The Ross replay stack: Make every moment must-watch

As viewer consumption habits shift, connecting with your audience becomes a growing challenge for sports broadcasters. One effective way to hold fan attention is by delivering compelling highlights and replay packages. When you consider how fans look for clarity on key moments and want to feel more immersed in the action, the role of replay and sports graphics analysis becomes even clearer.

If your sports coverage fails to deliver impactful game highlights and replays, you risk losing your audience to a competitor that does. This fact is backed up by statistics from a recent study published by the International Trade Association for Broadcast & Media Technology (IABM), which found that 79% of sports fans in the United States and the United Kingdom were more likely to watch a sports broadcast that incorporates relevant replays and other advanced graphics for analysis.

In addition to versatile production capabilities for high-def replay, playback speed, and camera angle options, modern sports broadcasters increasingly rely on graphical analysis to enhance their highlights and replays. Although these playback competencies are now expected of millennials, Gen Z, and younger viewers, they are becoming increasingly popular among sports fans of all ages.

Among other compelling findings of the aforementioned study, IABM published the following statistics supporting the adoption of enhanced game highlight and playback features:

• 70% of survey respondents agree that AR graphics and sports analysis tools enhance their game experience.
• 65% of millennial survey respondents agree that using virtual sets in sports commentary enhances their overall viewing experience.
• 57% of all study survey respondents agree that they are more likely to watch content for a longer period when virtual elements are used. (Among Gen Z survey respondents, this figure increased to 63%.)
• 29% of all study survey respondents agree that they will be more likely to watch a particular broadcaster’s coverage in the future if that broadcaster adds graphics and other enhanced production elements to their sports coverage.

These viewer trends are causing sports broadcasters to place far greater value on their game highlights and replays. By adding advanced graphics to replay footage, with easy-to-digest information and extra production value, these broadcasters are staying one step ahead of the competition.

Fortunately, today’s sports broadcast production tools can do some amazing things with game highlights and replays. From improving live sports coverage with multiple camera angles to expanding playback capabilities with features such as crystal-clear, slow-motion replay from high-frame-rate cameras, the applications for advanced game highlight and replay functionality are virtually limitless. By adding these features to their production workflows, sports broadcasters can immediately capture and subsequently retain viewership.

Broadcasters can even fully immerse on-air talent and the viewers they serve with virtual elements or environments. And by providing on-air talent with connected devices and/or on-set interactive screens, broadcasters can support real-time analysis with a broad range of visualization tools. By integrating these tools into their game highlight and replay analysis, they can break down plays with clear insights and enhance the viewing experience to keep fans engaged.

Ross Video specializes in production tools and systems that empower broadcasters to enhance their live game coverage, ensuring that viewers stay connected and engaged throughout the program. The Ross team has a record of success when it comes to tailoring replay and graphics solutions to meet the unique wants and needs of a wide variety of sports broadcasting organizations. 

The integration of the Mira replay server and the PIERO sports analysis system provides broadcasters with a comprehensive toolset needed to deliver dynamic replays and in-depth game highlights in a fast-paced sports broadcasting environment. When combined with the operator-friendly Rio Replay Panel, Mira quickly delivers incredibly smooth replays, while PIERO enhances live sports analysis by facilitating insightful breakdowns of key plays. For even more advanced analysis, Voyager harnesses the power of the Unreal Engine to generate brand-accurate, photorealistic virtual content that draws fans deeper into the action. Each of these platforms keeps viewers engaged in different but critical ways.

To take your storytelling capabilities to the next level, the Ross Video team recommends pairing the Mira server with the PIERO sports graphics analysis tool. This state-of-the-art system combines video-based effects with replays. It also supports AR graphics through integration with our Voyager graphics engine. Furthermore, it employs image recognition and optical tracking to overlay informational and educational graphics on all types of sports content to bring new angles and possibilities to the game, both in the studio and on the screen. PIERO offers…

• Extensive customization by covering more than 20 major sports and providing an abundance of both preset and personalized effects for studio broadcasts and live productions.
• User-friendliness with its highly intuitive and interactive remote touchscreen interface.

Combining our PIERO sports analysis graphics system with the Rio and Mira replay system creates a seamlessly integrated live sports storytelling solution. No other solution comes close to matching Ross Video’s replay stack’s speed and efficiency in generating captivating sports analysis graphics for live playout.

Ross Video’s PIERO system works with the Voyager virtual graphics engine to deliver real-time sports visuals in AR and virtual studio environments. The Voyager plugin displays PIERO tools like player movement, tactics, and heatmaps with lifelike quality. Broadcasters can easily control and show these graphics during live production. This integration also lets teams place PIERO visuals inside Unreal Engine virtual sets and interact with them in real time.

The NBC Sports Regional Networks, part of NBCU Local, is a group of regional sports networks in major U.S. markets that provide live sports coverage of NBA, NHL, and MLB teams, totaling hundreds of games and thousands of hours of programming annually.

To further elevate programming, the PIERO sports analysis toolset, along with the Voyager virtual graphics engine and Lucid Studio, is being used across several sites to unlock new storytelling opportunities and deeply engage fans. PIERO’s rich toolset of customizable effects for a wide range of sports not only helps inform viewers about the action on the field, court, or ice, but also adds entertainment value to networks’ programming. Additionally, the user-friendly Voyager and Lucid virtual production solution enables more immersive storytelling.

Few things clarify a controversial call better than a replay from the right angle. Broadcasters can make complex plays even easier to understand by enhancing the footage or adding immersive visual elements. You can step through each frame with crisp detail, place your analysis inside a 3D stadium, or overlay players with meaningful stats that add context. There are countless ways to use highlights and replays to bring the true story of every moment to life.

Ross Video’s Rio Panel and Mira Server, combined with the PIERO system and Voyager work together to enhance game highlights and replays in countless ways. For more information about what these systems can do for your sports broadcast operations, contact a Ross team member today.