Japanese media company Dentsu, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, has selected EVS C-Cast to power its second screen app: Volleyball EyeSurround, writes David Fox. Dentsu holds the rights to international volleyball matches for 2013 to 2020 and decided to implement a second screen service to complement traditional broadcasting of Olympic volleyball qualification matches. Volleyball EyeSurround will enable viewers to access additional content to live broadcast matches, such as clips from multiple camera angles. “With multiple cameras recording every match, hours of footage is captured that never gets aired,” said Teppei Yasubuchi, project manager, Dentsu. “With C-Cast we can use this content to deliver an enhanced, interactive viewing experience. Viewers can replay the action their way. They decide what they watch, when they watch it, and from which camera angle.” C-Cast is integrated into the existing live broadcast production infrastructure to enable the production team to deliver short clips from multiple viewing angles to cloud-based storage, which can then be distributed immediately to viewers. The video clips and associated metadata are sent to a media data centre infrastructure. From there, they’re re-distributed to the various networks and delivered to viewers less than three minutes after the live action has taken place. The app will also enable viewers to watch live streaming of matches, check team rankings, receive notifications when matches start, and get team details or match schedules. “Media companies and broadcasters need to find new ways to engage audiences that no longer sit passively in front of their televisions,” said Olivier Heurteaux, general sales manager, EVS. “C-Cast enables them to use content they already have, which would otherwise go to waste, to deliver premium content, increase viewer engagement and create new revenue streams. With the Volleyball EyeSurround app, Dentsu is at the forefront of the future of sports broadcasting.” C-Cast is currently being tested by a number of broadcasters and media organisations. It is claimed to be the industry’s first advanced multi-camera solution that enables instant distribution of multiple camera angle content to web-connected screens during live productions. Suited to any sports or live events, it offers broadcasters and media rights holders to deliver extended media packages to multiple audiences including TV viewers, spectators, coaches, journalists and referees. It uses a fully modular, service-oriented architecture to adapt to different kinds of business or workflow, and offers advanced integration with third-party web systems and data import for statistics, commercials and tweets. www.dentsu.comwww.evs.tv
