HBS CEO Dan Miodownik Reflects on Producing Three World Cup Events in One Year
02/11/2023
Thursday, November 2, 2023 - 10:59 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Last week, the 2023 Rugby World Cup came to a dramatic conclusion in Paris, marking the end of both an exciting tournament for rugby fans and an amazingly busy year for HBS (Host Broadcast Services), which produced three global World Cups: besides the rugby tournament, the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup and 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. HBS CEO Dan Miodownik sat down with SVG in Paris to discuss the accomplishments of the past year, the future of big-time sports production, and the technological changes affecting the way events are produced, distributed, and consumed around the globe.
HBS's Dan Miodownik: When you're doing a World Cup in any sport, you're talking to many audiences and have to be broader in your appeal.
How did things go in terms of Rugby World Cup production?
Things went really well. We had a good, strong start, and it just got better and better each week. We also were comfortable with the reliability of our technical platform that supported multiple broadcasters.
Editorially, we wanted to hit the ground running and have consistency from multiple directors as we had an Australian director, an English director, and two French directors. If you look at those countries, they all produce rugby in different ways domestically, so it was important that we ensure consistency while also not beimg so rigid that you can't identify which director is directing. There was still a bit of the director's signature, but we had real consistency in how the live cut works, how well it breathes.
How did match production change from 2019 in Japan?
I wouldn't say there's a huge change in the principles and the guidelines. When you're doing a World Cup in any sport, you're talking to many audiences; you're not just talking to the purists and the experts. Therefore, you've got to be broader in your appeal, but you also have to make sure you don't alienate your casual or hardcore fan. It can be quite tricky.
Working with World Rugby, we've been more consistent this time around with how we've applied that philosophy and those guidelines, and we do have a few more toys to play with, such as the cine-style shooting.
Cine-style shooting has been the growth camera of the last few years in big events, and it lends itself in different ways to different sports. The technology has improved by leaps and bounds as the kits are much lighter and much more portable. Personally, I still feel that it can be a bit polarizing at times: you can feel like you're jumping into something very different to the rest of the live coverage and then jumping back out of it. But that's part of the learning curve.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup IBC was located at Roland Garros in Paris.
In the past 12 months, HBS has tackled the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup in Qatar, the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia, the 2023 Rugby World Cup here in France, and other events. What has that been like?
It has been an incredibly intense 12 months. If you take it from the Men's World Cup last year to this year and throw in, on top of that, what we call the usual events - LFP Ligue 1 and 2, Roland-Garros, the Gold Cup, Handball World Championships, and the Ice Hockey World Championships - you can start thinking you can have that kind of intensity year in year out, but you can't. We've learned the hard way that you need to address these projects in a slightly different way, which is that you can't just go from one to the other.
We made the decision, coming out of the Men's FIFA World Cup, that we were going to split out the teams between things like the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Rugby World Cup. Of course, some people want to be involved with everything, so that was difficult. But everybody who works in these events knows that, at the end, you do need a bit of time to debrief and rest before you throw yourself into the next event. That's part of our learning curve over the last two or three years, and it's something that we're applying more and more.
What does that mean operationally?
You need to plan way ahead. You've got to make sure that your resources give your preparation team the space and time needed as well as reinforcing the team more than we've done in the past. Increasingly, these events require more from us technically, editorially, and operationally. So we've widened the teams that we have for the preparation, and we've widened the pool of people we use for events so that we're not relying on the same group of people every single time. When you look at the roadmap of the next two, three, four years, you see all those peaks starting to appear, which means you have to have a bigger team, and you have to invest more in people. We need more people, and we're using more people than we've used before.
Since COVID, a lot more workflows have been available to you for producing events. And each of these three major events had a different workflow. How did that develop?
Every major event is different. There are certain principles you can import, but, honestly, you do start from scratch because every event has a different set of challenges and obstacles, regardless of how much it looks the same as the one before.
I discussed this with [OBS Chief Technology Officer Sotiris Salamouris], and they hear the same thing: Oh, it's the Olympics, and therefore it is the same whether it is in Tokyo or Paris. But, even when events are in our backyard - where we arguably know more about working in France on a big
LINK: | https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/11/02/hbs-ceo-dan-miodownik-reflects-... |
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...
30/05/2024
When to Upgrade Software or Firmware
When to Upgrade Software or Firmware This post is from our blog and news archive. The information may be out of date. Please contact us for further information ...
30/05/2024
The City of San Jose Chooses Utah ScientificAgain!
The City of San Jose Chooses Utah Scientific Again! This post is from our blog and news archive. The information may be out of date. Please contact us for furth...
30/05/2024
Empowering Media Leaders: Transformative Insights from the Executive Learning Series
Navigating Strategy, Ethics, and Innovation in the evolving European media lands...
30/05/2024
Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Thea Hvistendahl, the Filmmaker Behind Handling the Undead
By Bailey Pennick One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festi...
30/05/2024
CHOOSE CHICAGO, CITY OF CHICAGO ANNOUNCE PROGRAMMING DETAILS OF SUNDANCE INSTITUTE X CHICAGO 2024 (June 28 - 30)
Tickets are now available for the first-of-its-kind event in the United States f...
30/05/2024
UNICEF and Spotify's Award-Winning Mental Health Hub, Our Minds Matter, Comes to Latin America
Mental health and well-being are fundamental components of a child's healthy...
30/05/2024
After 64 days, the winner of Alone Australia has been revealed
After 64 days, the winner of Alone Australia has been revealed 29 May, 2024 Media releases *Contains Spoilers* After 64 days alone in the extreme and wild...
30/05/2024
Alone Australia finale delivers strongly as SBS confirms it will join VOZ streaming
Alone Australia finale delivers strongly as SBS confirms it will join VOZ stream...
30/05/2024
Alone Australia finale delivers strongly for national broadcaster SBS with 4.2m tuning in across the season
Alone Australia finale delivers strongly for national broadcaster SBS with 4.2m ...
30/05/2024
Lockheed Martin Canada Awards L3Harris the Integrated Communications System Contract
Photo credit: BAE...
30/05/2024
The New Standard for Unmanned Ground Vehicle ISR
L3Harris' WESCAM MX -10 RSTA provides advanced ISR and targeting capabilities for land-based platforms including Unmanned Ground Vehicles....
30/05/2024
AccuWeather Inks Deal With Comcast Technology Solutions For Channel Origination
DENVER AccuWeather has selected Comcast Technology Solutions' (CTS') Managed Channel Origination (MCO) to create, manage and distribute linear TV, on-de...
30/05/2024
Samsung, LG Adopt IAB Software Kit
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising has expanded the reach of its measurement software development kit to include Sam...
30/05/2024
Amazon Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Fire TV Devices with an AI Upgrade
As Amazon celebrates the 10th anniversary of the launch of the first Fire TV devices in 2014, the company has unveiled new AI-powered search capabilities for th...
30/05/2024
Finding the sustainability balance with personalised video streaming
As the expansion of personalised video streaming continues apace, JUMPs CEO and co-founder, Jer nimo Macan s and Fran ois Polarczyk, sustainability director at ...
30/05/2024
EditShare boosts sales direction with alumnus Grant Carro...
EditShare, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative workflows at every stage from storyboard to screening, has appoint...
30/05/2024
COW Featured Resume: Paula Zimmerman - Video Editor - Motion Designer
COW Featured Resume: Paula Zimmerman - Video Editor - Motion Designer Brie Clayton May 30, 2024 0 Comments Paula Zimmerman Looking for work? Sign up...
30/05/2024
Palme d'Or Winner Anatomy of a Fall Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Palme d'Or Winner Anatomy of a Fall Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton May 30, 2024 0 Comments Winner of the Palme d'Or at the ...
30/05/2024
Real-Time Workflow Masterclass
Real-Time Workflow Masterclass Michael Cioni May 30, 2024 0 Comments Would you rather have your workflow move at the same speed it always has, or woul...
30/05/2024
Ending a Loop Expression in After Effects
Ending a Loop Expression in After Effects Graham Quince May 30, 2024 0 Comments This question comes up quite a bit on forums and it seems to trip peop...
30/05/2024
Parks: Prime Video Has Lowest Churn Rate
DALLAS Consumers who subscribe to streaming services are the least likely to cancel Prime Video among all major providers, according to Parks Associates' St...
30/05/2024
SMPTE/RIS-OSVP tests model for circle of confusion'
According to Camera and Lens Metadata committee, modern digital cinema cameras are not accurately representing the usable depth of field achieved with various l...
30/05/2024
Meet the vice president of product management
Dave MacKinnon, vice president of product management at Clear-Com, explains the value of collaboration and networking in building a media career By Matthew Cor...
30/05/2024
That Station Launches New App, Website, Filled with Features, Music, Interviews and More
That Station's app and website just got a major upgrade. The station crew co...
30/05/2024
SWR Deploys Rohde & Schwarz Pixel Power Software Playout Solution
MUNICH, Germany Regional German broadcaster S dwestrundfunk (SWR) has deployed the Rohde & Schwarz Pixel Power graphics and playout solution....
30/05/2024
Hollyland Technology Unveils Pyro Wireless Video Transmission Series
IRVINE, Calif. Hollyland Technology has launched Pyro, a wireless video transmission system designed for the multi-person, mobile transmission and monitoring re...
30/05/2024
AIMS Opens Call for Presentations for Media-Over-IP Pavilion at AES New York
AIMS has announced it will once again collaborate with the Audio Engineering Society (AES) to bring the popular Media-Over-IP Pavilion to the AES New York show,...
30/05/2024
FCC Announces Opportunity for LPTV Stations to Change Channels
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Media Bureau has announced that beginning on August 20, 2024, Class A television, Low Power Televis...
30/05/2024
Comcast's StreamSaver Streaming Bundle Goes Live
Comcast has officially launched its discounted $15-a-month StreamSaver streaming bundle of Netflix, Peacock and Apple TV+ services. The previously announced bun...
30/05/2024
AMG Launches TV Stations, Local Now FAST Channels on Amazon's Fire TV Channels
LOS ANGELES Allen Media Group (AMG) is launching three of its streaming brands o...
30/05/2024
Viant Integrates with Google Cloud's BigQuery Data Clean Rooms
IRVINE, Calif. The ad tech company Viant Technology Inc. has announced a new integration with Google Cloud's BigQuery data clean rooms that enables the seam...
30/05/2024
Marshall Brings Selection of New and Proven AV Solutions...
Marshall Electronics will highlight several of its newest product offerings at InfoComm 2024 (Booth C8982), including the CV612 auto-tracking PTZ camera and the...
30/05/2024
Triveni Digital Streamlines TV Operations at the 2024 ATS...
Triveni Digital today announced that the company will showcase its end-to-end ATSC 3.0 offering at the 2024 ATSC NEXTGEN Broadcast Conference, June 12-14 in Was...
30/05/2024
Riedel Bolero Empowers Student Production Excellence at O...
Riedel Communications today announced that Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) has successfully integrated the Bolero wireless intercom system into their st...
30/05/2024
SWR moves to software playout with integrated Pixel Power...
Rohde & Schwarz has implemented its Pixel Power graphics and playout solution at S dwestrundfunk (SWR), the regional German broadcaster based in Baden-Baden. SW...
30/05/2024
Media Asset Management vs Inventory Management
From their inception, media asset management (MAM) systems have been a crucial component of the media supply chain. Traditionally MAM systems service customers ...
30/05/2024
Disguise launches new generation of EX media servers to p...
Disguise has announced the next evolution of its hardware solutions with the launch of the new generation of EX media servers, following the recently launched R...
30/05/2024
PlayBox Neo Highlights Smart Media Playout Innovations at...
PlayBox Neo, a globally active producer of broadcast media playout and channel branding solutions, sustained its industry event visibility at three events durin...
30/05/2024
EMG Gravity Media Announces Martyn Edwards as General Man...
EMG / Gravity Media, the leading force in production and content, media services and facilities, is pleased to announce the appointment of Martyn Edwards as the...
30/05/2024
Screen Australia, Australians in Film and VicScreen announce FUTURE VISION
30 05 2024 - Media release Screen Australia, Australians in Film and VicScreen announce FUTURE VISION Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo Australians in Film, Scree...
30/05/2024
AI Benefits Come at a Cost
AI Benefits Come at a Cost Brie Clayton May 29, 2024 0 Comments After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill the story ends, you wa...
30/05/2024
Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me' Director, Has Died
Morgan Spurlock, director of Super Size Me, died May 24 in New York. He was 53 and had been battling cancer....
30/05/2024
Departing Longtime Local Anchors Share Their Lessons Learned
A pair of beloved local anchors with extraordinary runs at their stations are finally stepping down. Tom Wills signs off at WJXT Jacksonville May 31, 49 years a...
30/05/2024
Inscape Founder Zeev Neumeier Launches GraySwan To Optimize CTV Ads
Zeev Neumeier, who founded Inscape and was a pioneer in automatic content recognition, is beta-testing his new venture, GraySwan....
30/05/2024
Robert De Niro To Get Service to America Award From NABLF
Robert De Niro will get the 2024 Service to America Leadership Award from the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation. The award is presented...
30/05/2024
AGT' is Back, With More Golden Buzzers and Youngest Contestant Ever
Season 19 of America's Got Talent is on NBC starting May 28. The new season features more Golden Buzzers, which send a standout act directly to the live sho...
30/05/2024
The Quiz With Balls', Game Show That Pits Brains Against Boldness, Starts on Fox
Jay Pharoah hosts The Quiz with Balls, a game show that Fox says pits brains ag...
30/05/2024
Netflix's Bridgerton' Keeps Top Spot in TVision Power Score Rankings
Netflix's Bridgerton (season three) repeated as the top show in TVision's Power Score ranking of programs on connected TV for the week of May 20....