The 2024 Paris Olympics is a revolutionary event. It is not just for the athletic feats on display, but also for the way the athletes is being broadcasted to the world. It is for the first time in the history of Olympic games that cloud computing has surpassed satellites as the primary method for broadcasting coverage. It is a significant technological shift.
Alibaba Cloud is at the forefront and responsible for delivering about 11,000 hours of live events during the Paris Olympics. The change is facilitated by Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) LiveCloud. It will distribute live broadcast signals to more than 200 countries and regions across the world. It is a monumental leap from traditional satellite broadcasting.
Cloud computing in Olympic broadcasting started modestly during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It gained popularity in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. A total of 22 broadcasting organizations adopted the technology then. A substantial increase will be witnessed this time. More than 50 broadcast organizations utilizing it to deliver 379 live video streams and 100 live audio streams.
Cloud computing offers several advantages over traditional satellite methods. It has low latency and high resilience. It is an ideal choice for broadcasting large-scale events like the Olympics. It features flexibility and is cost-effective.
A notable feature of the OBS LiveCloud is its integration with artificial intelligence (AI). A total of 17 multi-camera replay systems have been implemented across 14 venues to cover 21 sports. It is learned that fans are to enjoy advanced AI-driven features such as live spatial reconstruction and real-time 3D rendering. The technology will also allow the broadcasters to create replays of key moments just seconds after they occur.