Inside Facebook's Live-Streaming Infrastructure, Strategy for Select Champions League Matches Productions target viewers in Brazil and other Latin American countries By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Wednesday, December 2, 2020 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
After the Olympics and the World Cup, the UEFA Champions League is one of the most impressive multinational sports events in the world. Spectators from around the globe flock to their television sets to watch some of the greatest European clubs fight to crown themselves king of the continent. In the face of the pandemic, Facebook is still live-streaming select matches and serving high-quality, geo-specific content for fan ticos in Brazil and the rest of Latin America.
Our production is hitting a particular target audience in Brazil and Spanish-speaking Latin America, says Melissa Lawton, global lead, sports production, Facebook. We're focusing on what those audiences want to see, and that's what we think Facebook is ideal for.
Global Game: Engineering Invests in Reliable Equipment, Constructs Redundancies Although a typical Facebook feed is still populated by videos of neighbors, friends, and relatives, the social-media platform has gradually become a destination for large-scale live productions and other large events. Since obtaining exclusive rights in the summer of 2018, the company has enhanced its tech arsenal to provide top-notch viewing of these global matches.
We've been investing in broadcasting over the last couple of years to ensure that these events go off without a hitch and play nicely with the rest of our production ecosystem, says Michael Martinez, software engineering manager, Facebook. Reliability and quality are extremely important for these major sporting events.
Facebook is using polls to spur interest from viewers, who cast a vote on who will win the match.
Key to this push to live-stream more widespread competitions is development of a durable infrastructure for ingest and delivery, which includes ample satellite and fiber paths to receive these international feeds. Unlike productions with localized content recorded and captured with a mobile device or computer, these productions leverage a larger technological footprint.
We have multiple cameras and encoding equipment onsite, Martinez explains, but we've also implemented another set of encoders so that we can take in these high-bandwidth signals from different venues. We can get those [feeds] processed down to a format that we can handle in multiple ways. So not only do we need to be able to ingest that signal, [but] we need to ingest it from multiple sources.
With signals and feeds coming in from locations all over the globe, the engineering team has created backup plans and an extensive system for real-time monitoring to ensure that the digital user is experiencing an interrupted match. During the broadcast, Martinez and his team are in constant communication to convey any setup, ingest, processing, or distribution issues that they see along the assembly line.
We have people watching [our live stream] inside of a tool that can actually switch between our encoders that we have onsite, he adds. We're also working very closely with mobile operators on events that have a high concentration of viewers, so, ultimately, the quality of the experience stays very high. For example, we need to create more low-end bitrate lanes in our ABR profiles to apply more bits to those lower-resolution [streams].
Live Experience: Digital Broadcast Focuses on Time-Sensitive Polling, Catered Content On the Brazilian feed, the live stream asks questions about Brazil-born Neymar, including whether he will play a lot or a little in the match.
The behind-the-scenes technology is allowing the production team to create an engaging live environment for viewers tuning into each match. During any given match, pop-ups and numerous other opportunities for interactivity, such as polling and the ability to ask questions, are displayed on the screen before and during the live stream.
Polling has been really interesting, says Lawton. We learned that 20 polls over 90 minutes didn't work and the audience didn't like it. We worked with the team to make sure that we were hitting the right people at the right time with a poll, and we saw massive numbers in a single game. We want to break down that glass' that's between the commentators and the viewers.
This new strategy is transforming the way fans are interacting with these live streams. For example, during the 2020 Final between Germany's Bayern Munich and France's Paris Saint-Germain, more than 4.8 million people casted a vote through the Facebook polling function. The interest of fans is being retained for longer periods of time as well, with viewers who voted in a poll watching the Final 55% longer than those who didn't.
Since viewers in Latin America are targeted, the streams highlight players who come from specific regions. One of the most well-known players in the world, Neymar, represents the perfect mixture of a famous Brazilian playing in the competition. When his team, Paris Saint-Germain, is featured on the Facebook live streams, the team keys on Neymar-related polls and predictive questions as well as on additional content on Instagram.
When Neymar arrives with his headphones on before a match, everyone on the Brazilian feed wants to know what song he's listening to, says Julia Vieira, senior manager, Sports Latam Executive Production, WarnerMedia. We do a lot of things to create buzz around that by having different singers say that he's listening to their song. We also produce things like Instagram filters to drive attention to those games. It's not only about the 90-minute broadcast but also about h
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Marshall Electronics, a globally recognized provider of high-performance video solutions for broadcast, streaming, AV and professional production, will exhibit ...
08/10/2026
14-hour package also includes A Remarkable Place to Die season 2 as well as libr...
Inside Facebook's Live-Streaming Infrastructure, Strategy for Select Champions League Matches Productions target viewers in Brazil and other Latin American countries By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
