Alibaba Cloud and Olympic Broadcasting Services Unveil AI-Powered OBS Cloud 3.0 for Paris 2024

• The delivery of live signals via OBS Live Cloud has become the primary method for remote distribution to broadcasters, marking a significant milestone in Olympic Games broadcasting.
• The Content+ Portal guarantees seamless content delivery, while the Multi-Camera Replay Systems offer frame-freeze slow-motion replays.

PARIS, FRANCE – Media OutReach Newswire – 25 July 2024 – Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), have announced the launch of OBS Cloud 3.0 for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. This innovative cloud platform, powered by AI, aims to make the work of OBS and Media Rights-Holders (MRHs) more efficient and streamlined. OBS Cloud 3.0 will be the backbone infrastructure for several critical functions at Paris 2024, fully utilising cloud technologies to enhance operational scalability, cost-efficiency, sustainability through remote working, and real-time workflow collaboration.

For the first time in Olympic history, OBS Live Cloud has become the primary method for remote distribution to MRHs, replacing the satellite-based system used since the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. At Paris 2024, two-thirds of the booked remote services from 54 broadcasters, including two Ultra High Definition (UHD) broadcasters, will use OBS Live Cloud. This system will handle 379 video feeds (11 UHD, 368 HD) and 100 audio feeds. Cloud-based content transmission offers low latency and high resilience, making it superior in terms of scalability, flexibility, cost, stability, and agility for global broadcasting.

Debuted at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 with an UHD broadcaster, OBS Live Cloud was offered as a standard service for the first time during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 with 22 subscribed broadcasters. Prior to this technology breakthrough, broadcasters had to rely on dedicated and more costly international telecommunication optical circuits and spend a considerate amount of time to set up the equipment, in order to send live footage halfway across the globe back to their home countries.

Yiannis Exarchos, OBS Chief Executive Officer, at the launch of OBS Cloud 3.0 during the Alibaba Cloud International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) showcase opening, said, “With approximately half of the world’s population watching the Games, technologies like Alibaba Cloud help us tell the stories of the best athletes in the world and bring the world together in ways that are more exciting and inspirational. Broadcasting the Games is fundamental to achieving this, and having partners like Alibaba that help us bring this dream to life is invaluable for us!”

A Record-Breaking 11,000 Hours of Olympic Games Content via Content+ on the Cloud

Content+, OBS’s content delivery platform, remains fully hosted on Alibaba Cloud, simplifying remote production workflows and ensuring seamless content delivery, including live sessions, athlete interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and social media content.

For Paris 2024, OBS will produce over 11,000 hours of content, a 15% increase from Tokyo 2020. The cloud-based platform streamlines remote production workflows, ensuring uninterrupted content delivery during the Games.

New functionalities in Content+ allow MRHs to create their own highlights from any location worldwide in a much shorter turnaround time. Content can be downloaded in three different resolutions for various uses, including linear, digital, and social.

Content+ will deliver content in UHD for the first time through Alibaba Cloud’s robust global infrastructure, enabling broadcasters to produce more engaging and refined content. Features like vertical screen compatibility will enhance viewing on mobile devices.

Selina Yuan, President of International Business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, commented, “We are thrilled to see the evolution of Olympic broadcasting from Tokyo 2020 to Paris 2024, enabled by Alibaba Cloud’s extensive global infrastructure and advanced AI technologies. Our partnership with OBS underscores our commitment to transforming the viewer experience at the Olympic Games, turning technological innovations into practical applications for tangible results. We are honoured to support Paris 2024 as the most digitally compelling Olympics ever.”

AI-Enhanced Replay Systems Elevate Viewing Experience

During Paris 2024, the OBS Multi-Camera Replay Systems will provide frame-freeze slow-motion replays of athletes’ performances, allowing sports fans to access detailed information for deeper analysis of the athletes’ movements. These replays can also serve as educational tools for new viewers to better understand the Games at key moments.

All the multi-camera replay systems used at Paris 2024 will be provided by Alibaba Cloud. These include 17 systems across 14 venues covering 21 sports and disciplines, such as rugby sevens, badminton, athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, table tennis, wrestling, tennis, judo, breaking, BMX freestyle, and skateboarding. The footage will be transmitted to the cloud, where Alibaba Cloud’s AI-driven computing capabilities enable live spatial reconstruction and real-time 3D rendering. The chosen moments will be shared as replays through live or non-live feeds, with the seamless reconstruction of exciting moments taking just seconds in the cloud.

Additionally, the OBS Olympic Video Player (OVP), an advanced multi-platform video player service, will leverage Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure to support UHD live streaming for the first time. The OVP service provides MRHs, especially small and medium-sized organisations, with a turnkey solution to deliver high-quality videos to their audiences without complex in-house development.

Since joining as an Olympic Worldwide Partner in January 2017, Alibaba Cloud and OBS launched OBS Cloud in 2018. Supporting Tokyo 2020 as the first Olympic Games broadcast via the cloud, Alibaba Cloud has continued to work with OBS to maintain the highest Olympic broadcasting standards using its proven cloud technologies.