Model Citizens: Inside Manchester City's Media Production Machine
30/01/2023
Thursday, January 26, 2023 - 17:14
Print This Story
To find out just how wide-ranging media production is at the world's biggest football clubs, SVG Europe visited English Premier League champions Manchester City FC to see what they do and how they do it, and to get a better understanding of why audio-visual content is so important to the business side of the beautiful game.
Modern-day professional football clubs are no longer just competitive sporting organisations.
From top-flight to non-league, they are also media production machines, pumping out oodles of multimedia content for multiple platforms, and for multiple audiences, all in the name of entertainment, PR, marketing and, perhaps most importantly of all, fan engagement. Football is big business. And media content plays a huge part in it.
It's all a far cry from how things used to be. Readers of a certain vintage will recall that back in the day, as a fan, the closest you could get to your club was articles in the matchday programme or looped news and interviews on ClubCall, a premium rate phone line service.
Premier League champions Manchester City are a great example of how things have changed.
We've got this amazing audience here, says James Wilkins (pictured, right), executive creative director at Manchester City, chatting to SVG Europe on the day of the home team's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
We have these passionate fans all around the world. [With our content we ask] what are we going to do to entertain them and bring them closer to the club and the players, and closer to what the Manchester City brand stands for? Everything we do is in service of the fans.
The content designed to fulfil that brief is created by City Studios, an in-house B2B department launched in 2022 that consists of creatives, production talent (including writers, photographers, designers, producers and editors), and facilities.
Between them, they are responsible for live production, behind the scenes', documentaries, and social content, as well as activations' for commercial partners and sponsors.
The output is made available on various platforms including the City+ subscription OTT platform, social media networks and YouTube. Some is shared with broadcasters too.
There is a lot of top-secret stuff that is highly sensitive. The football department needs to know that they can trust us to capture the content in the right way and [keep it that way].
From a live production perspective, while City Studios cannot show the club's Premier League games, those are sold as part of a multi-billion pound league-wide broadcast rights deal, of course, there are various other matches and activities that they do cover including Under 21 and Academy matches, pre- and mid-season friendlies, and press conferences. They also produce live City-centric wrap-around programming for all City's first-team matches.
The latter is called Matchday Live, a show that goes out on City+ pre-match, at half-time, and post-match.
A crucial cog in the club's output, Matchday Live is produced from two studios: Studio 2, which is inside the Etihad Stadium and affords space for a presenter and various ex-player pundits to provide analysis for home matches. And Studio 1 (pictured, top), a new state-of-the-art multi-use 98m2 studio inside the City Campus, adjacent to the club's training pitches. This is used for Matchday Live when City play away. The actual match coverage in both scenarios is limited to audio commentary only.
Studios 1 details
Studio design by Jago Design
Set build and install by Scena
Broadcast support by LDM.tv
Cameras: 4K Blackmagic cameras, with use of a Pedestal, slider and jib
Size: 98m2
Lighting rig with LED cold lighting
Video wall
Green screen area
Additional: Soundproofing, TV floor, gallery, drive-in doors, adjacent live gallery
Where City Studios really goes to town is on those games where they do have the chance to show full match coverage.
Gavin Johnson (pictured below, left), group media director at City Football Group, cites the example of a mid-season friendly versus Gerona that took place at the 7,000 seater Manchester City Academy Stadium (across the road from the club's 53,400-capacity Etihad Stadium) in December 2022 as being indicative of the kind of treatment City Studios can give to matches.
Our production quality is very high, he says. We are set up to do a live seven-camera shoot. We will do pitchside pre-game, presentation, an interview with [manager Pep Guardiola]. We've come a long way. But I have ambitions for us to get even better.
To that end, the City Studios team has doubled in size over the last two years. From approximately 45 staff up to around 90, including admin and content distribution too.
A tour to the US last year was similarly significant for the content team, as Wilkins explains.
Our social team took care of our real-time social content. Our documentary-style films were being made at the same time. We had our live team out there too. Plus local crews that we were managing. In total, there were 150 non-football-related people on that trip. It's about closing that gap between players and fans.
In Houston, adds Johnson, we agreed with the local producer that [a camera operator] could go onto the pitch after a goal was scored to join in with the celebrations. We try to push the boundaries in that way too.
Even the way we cover training, he continues. We've got five Go Pros set up. We get closer to the players. And then we do this amazing edit which then brings fans closer to it.
Loyalty card
At this point, Johnson is quick to reiterate the importance of trust and the close relationship that the media team has with the club
LINK: | https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/model-citizens-inside-manches... |
See more stories from svg |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with URSA Broadcast G2
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
17/04/2024
Sundance Institute Launches RFI and RFP Process to Explore Host Locations for the Sundance Film Festival in 2027 and Beyond
Opening today, the exploration is aimed at selecting a location that will preser...
17/04/2024
Spotify's Michael Krause Talks Industry Trends Ahead of Our Music and Podcasting Summits in Germany
On April 18 and 19, experts from across the audio industry-including artists, pu...
17/04/2024
Spotify Brings Entrepreneurs and Trailblazers Together to Talk the Future of Tech in the UK
With its particular combination of talent, ambition, culture, and, of course, wo...
17/04/2024
NextGen Partners With Howard University Professor Nikole Hannah-Jones on Student Podcasting Course
At Spotify, we want to equip student creators with the tools and resources neede...
17/04/2024
Strengthening Australian Industry Capability Through Sovereign Sustainment Support
L3Harris Communications Australia Field Service support continues to grow with a...
17/04/2024
L3Harris Team Aligns 10 Mirrors for NASA's Roman Telescope
An optical technician lays on a diving board suspended between NASAs Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopes primary and secondary mirrors. The photo is a projected ...
17/04/2024
Graham Media Selects Bitmovin Playback
DENVER Video streaming infrastructure providers Bitmovin has announced that the Graham Media Group has selected Bitmovin Playback to enhance its viewer experien...
17/04/2024
Survey: LGBTQIA+ TV Visibility Drives Viewership Among Young Americans
LGBTQIA+ representation in TV content boosts viewership among young (18-34) Americans, according to a new report from Horowitz Research....
17/04/2024
New NVIDIA RTX A400 and A1000 GPUs Enhance AI-Powered Design and Productivity Workflows
New NVIDIA RTX A400 and A1000 GPUs Enhance AI-Powered Design and Productivity Wo...
17/04/2024
Frezzi Unveils SunLight 2: The Ultimate High-Output Lighting Companion for ENG and Broadcast Production
Frezzi Unveils SunLight 2: The Ultimate High-Output Lighting Companion for ENG a...
17/04/2024
Peakto Search for Lightroom - Find at a glance among thousands of photos AND videos
Peakto Search for Lightroom - Find at a glance among thousands of photos AND vid...
17/04/2024
Simone Pilon Appointed Executive Director at Berklee Valencia
Simone Pilon Appointed Executive Director at Berklee Valencia Pilon, who has served as Berklee Valencia's interim executive director since March 2023, has a...
17/04/2024
CBS Cuts Off Billy Joel Concert Telecast (Updated)
CBS will re-air Sundays Billy Joel concert telecast this Friday (April 19) after several CBS-affiliated stations abruptly cut part of Sundays telecast of the si...
17/04/2024
Jacqueline Matter Named Co-Host on WTTG's Good Day DC'
Jacqueline Matter has been named co-host of Good Day DC at WTTG Washington. Effective immediately, she co-anchors the 4 a.m. newscast with Stephen Graddick, rep...
17/04/2024
TV Usage Takes March Dip While College Hoops Help Cable
Television usage took its usual March dip, dropping 3% from February, according to Nielsen,...
17/04/2024
BET, Tyler Perry Extend Content Agreement Through 2028
BET Media Group, part of Paramount Global, said it and Tyler Perry had reached an agreement extending their content production deal through 2028....
17/04/2024
Warner Bros. Discovery Names David Porter Head of Ad Research
Warner Bros. Discovery said it named David Porter head of ad sales research, data and insights....
17/04/2024
Lionsgate Signs Exec VP Lee Hollin To Long-Term Deal
Lionsgate said it signed a new multi-year employment deal with Lee Hollin, its executive VP, television and head of current programming for Lionsgate Television...
17/04/2024
Jessica Rosenworcel Speaks at the Paley Museum April 16
Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel sits for an interview at the Paley Museum in New York April 16 at 12:30 p.m. ET. Moderated by Nick T...
17/04/2024
Travis Kelce To Host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?' on Prime Video
Travis Kelce will host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, a spinoff of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, that will stream on Prime Video....
17/04/2024
Amy Alvarez Named News Director at Telemundo's KULX Salt Lake City
Amy Alvarez has been named news director at KULX Salt Lake City, the Telemundo station in the market. She comes from KVDA San Antonio, another Telemundo outlet,...
17/04/2024
Frndly Launches Channel Store, Adding 4 Subscription Services to Lineup
Frndly TV, the low-priced, family-friendly streaming service, said it launched a channel store where users can sign up for subscription streaming services....
17/04/2024
TV Tech Announces Winners of Best of Show Awards at 2024 NAB Show
TV Tech has announced its Best of Show Awards for the 2024 NAB Show, April 14-17 in Las Vegas. The awards are judged by a panel of industry experts on the crite...
17/04/2024
Colorfront showcases upgrades across product range
Colorfront has introduced AI vision-analysis tools to assist master QC operations with detecting framing anomalies, dead pixels, bright titles and sparkles By ...
17/04/2024
Meet the Founder and director
By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 17, 2024 Rory Springthorpe, founder and director at outside broadcasting company Vivid Broadcast, talks to TVBEurope a...
17/04/2024
Riedel Enhances Interstellar Technologies Space Launch Wi...
Riedel Communications today announced its collaboration with Interstellar Technologies, a pioneering space transportation company based in Hokkaido, Japan, to o...
17/04/2024
Riedels Simplylive Production Suite Empowers Lafayette Co...
Riedel Communications announced that Lafayette College, a liberal arts college in eastern Pennsylvania and one of 10 core members in the Patriot League, is usin...
17/04/2024
Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Czech Republic Upgrade Video...
24i, the video streaming platform expert, today announced that Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Czech Republic, part of the Deutsche Telekom (DT) Group, have extende...
17/04/2024
OpenDrives Recognized on the 2024 CRN Storage 100 List
OpenDrives, Inc., the global provider of software-defined media workflow solutions and data management capabilities, is honored to announce its inclusion in the...
17/04/2024
Goldbach to Leverage Operatives new converged advertising...
Operative is pleased to announce a new and expanded partnership with Goldbach Media, one of the leading media sales organizations in Switzerland. This partnersh...
17/04/2024
Roberts Communications Network Selects Appear X Platform...
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, and Roberts Communications Network (Roberts), the leading worldwide video distribution and wagering dat...
17/04/2024
Mobilelinks Chooses Appear for UHD Upgrade of DSNG Trucks
Appear enables Mobilelinks to meet updated technical requirements. Appear, the global leader in live production technology, has been selected by Mobilelinks to...
17/04/2024
Appear and Skyline Communications Strengthen Partnership...
The expanded solution offers enhanced visibility and automation of production and distribution workflows for live event contribution applications Appear, the g...
17/04/2024
In a major step in its growth strategy Econocom launches...
Econocom, a sustainable digital enterprise and pioneer of the circular economy in Europe, today announced the launch of an ambitious campaign as part of the rol...
17/04/2024
Newsmax Extends Relationship with 24i to Rapidly Launch P...
24i, the video streaming platform expert, today announced that its 24i Video Cloud for OTT service providers is powering the new Newsmax+ subscription service, ...
17/04/2024
AIMS Welcomes Kakadu Software and 7thSense as New Members
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced its newest members: Kakadu Software provider of the world's leading JPEG 2000 development toolk...
17/04/2024
Amagi Integrates Intertrust ExpressPlay DRM for Deliverin...
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV, and Intertrust, the leading digital rights management (DRM) provider, to...
17/04/2024
Amagi Announces Collaboration with Argoid AI to Drive AI-...
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV, today announced a collaboration with Argoid AI, a specialist in AI-power...
17/04/2024
Triveni Digital Awarded Patent for Secure Television Dist...
Triveni Digital today announced that the company has been awarded Patent Number US 11,924,260 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for pioneering Secure Tel...
17/04/2024
Chyron Partners With GALSNGEAR to Host Student Production...
Chyron today announced that it will partner with #GALSNGEAR , a movement to bring parity to women in media and entertainment, at the 2024 NAB Show to host the o...
17/04/2024
Biggest Events Deserve the Biggest Screens, IMAX Says
The Olympics is the world's biggest sporting event, so doesn't it deserve to be shown on the world's biggest screens? That was the subject of Going...
17/04/2024
Broadcasters Tout Milestones for NextGen TV
NAB Show provides an annual opportunity for broadcasters to gather in person and assess the progress the industry has made in its transition to ATSC 3.0. At thi...
17/04/2024
U.S. Digital Advertising Revenues Hits High of $225B
$225 billion: That's how high U.S. digital advertising revenues were in 2023, according to the newly released IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full...
17/04/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K
Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K Brie Clayton April 16, 2024 0 Comments Revolutionary large format digital film camera with RG...
17/04/2024
Sony Electronics Announces a Compact Wide-Angle FE 16-25mm F2.8 G Zoom Lens
Sony Electronics Announces a Compact Wide-Angle FE 16-25mm F2.8 G Zoom Lens Brie Clayton April 16, 2024 0 Comments A constant F2.8 full-frame E-mount ...
17/04/2024
Ikegami Announces New HDK-X500 3-CMOS HD Camera, OCP-500 Operation Control Panel and Video Monitors
Ikegami Announces New HDK-X500 3-CMOS HD Camera, OCP-500 Operation Control Panel...