Live coverage is the bread and butter of every sports channel. However, fortune favours the prepared. Try our guide to improve your sports planning and be ready for the next event.
Optimize your processes for dynamic changes
When planning for live events, remember that anything can change at the last minute. And keeping track of those changes in ordinary spreadsheets would be a nightmare. Therefore, it is useful to prepare your plans in a robust broadcast management system like PROVYS Sphere, that allows real-time adjusting of the schedule (and even synchronization of the line booking with the schedule). Moreover, adopt processes that enable collaboration among various crews (studio, OB trucks).
It’s also wise to pre-plan alternative filler content for your channel in case of sudden schedule shifts. This way, you ensure smooth viewer experience even under unforeseen circumstances.
Provide audience with rich content
The audience of sports channels is very demanding. To offer a high-quality experience for it, you need to keep track of all the (often real-time) information relevant to sports fans: live stats, match info, key players, and more.
To avoid overwhelming your staff, consider automating certain processes. Use automatic import from external data sources, or speed up tiresome manual tasks with AI tools. Many specialized tools for sports broadcasting offer related functions. PROVYS Sphere supports integration with OPTA and Sportradar sports data, that can be then seamlessly imported to your broadcast.
Tip! Create sports EPG synopses in a single click with PROVYS Sphere AI Assistant.
Monetize the breaks
Commercial breaks are your lucrative revenue stream. Maximize their potential even when the schedule is changing fast. Combine fixed advertising slots for guaranteed revenue with dynamic breaks that arelinked to content flow.
Keep track on sports rights
Every broadcaster needs to follow content licensing rights, whether you broadcast movies or live soccer matches. With sports, however, things get even more complicated because the rights often have many levels, varying by region and platform.
Therefore, to comply with the rules, don’t forget to monitor your license usage, e.g. which matches haven’t been transmitted yet. Ideally, use a broadcast management system that can do this work for you.
Replays & data reports
Your job doesn’t end with the last whistle. After the event, it’s time to plan non-live replays for the viewers that may have missed the match. To save time, it is advisable to have premade slots for these replays in your broadcast schedule and just fill them in once the event is over—or have a useful tool like PROVYS Sphere do it for you automatically.
When the event ends, don’t forget to assess data about the audience and its engagement. The obtained information may prove useful once you plan coverage of the upcoming matches.
Striving to improve your sports broadcast? Look no further! Get a deep dive into Sphere Pro and its sports functions. Or book a free consultation with our expert to discuss your project.