The EBU, in partnership with its business arm Eurovision Media Services (EMS), is helping broadcasters increase audience engagement for the European Championships with a suite of new services and tools for members.
New tools such as a fully immersive virtual reality app and video content creation solutions have been released to members, with the aim of enriching viewers’ second-screen experience and driving new audiences.
With the virtual reality app, European Championships Lounge, broadcasters are able to personalise the VR experience and offer it to their audiences as a supplementary tool. Over 50 hours of VR content from the athletics events at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin is being made available on the app, alongside live feeds from the other sports taking place in Glasgow.
Working together with EBU Members and event rightsholders, EMS has also identified a portfolio of cloud-based services to manage and publish content. These allow rightsholders to use readily available event branding assets, combine them with their own look and feel and access real-time event content, provided as a part of Host Broadcaster services. All digital services are integrated, interconnected and can be used before, during and after the event.
Meanwhile, EBU Sport has commissioned promotional assets, enabling member broadcasters to put together branded promotional trails for the Championships, tailored for their own audiences and languages.
The European Championships is a major new multisport event taking place every four years, which aggregates the existing senior continental championships of a number of sports associations, all unified under a common brand. Athletics will take place in Berlin from 7th to the 12th of August, while the other sports are taking place in Glasgow from the 2nd to the 12th of August.
The EBU and EMS will act as both the broadcast partner (representing European public service media) and the Host Broadcaster (overseeing the overall production of the event). EMS will also distribute the event to media organisations for TV and online platforms.
