The World Cup buzz

I must confess that although I’m no football fan, I was just as caught up in World Cup fever as everyone else. I think I even went so far as to secretly root for Argentina, although it didn’t particularly break my heart when Germany won.

What fascinated me about the World Cup was not so much the sport itself as the statistics on the number of people watching the matches on TV and online, and the multiple interactions on social media networks that triggered social events around matches and compelled even those less inclined to watch to switch on the TV and see what all the fuss was about. There is no doubt that this year’s event broke all previous television viewing records across the world. Chris O’Hearn, the UAE’s audience measurement guru, elaborates on this in his analysis this month.

This year’s World Cup was also declared the biggest multimedia sporting event in history, with more people watching matches and highlights online than ever before and 672 million tweets on the event.

Of course, all of this has had a huge impact on our industry and created great opportunities for both broadcast manufacturers and solutions providers alike to test new products and services that they have been harping about at the shows.

Sony used this opportunity to drum up support for 4K, while FIFA worked with the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin to pioneer a 360-degree viewing experience of the World Cup Final with a panoramic, Ultra HD OmniCam. The technology was part of the production

of the World Cup, alongside live 4K and 8K productions of some of the matches.

Of course, as with all things today, the Berlin institute has promised that OmniCam video content will soon be available as second screen apps on tablets, smartphones and laptops. This will actually give users the opportunity to navigate through the stadium and serve as their own camera operators.

Wonder what will come next.