IBU has hired an athlete content creator and brought in tech innovations to allow broadcasters to focus on “home” athletes
The International Biathlon Union, the world federations for the alternating skiing and shooting sport, has seen impressive viewership growth outside of its core markets this year, with France (15%), Poland (12.5%) and Switzerland (40%) all seeing peak audience growth.
Secretary-general Max Cobb, speaking to Broadcast Sport, believes tech advances and a focus on digital channels are among the reasons for this growth. “We brought in three pillars to focus on - tech advances, changing rules and launching our first urban competitions [starting next season with a roller skate event in Munich], and better digital partners and channels.”
The tech advances began with the creation of a cloud media hub in 2022/23, which is accessible by broadcasters, federations and athletes, to house AI-clipped highlights from its events. These clips are then used across social media and in broadcasts, with an app created to make the system easier for athletes to use on their channels. They are near-live, with the clips ready around one to three seconds after the action happens.
This was created in partnership with the EBU, which, alongside Infront, holds the rights to the IBU’s competitions until 2030 - a long-term deal signed last year, the length of which Cobb believes is, “key,” to being able to make these kinds of investments. The IBU and EBU worked with Actua Sport, alongside partners Wildmokka, EVS and Perfect Memory, to create it.
More recently, this season the IBU and EBU have worked with Swedish production company New Century Productions to boost the availability of content featuring athletes outside of the top performers. A new system has been put in place, with cameras now at every shooting point to allow all athletes to be shown. An official notes when each athlete is entering the firing zone, giving broadcasters who have opted in to the service 15 seconds notice that a “home” athlete from their territory will be there, and they can switch to show this content rather than the main feed.
This has seen success, with the post below one example - it gained over 10 million views across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
View this post on Instagram
Other efforts to boost the profiles of individual athletes outside of tech advances have also been made, including the hiring of an athlete content creator, Alexandra Wizor, who has also worked with European Athletics, UEFA, Legia Warsaw and more. She debuted at the second stage of the World Cup, in December, and liases with athletes, usually the top seeds, to create content for their social channels. The collaboration is done outside of competition time, and Wizor then attends events to create the content.
Cobb noted that this has had, ”a positive knock-on effect. It inspires the athletes who aren’t working with the content creator, allowing them to see how social content should be made.”
Cobb is keen for these innovations to continue, with the latest addition tested at the sixth stage of the World Cup last month. A station was created in the mixed zone that allowed broadcasters not in attendance to ask questions, which are supplied in advance, to athletes from their nations. The answers can be shown live or later on, depending on broadcast schedules.
First and second images: Yevenko/IBU
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