Beyond 3DTV: Extending sports broadcasting to next level — will XR be the real deal?
By Shaun Lim
Globally, fans continue to be glued to their screens as they experience the exhilaration of live sports following their favourite sports personalities and teams.
The most prevailing challenge for sports broadcasters perhaps, lies in creating truly immersive viewing experiences that differentiate them from competitors, and what better way to start than leveraging on the power of technology?
And while 3DTV once promised to reshape sports broadcasting, only to fade into relative obscurity, Lucy Trang Nguyen, Business Development Director – Emerging Technologies, Accedo, is convinced that extended reality (XR) will revolutionise sports content distribution and fan engagement.
She told APB+, “Driven by this belief, we set out to connect industry stakeholders to drive development and accelerate commercialisation of XR sports services.”
This led to the creation of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), a strategic initiative launched to connect leading companies from the sports, video, telco, infrastructure, and hardware industries to collaborate and define new standards and frameworks.
Under the programme, stakeholders exchange knowledge and feedback to collectively contribute to each other’s roadmaps, thereby supporting and accelerating time-to-market, industry growth and innovation.
Joining Accedo as founding members of the XRSA are Qualcomm Technologies, a prominent player in XR technology, and HBS, a sports broadcasting specialist.
Bringing together over 25 years of combined expertise in the XR field, the companies’ collective network of long-standing customers and partners spans diverse sectors, including sports and media entertainment, telecommunications, OEMs, ecosystem enablers, and immersive technology providers.
Nguyen said, “We are committed to leveraging our combined global networks to set new industry standards and frameworks. Together, we aim to empower the global sports ecosystem to unlock the full commercial potential of XR sports services, charting a path forward with innovation and collaboration at the forefront.”
The creation of the XRSA is a reflection of the “strong interest” that XR has generated over the past four years, claimed Sylvain Lebreton, Head of Digital Services, HBS.
“The progress of XR has been hindered by technical limitations, high delivery costs, and limited monetisation opportunities,” he added. “However, XR devices have now matured to a point where they deliver a genuine ‘wow’ factor when users engage with them. The next step is to create experiences with meaningful editorial value that can foster loyalty and encourage repeat viewing amongst sports fans.”
One of the key goals of the XRSA is to establish the conditions necessary for a successful ecosystem, enabling collaboration to deliver compelling content and experiences that resonate with users, while also creating sustainable business models, said Lebreton.
For Patrick Costello, Qualcomm Technologies’ Senior Director, Business Development, there should be no lingering doubts that XR is set to revolutionise sports broadcasting by offering fans an unparalleled immersive experience.
He explained, “With new XR devices and increased investment in sports content rights, fans can now engage with their favourite sports like never before. As most sports content is consumed on mobile devices such as phones and laptops, major OEMs are prioritising immersive, spatial experiences – and sports, with its massive popularity and eager audience, is the perfect catalyst for wider adoption.”
The XRSA is also cognitive of putting into context any comparison between XR and the aforementioned 3DTV, with the latter providing a linear three-dimensional streaming experience.
XR, which encapsulates augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR), not only enables three-dimensional and immersive sports viewing. The underlying spatial computing technologies also power a paradigm-shifting new way of interacting with video content, according to Accedo’s Nguyen.
She said, “XR streaming is the combination of feeling immersed and present as if you were in a front row seat at the event and the vast possibilities of spatial fan engagement. With XR, the physical space around the user becomes the new user interface, which could be populated with 3D visualisation of statistics and data, simultaneously streamed multi-camera video feeds, 3D objects and player personas, contextual 3D advertising and more.”
With viewers looking for more engaging and interactive options to personalise their viewing experience, XR can transform sports broadcasting by delivering truly immersive experiences that go beyond what 3DTV had to offer, added HBS’ Lebreton.
“While 3D focuses primarily on visual depth, XR can integrate multiple senses—sight, sound, and interaction—to create a more engaging and personalised experience.”
However, the XRSA is drawing on the challenges and lessons from 3DTV to ensure that they do not focus solely on the promises of the technology; instead, they are focusing on considering the potential obstacles. For instance, XR devices isolate users from others and the weight of the device on the head may also be uncomfortable for some viewers.
“We want to ensure that XR truly enhances the viewing experience, rather than becoming a fleeting novelty,” said Lebreton.
Driving a global ecosystem: Will Asia be the next hotbed for XR?
Like any nascent technology implementation, there will be teething challenges to be overcome before XR can be considered mainstream. However, immersive sports video production also provides inherent opportunities to rethink every step of the video pipeline, said Accedo’s Nguyen.
She highlighted, “It starts with testing camera and audio equipment to determine the most suitable hardware and leads to experimenting with different camera positions on the field to learn which camera angles are most exciting and engaging to the fans.
“New immersive video formats will also require commercially viable infrastructure technologies as we are dealing with a huge amount of data. With the new spatial computing technologies, fans could technically interact with the content to switch between different immersive camera feeds and become their own broadcast director.”
“However, it is to be proven if this freedom of interaction would elevate engagement or rather overwhelm the user. Therefore, we will need to find a balance between allowing fans to engage with content and mastering editing and post production to create a cohesive and enjoyable immersive sports broadcast.”
This balancing act, she added, also applies to the user interface and experience, where it is critical to understand which engagement features best increase engagement, as opposed to distracting the user from the main viewing experience.
Sports rights owners, rights holders and brands must also learn how to serve advertising in XR to generate revenue, including populating this new spatial real-estate with interactive, contextual, and personalised advertising and 3D product placements.
“In the long-term, spatial advertising could be integrated with market-leading advertising platforms to dynamically serve 3D ads in the user’s space,” said Nguyen.
HBS’ Lebreton, meanwhile, was keen to emphasise that XSRA is not just about the tech. “We’re equally committed to innovating how fans use and experience XR, while also identifying effective advertising and monetisation models. These are crucial areas where we’ll be flexing our members’ creative muscles to develop winning business formulas.”
While XRSA focuses on advancing immersive video capture, 3D modelling, video compression and distribution, and spatial sound capture from a technology perspective, innovating how fans use, experience, and identify effective advertising and monetisation will also be priorities, revealed Lebreton.
As for XR’s potential in Asia, XRSA sees “very promising and pioneering” developments in markets such as Japan, South Korea, China, India, which are launching affordable XR devices to penetrate the mass market.
While the first XRSA experimentation deployment will take place in Europe this year, attention is already turning towards Asia as a potential hotbed for XR in the not-too-distant future.
Qualcomm Technology’s Costello said, “We’re eager to collaborate with more companies from this region, as we see tremendous potential. The XR Sports Alliance is committed to fast-tracking XR sports services into the market and welcomes third-party contributions, including XR hardware manufacturers.
“Together, we can develop tailored XR solutions for sports and video entertainment, creating a global impact. It’s an exciting time to get involved!”
XR represents the future of sports broadcasting?
While the experience of 3DTV may call for caution when evaluating the longevity of XR, the exciting possibilities that the technology can bring to elevate the viewing experience are also undeniable.
As the XRSA continues to work towards a global ecosystem for XR, its founding members are not swaying from their conviction that XR is here to stay.
When asked to complete this sentence, “XR represents the future of sports broadcasting because…”, Accedo’s Nguyen said, “… it redefines how audiences connect with live events, transforming passive viewership into active participation that transcends traditional formats allowing fans to engage with immersive content in dynamic and personalised ways”.
HBS’ Lebreton said, “… it offers a new way to engage with sports — immersive, interactive and complementary to the traditional TV experience; it will attract different demographics, create new emotions and for those who can’t be on site, it will provide the next best option, bringing the excitement of live sports right into their homes”.
Qualcomm Technologies’ Costello said, “… it seeks to redefine how fans connect with the sports they love, meaning providing them with innovative, cutting-edge ways to not only watch but also actively engage with their favourite sports in spatial computing”.
