watched the coverage – with the average one tuning in for two hours and 13 minutes. But what are the tools delivering this wildly popular coverage, and how are media organisations combatting the divisive power of disinformation? VOICE-ACTIVATED VERSATILITY Jim Doyle, the vice president of creative services at Ross Video, highlights that conveying results is – naturally – the base expectation of any election coverage. But being able to tell a compelling story with that data is where broadcasters can excel. “On the graphics side,” he explains, “election coverage has changed a lot due to improvements in data processing capabilities. We have a tremendous cache of data going back many years that we’ve been able to visualise in unique ways to share an interesting narrative. That has enabled on-air talent to talk more in-depth about hot topics leading up to elections and explain how results are developing in key battleground areas.” Following the recent election, the world is more acutely aware of those swing states’ significance than ever before. These select regions were the indisputable stars of the US election coverage show, with presenters able to cleverly dip into archival voting data, using visualisations to compare this with results trickling in over the course of election night. “We did the 2020 elections broadcasts with Fox News, leveraging all these tools to create an election presentation no one had seen before,” Doyle recalls. “This year, we took our production to a new level
using some exciting technology. It might not be obvious to viewers, but the networks used our voice- controlled graphics system that allows the presenter on-set to verbally ask for the next graphic.” Following this request, AI enhancements recall the graphic from Ross Video’s Xpression tool, instantly delivering it to the feed so presenters can speak over it. “This has never been done before, and we think it will be an industry game changer as we expand into other formats.” According to Doyle, redundancy and reliability should be top priorities when looking to execute a seamless election broadcast. “Rehearse with your technology,” he advises. “Use it, play with it, make sure it will do everything you want. Don’t wait until the last minute to innovate. Start early, get with your content people and figure things out as soon as you can. Ross delivers very successful visualisations for customers, but this is because we often start planning a year in advance.” TIMELY TRANSLATIONS What sets the US election apart from the others is the global audience it garners. Its phenomenal significance has led to many an all-nighter being pulled by those in the international community, awaiting the outcome with collective bated breath. Therefore, top-tier translation tools are critical. With its portfolio of AI-powered localisation solutions, the team at XL8 know the importance of meeting the demands of an international audience all too well. “Election coverage has become much
OUTSIDE BROADCAST Brainstorm has made its mark worldwide with graphics systems used for exploring the status of election campaigns, polls and victories
REALITY-ALTERING The Ross Video Voyager graphics platform allows the creation of AR and VR election statistics visualisations for dynamic coverage
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