By Karolos Grohmann
MILAN, Feb 16 (Reuters) – If the Milano Games have left viewers impressed with the innovative use of First-Person View drones chasing athletes down the course at dizzying speeds, the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics will be the most immersive experience, with extensive use of AI and a generous sprinkling of global stars, Olympic Broadcasting Services head Yiannis Exarchos said on Tuesday.
A fleet of 15 FPVs have followed skiers down the slopes at 120 kph and hurtled along behind sliders plummeting through the ice canal in the luge and skeleton events, delivering dramatic new angles, and instantly becoming the audiovisual story of the Games.
The bar has been set very high for LA, said Exarchos, CEO of OBS, which produces the entire Games’ feed delivered to broadcasters around the world.
“If the destination is a city which is a metropolis of story-telling and one of the greatest metropolises of technology in the world then expectations are very, very big,” Exarchos told Reuters in an interview. “This is a nice challenge to have. We need to think about how we can excite people.”
OBS is using more than 1,300 cameras in Milan and 1,800 microphones to capture the action from all angles. The rapid rise in AI is likely to offer far more viewer options at the LA Games, from pausing the action to having competition data displayed on the screens, or instantly watching past record-breaking performances simultaneously.
“AI unleashed new opportunities with the way people are interacting with content. By the time of LA we will have many more opportunities to use AI technologies to further personalise the experience,” Exarchos said.
“In LA we will start facilitating viewers to be having a conversation. To be able to say ‘Stop here, show me this image again’ or ‘Show me what this reminds me of’ or ‘Has anyone done this better?’,” Exarchos said. “This is the vision that will start being manifested.”
But it will not only be AI or a visual production that will draw on the vast creative talent pool of the city. The coverage will use major celebrities as the International Olympic Committee looks to attract a wider range of viewers, and not just sports fans.
STAR POWER
OBS produced a first-ever red carpet event — the ‘Prelude to the Olympics’ — on the eve of the Paris 2024 Games, with Zendaya, Charlize Theron and Serena Williams among others, adding glamour to the world’s biggest multi-sports event.
A similar event was held at La Scala in Milan ahead of the Winter Games, with American actors Stanley Tucci, Jeff Goldblum, Marisa Tomei and singer Usher in attendance, as well as fashion designer and Milan resident Donatella Versace. In LA the presence of celebrities at the Games will be further expanded.
“The Olympics are being watched not just by sports fans. Half of the viewers are what we call casual viewers, so there will be this mix of entertainment culture and sports culture,” Exarchos said.
“Increasingly the presentation of all these events involves a wider number of talent. Apart from sports talent we see a tendency to bring into the Olympics talent from other entertainment industries. Just what NBC has been doing with (rapper) Snoop Dogg.”
Snoop Dogg was a ubiquitous presence at the Paris Olympics, serving as a kind of hype-man for Team USA and performing at a beach party back in his native Long Beach during the handover ceremony for Los Angeles 2028. He has been equally present in venues in Milan for the Comcast-owned U.S. broadcaster, a rights holder for the Games.
“The Olympics remain one of only a few massive audience aggregators in the world. They have the capacity to focus the attention of the whole world in the event,” Exarchos said.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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