Connecting Gen Z to the news through virtual production

Middle East news and information platform blinx is targeting younger viewers with a mix of storytelling and extended reality using Vizrt technology. But, as Kevin Hilton discovers, it hasnt left traditional broadcast and journalistic techniques behind

By Contributor

Published: January 25, 2024 Updated: February 6, 2024

Middle East news and information platform blinx is targeting younger viewers with a mix of storytelling and extended reality using Vizrt technology. But, as Kevin Hilton discovers, it hasn't left traditional broadcast and journalistic techniques behind

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Broadcasters have long faced the challenge of how to attract younger viewers. This is now harder than ever, not only in keeping existing audiences but drawing in the millennial and Generation Z age groups, most of whom rely on mobile devices, YouTube and TikTok for their entertainment and information. News outlets in particular are facing the challenge of how to engage those born at the beginning of this century without undermining or trivialising important stories and issues.

A news broadcaster facing up to this test right from the start is the recently launched Dubai-based blinx Digital Media Hub. Going on-air' from purpose-built studios in September 2023, blinx is aiming to bring news to the youth of the Middle East using up-and-coming young talent and the latest virtual production techniques. Among its offerings are talk shows, investigative reporting and live broadcasts, although the core of its programming is short informative packages. All this is available across a variety of screens, platforms and devices, plus the dedicated blinx Smart TV app.

While blinx promotes itself with the slogan By the Youth, for the Youth', it has seasoned professionals in senior managerial positions. The general manager is Nakhle Elgage, former director of news at Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC); chief creative officer Fadi Radi held a similar role at Al Alarabiya news channel as well as being head of graphics for MBC.

The main focus was about Gen Z because the media outlets targeting them [in the Middle East] are very limited and most of them are either foreign or not regional, Radi says. They also don't want traditional media talking to them and trust the people [presenters and personalities] more than entities. Which is why we hired fresh graduates or people with very low profiles and started to grow them to be our storytellers.

As part of this, Radi adds, the ambition was for creative storytelling but with a grounding in what we have learned from the news industry over many years. Another aspect of the concept on which blinx is based is to be digitally native and not depend on traditional broadcast technology. To develop what Radi describes as futuristic platforms and workflows , he approached Vizrt, with which he had worked at other broadcasters over the past 20 years.

Because we wanted to be digital native, everything is NDI-based, he says. We also talked about remote production, full automation and multi-platform output publishing into both horizontal mainly for YouTube, Facebook and our TV app and vertical for other platforms formats. At the same time, we wanted an elevation for the storytelling and discussed with Vizrt the possibility of having what is used at the moment in Hollywood and for high-end productions.

This brief led to the creation of what blinx calls its Metaverse Studio, which features extended reality (XR) sets supported by production facilities with virtual reality (VR) capability and AI (artificial intelligence) enhancements. The virtual sets with AR and interactive graphics are created using Viz Virtual Studio, Viz Engine and Viz Pilot Edge, with vision mixing on a TriCaster production switcher.

While blinx's ambitions to be digital native have been mostly achieved through the NDI (Network Device Interface) protocol for networking and connectivity, there is, at least at this early stage, some older technology as part of the installation. There are a few dedicated islands that are SDI because of the timescale for going live, explains Vizrt chief technology officer Gerhard Lang. The XR sets, for example, were not so easy to produce with NDI because of the frame accuracy and latency. At the time it was implemented, synchronising tracking data with NDI sources in a multi-camera set-up was not reliable enough, so we're handling it with SDI from the cameras into the boxes.

The focus of attention on the blinx installation, which Lang describes as very ambitious , is understandably on elements such as AR and the virtual sets. But more traditional broadcast equipment is also part of the mix; as well as TriCaster there is a central newsroom computer system (NRCS), albeit one based on evolving technology. The 7Mountains DiNA NRCS works in conjunction with the Mimir video collaboration and production platform; both are hosted in the cloud with the two companies being part of Fonn Group.

Fadi Radi says the cloud connectivity enables journalists and presenters to log on to the main system from wherever they might be working in the world, with full access to the graphics package through Viz Pilot Edge. As for sticking with the established newsroom set-up, Radi explains it is integrated with current metaverse techniques, with each influencing the other. We created the system [with] the credibility of the NRCS and brought that into the social media or digital media world. Everything is done on a newsroom system. We have a MAM [media asset management] system for everything that is coming in from wire services or stock institutions. It all goes into the same workflow of a traditional TV service when it comes to credibility, proper copyright and fact-checking.

As much as recent TV centres

LINK:	https://www.tvbeurope.com/metaverse/connecting-gen-z-to-the-news-throu...
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