The Paralympics that have just taken place in Paris showcased how 14,000 athletes from all over the world are expanding the limits of human possibility. But this groundbreaking event isn’t confined to sport; production companies in Wales are innovating in the ways they tell stories and use technology, working to make production processes fully accessible. Whether it’s through the use of green-screen technology, AI, ground-breaking production techniques or brand-new ways of engaging production talent, Cardiff’s Capital Region is increasingly becoming a hub for exciting new practices in the media sector.
One such company pioneering change in their field is Whisper – one of the world’s leading sports production companies with award-winning coverage of events including F1, NFL, 2002 UEFA Women’s Cup, UEFA Euro 2024 and Wimbledon. At their base in Tramshed Tech in Cardiff, a hub for their Paris 2024 Paralympics coverage, they are developing one of the world’s first fully accessible production studios – driving a new raft of innovations which have revolutionised how we followed this year’s Paralympic games in Paris.
Whisper were the lynchpin for Channel 4’s Paralympics coverage with more than 1,300 hours of content produced from the brand new Cymru Broadcast Centre across 16 livestreams. The facility itself was a rare set-up in live sports broadcasting, encompassing fully accessible production suites and galleries with a changing spaces toilet, wide walkways, ramps, power-assisted doors and accessible signage. Simultaneously, in a first for broadcasting, the coverage saw the first deaf sports presenter to anchor
coverage live from Paris.
The Cymru Broadcast Centre development also embodies the sector’s ambition of attracting diverse talent to teams behind the camera. Media Cymru and Channel 4 therefore co-funded research and development around accessibility in live production in conjunction with The Ability People, acting as a case study for other technical facilities to use as best practice and to share learning.
Media Cymru, also based in the Cardiff Capital Region, is one of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) most significant investments for the creative industries in the UK.
Led by Cardiff University, Media Cymru is a 22-partner consortium of production companies, broadcasters and higher education institutions (HEIs) aiming to turn Cardiff Capital Region into a global hub for media innovation – supporting green, global and fair growth. Just as Whisper are combining media innovation with advances in inclusion and accessibility, Media Cymru supports media innovations that create both social and economic value.
Through dedicated funding calls designed to super-charge innovation, research and development in Wales, Media Cymru is funding projects that are creating long-lasting ripple effects on the Welsh economy while tackling social issues head on: funding
products and experiences addressing the lack of DDN (deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent talent) in the sector, in using technology to address mental health challenges, devising new and creative ways to shoot and edit to reduce a production’s carbon footprint and championing new and improved practices in all forms of storytelling.
Media Cymru’s research shows that these efforts really are working: the Welsh creative industries are UK leaders in research & development (R&D) effectiveness, with every £1 in R&D support generating over three times that in private R&D spending, beating previous leaders Japan and Finland (and 136 per cent more than the rest of the UK).
Innovation WORKS – and more to the point, provides work for others. One new full-time job is created in the creative industries for every £9,000 of additional R&D spending, generating an additional £36,000 of total gross value added. This investment in R&D has helped sustain the prodigious growth of the Cardiff Capital Region’s media and creative sectors over the last decade – with the region’s recent media sector growth rates significantly outperforming the rest of the UK. But this is not growth at any cost: Media Cymru embraces innovations that improve inclusivity and quality of life, while making media production cleaner and greener.
