Euro 2020: UEFA's Maurice Tollenaar reflects on the host broadcast operation for most challenging Euros ever By Will Strauss, Editor
Friday, July 9, 2021 - 09:46
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In an exclusive interview ahead of the Euro 2020 final, UEFA chief of media rights and production services and deputy marketing director Maurice Tollenaar (pictured) talks to SVG Europe about the strengths and challenges of the host broadcast operation for what was a very difficult tournament to prepare and deliver.
Overall, how do you think the world feed coverage of Euro 2020 has gone throughout the tournament? Have you achieved everything you set out to achieve? We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our broadcast partners, which confirms that the tournament has gone well so far. However, it's not over yet and we still have the most important match to deliver. Viewing figures for the tournament have also been excellent, and we've achieved a number of record audiences already. England vs Denmark [on Wednesday 7 July] saw the fourth highest TV audience in the UK since 2001 - and the highest TV audience since England's 2018 FIFA World Cup semi-final against Croatia - whilst in Denmark the match share was 94% of the market.
We saw similar stats from the other semi-final, in Italy the match was the most-watched free-to-air broadcast since the UEFA Euro 2012 Final - again between Spain and Italy - whilst in Spain, it was the highest-viewed TV programme since the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
It's certainly the most challenging UEFA Euro I have ever worked on and it's hard to imagine a more complicated one.
This tournament is unique in the sense that it has been staged across the continent and held under extremely challenging circumstances given the global COVID-19 pandemic. Our main objective was to nonetheless deliver our originally intended technical and production plan to our broadcast partners. This has largely been achieved. Obviously, there have been numerous restrictions that have mainly impacted our ability to provide our usual range of unilateral services, though our broadcast partners have been very supportive and understanding in this regard.
Generally, they are very happy with our coverage as a whole and with the unilateral opportunities, they've been able to exploit at the venues, or remotely, in order to tailor their coverage to their viewers at home.
Euro 2020 saw the introduction of HDR, VAR, and various other content and technical innovations that weren't present at Euro 2016. Is there anything that you are particularly pleased about or proud of? UEFA continues to innovate each season - where it makes sense and meets our broadcaster expectations to do so. At UEFA Euro 2020 we've been able to offer a comprehensive parallel multi-format production, with matches available in 1080p SDR, 1080p HDR and UHD-HDR, with accompanying Dolby 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Immersive Audio.
We have more than 20 broadcast partners taking the UHD signal, 11 broadcast partners taking the UHD signal via the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), which is situated just outside Amsterdam and another 10 taking the signal over satellite. Our host city beauty shot feed, showing live coverage of a landmark location for each of the 11 host cities has also been well received. UEFA host broadcast has also delivered a technical VAR solution at all matches of the tournament, on behalf of our colleagues in Football Operations, which has worked smoothly.
To date, we've created and published over 17,800 videos via our UEFA HIVE content distribution platform.
Another innovation we've been please to deliver is our fully equipped dedicated upgrade service - allowing subscribing broadcaster partners to have a full up to three camera unilateral production from designated positions at the venue, with all equipment and distribution managed by UEFA.
We've also placed greater emphasis on multi-platform content with our additional programming delivery, enabling our broadcast partners to effectively showcase the UEFA Euro to their increasingly digital audiences. To date, we've created and published over 17,800 videos via our UEFA HIVE content distribution platform
EMG OB trucks in front of Baku Stadium during UEFA Euro 2020
With hindsight, or without the impact of COVID, is there anything you would have liked to have done differently on the world feed? Or anything that you think would have made it better or that you would like to introduce for Germany in 2024? Obviously, with the impact of COVID-19 and the accompanying travel restrictions, there has been less opportunity for visiting broadcasters to deliver their own productions on venue. Additional restrictions have also led to broadcasters reducing their space at the IBC. Whilst, as mentioned earlier, we've been able to offer them a number of remote opportunities to meet their demands, we're very much looking forward to seeing broadcasters back in the stadiums and at the IBC in full force for UEFA Euro 2024.
As for UEFA Euro 2024 itself, it's too soon to start discussing any details, but as always we'll continue to innovate and adapt our plans to meet broadcaster demand.
Looking back, what was your biggest challenge? Without a doubt, delivering a tournament during the COVID-19 pandemic including navigating travel restrictions, quarantine, testing for our teams and crews and the demands upon our host broadcast staffing plan that these requirements place has been the biggest challenge. One good example is that we had initially planned for seven production teams: five moving between venues and two permanent teams in Glasgow and Baku. H
owever, due to COVID-19 we had to rethink our plans, eventually ending up with a permanent team in every venue - and thereby adding an additional 500
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Euro 2020: UEFA's Maurice Tollenaar reflects on the host broadcast operation for most challenging Euros ever By Will Strauss, Editor 
