS NOW Uses Community to Build Up Its Brand

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

Why Broadcast Is Well-Positioned to Safeguard Freedom of Speech

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

AWS Demos AI Tools to Deliver Vertical Video

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

Video Podcasting Leaps in Popularity

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

Audio Systems Get Boost From Cloud and AI

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

Layercake Deepens Bitmovin Integration to Power End-to-End Media Orchestration with Streamcake

Layercake Deepens Bitmovin Integration to Power End-to-End Media Orchestration w...

21/04/2026

Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse Signal Processors for SDI and ST 2110 Workflows

Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse...

21/04/2026

On-Premise AI Suite from Studio Network Solutions Debuts at NAB Show 2026

On-Premise AI Suite from Studio Network Solutions Debuts at NAB Show 2026 Melanie Ciotti April 21, 2026 0 Comments Unlimited processing, no cloud depe...

21/04/2026

IBC appoints Tim Banham as Chief Commercial Officer to dr...

London, 21 April 2026 IBC today announced the appointment of Tim Banham as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), a newly created role that reflects the or...

21/04/2026

Motion Design Tools - April 2026

Motion Design Tools - April 2026 Roland Kahlenberg April 21, 2026 0 Comments Within 2 days, Maxon and Canva announced pro-level motion design apps - A...

21/04/2026

Chaos and Zero Density to Showcase Real-Time Ray Tracing for Virtual Studios and XR

Chaos and Zero Density to Showcase Real-Time Ray Tracing for Virtual Studios and...

21/04/2026

Diversified Appoints Tyler Affolter Chief Revenue Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...