The big tech trends of the year

We have a large in-house software development team that we’re currently expanding, which aims to improve our workfl ows and deliveries on many levels. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) offer many advantages to the post-production and VFX industry as there are so many repetitive and time-consuming tasks that currently require operators to manage, sort and manipulate vast amounts of data.

This, in turn, can introduce human error, among many other issues, and the prospect and advantage of not only improving the speed but also your facility capacity while maintaining the quality in low-level tasks is very interesting.

The fear that AI and ML will take over all operator tasks is, I think, unfounded, certainly anytime soon, as our industry is built on creative collaboration and artistic vision and storytelling, which is very much a human advantage and a highly subjective skillset.

Broadcasting today is increasingly about personalisation of the individual user experience. Whether that means consumers can choose their own ‘environment’ to watch, or fans in a stadium having the choice to select a preferred camera view from their seats, remains to be seen.

But one certainty is that people’s phones and mobile devices are getting much more powerful – a significant factor driving production decisions. The audience want to drive their own hyper-targeted graphic journey and not just take a curated feed decided by a match director.

With more people watching content on mobile devices and scrolling through TikTok or Instagram vertically on their phones, it’s time to add 9:16 video content delivery to the mix as a core service. That leads to tighter integration between graphics and social media platforms, which has been happening for a while now but will continue to be the next step in the ongoing customer experience journey.

The 2022 Qatar World Cup, with an audience of 20.96 million for the Mexico-Argentina game just in Mexico, highlighted how live entertainment, and more specifically sport, continues to drive video consumption. This is a trend we are expecting to continue in 2023 and is corroborated by experts forecasting a stronger advertising market over the next few years.

However, the media market is changing – and fast. A very competitive environment combined with viewers’ high expectations of experience and quality of content is leading to consolidation. Media companies need to continue to adapt to attract new viewers and find new revenue streams.

B2C applications will contribute to the development of new distribution models for streaming and OTT companies, while innovative content delivery mechanisms will enable an increase in advertising and personalised content, helping to generate more revenue.

Media organisations will also transition to a total cloud configuration and will need to be able to send and receive media content securely from the cloud, while maintaining broadcast-grade distribution reliability.

As we enter 2023, there are several tech trends that are set to have a big impact on the postproduction industry. The first is the rise of AI and ML, which are already being used in post-production to speed up tasks such as colour grading and editing. It’s very impressive to see how much more efficient workflows can be when you have AI helping out.

Next is the growing adoption of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) – these technologies are changing the game when it comes to creating immersive and interactive content. Finally, there’s the improvement and mainstream adoption of cloud-based solutions – the switch to cloud-based tools can allow for greater flexibility and collaboration.

Recent turbulent events have put news producers under renewed pressure to manage profound technological and logistical obstacles. With a recent increase in hacker attacks, cyber-security is one of the major current priorities for broadcasters to ensure the safe transfer of information. Enhancing cyber-security for broadcasters coincides with ensuring the authenticity of information and sources.

The growth of ‘fake news’ has heightened scrutiny for news broadcasters to deliver accurate and credible reporting and analysis. AI technology is already playing a pivotal role in verifying whether video and audio material has been modified, and will continue to do so. Supporting broadcasters’ editorial teams as they invest in combating misinformation will be crucial in the year ahead, to maintain authenticity in broadcasting.

If there’s something that the past year, still influenced by the recent pandemic, has highlighted, it is the increasing importance of preserving history through the archiving and digitisation of important assets, to respond to a growing demand for available content.

The increase in the popularity of streaming services, with OTT platforms supplementing new productions with the digitisation of existing analogue content, further heightens the need for proper asset storage and digitisation.

We think one of the most revolutionary tech advancements on the horizon for 2023 is machine learning. As ML makes its way into data capture, digital matte painting, compositing, scripting and 3D, it has the potential to evolve our current practices and pave the way for more streamlined workflows, allowing artists to spend more time on creative decisions.

The rate of change in areas such as image synthesis and natural language processing is so dizzying that it seems inevitable that some game-changing features will begin to make it into commercial VFX tools.

AI and digitalisation, which grew in popularity during the pandemic, will increasingly shape the broadcast industry. AI-based remote sports production technology simplifies broadcast workflows and democratises the sports viewing experience.

Automated shooting, production and streaming reduce the overheads required to produce and deliver sports events, eliminating the need for on-site production staff , trucks and operations centres associated with traditional broadcast production.

Teams and leagues now have another avenue for reaching new fanbases and creating new sponsorship and ad-revenue opportunities. Amateur sports don’t always have the budget for top-tier production values and this technology allows traditionally underrepresented sports to raise their profile and grow their audiences, beyond a local level, easily and affordably.

The technology also enhances the fan experience. Combined with automated camera-tracking technology, fans get expanded views of every in/out call, challenge and replay.

It’s all going to be about cloud and automation. Using more effective and efficient workflows to deliver our news to audiences and engage with new viewers will be a priority for us. We will use different social media formats, such as TikTok, to deliver our news and change the delivery of rolling news in a few months, and stream more live.

Personalisation and push alerts will become even more important. We will have more visualised radio, starting with the 5 Live Nicky Campbell show. Industry-wide, more use of AI is inevitable.