World Cup 2006: New Media Set to Score Big
New Media
Aside from the voting and games, “new media,” in World Cup terminology, has two definitions: first is HD broadcasting, and second is online distribution rights beyond television broadcast that have been sold by Infront to ISPs and mobile operators to networks in over 100 countries. In most locations, the licenses are exclusive, though there are exceptions. In mature markets, like the UK, Germany, and Japan, multiple licensees contracted on a non-exclusive basis. And there are even cases in Japan where there are device- or platform-specific licenses.
In order to access to the content, networks receiving HD or lower bit-rate video content must all go through Host Broadcast Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infront Sports & Media. Created nearly eight years ago solely for the purpose of producing the World Cup games, HBS covers all the events, including 25 HD sources which will capture all 64 matches, and brings the data directly from all of the 12 venues around Germany through the International Broadcast Center it has established for this purpose in Munich. All broadcast partners, regardless of size, have access to the high-quality Basic International Feed, (BIF) by way of satellite feeds. The new media unit, comprised of about 60 professional editors and streaming content producers, will select key shots and eliminate extraneous content in order to optimize video for the target devices down to the size of mobile phone screens without sacrificing quality. Compression into various digital file formats that differ in resolution and bit rate is done in the operations center. Then, licensed new media partners can access the content packages, including background music, voice commentaries, and graphics as options, by way of data networks to the IBC, or can FTP the same files from servers operated by HBS.
Service providers contacted for this report, such as mobile networks 3 UK, O2 (Germany) and T-Mobile (Germany), are being highly secretive about what they are doing to prepare their infrastructure for all the traffic. Given that the scale of the audience is orders of magnitude larger than any Victoria’s Secret event, a worldwide Internet “storm” is altogether possible. The silver lining is that the games likely to attract the largest audiences will not happen until late in the series, giving networks some window of opportunity to gauge the load and prepare.
GOAL!
So, what does the largest audience and the latest technology really mean? From a purely logistical perspective, the size of the event is large but the sequences are well known and all programmed. Having HD coverage is great, but not necessarily revolutionary. There was HDTV available of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games earlier this year. Having a central coordinating entity such as HBS is really the greater strategic coup in terms of simplification for all licensees, and it should go far to ensure that World Cup games and team images are appropriately handled worldwide.
In one sense, the World Cup 2006 represents a turning point for streaming media in terms of the changes in behavior it will likely instill in those around the world who are not yet using all the features their home computers and broadband connections offer, or those who were on a fence about purchasing a new HDTV set. On their side, 3G mobile network operators who have purchased new media licenses are doing all they can as well to lower barriers to access. Streaming content will be available from the licensed mobile network portals to subscribers at no extra cost and without advertising revenues.
“This summer’s tournament is all about changing behaviors of users,” summarizes Christine Knoepffler, corporate communications officer for O2 in Germany. “Not only do we want to differentiate our network with this exciting content, we want to show off what the latest networks are capable of offering. The investments we are making for the World Cup, in terms of producing and hosting daily magazines and other content for the mobile platform, will be measured in terms of how effectively they will bring video and new media to the user’s long-term content usage patterns.”
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