24 CORPORATE VIDEO FOCUS Broadcasting
VIZRTV: TECH VENDOR TURNS BROADCASTER izrt is known as one of the world’s Words by Elsie Crampton
company used speciality enterprise social networking site Yammer for some of its internal communications, but its similarity to a social media site was problematic. Since the site prioritises engagement, an important message from the CEOs could be drowned out by pictures of someone’s baby. “We had to find a way to make sure the CEO’s message or the important message of the day gets lifted up to the top,” says Chris Black, Vizrt’s head of content and communications. “And it’s been proven that video is the most effective way to communicate with people, which is where this new initiative came from.” Earlier this year, Vizrt acquired NewTek, a media technology company specialising in affordable tools for microbroadcasters and live production teams who need user- friendly speed and flexibility. Suddenly, Vizrt has all the pieces in place to do an entire internal broadcast facility on their own. “We have the switchers, NewTek’s NDI protocol as an IP standard, the graphics tools, virtual sets and AR,” says Black. “All these pieces were there, it just took putting them all together, like our customers do.” VIZRTV ON THE AIR The new internal channel, called VizrTV, was trialled in late November with a simple live show delivered from Vizrt’s Bergen, Norway R&D centre and corporate headquarters. The show was done three times to accommodate the working hours of Vizrt’s global workforce. Microsoft Stream was the platform used to deliver the address, which included a talk by Vizrt Group CEO Michael Hallén, and incorporated a Q&A. “Because we have offices in Sydney, Bangkok, EMEA, North and South America, there is no perfect time zone, so we delivered the stream three different times,” says Webb, who as internal comms director is also producer of the show. “At some of the larger offices, they got together in a conference room and watched the live
When a high- end video technology company decided it needed a corporate comms solution, it decided to put its own tools to the test
top technology companies for high-end graphics and virtual sets for television. Its tools are
used on everything from sports events and weather to election coverage, providing visual fireworks and data illustration. However, the Norway-based company has 700 employees in 30 offices around the world, meaning that effective internal communication has become an ongoing challenge as the company expands. “We wanted to not only reach our employees, but engage them,” says Catherine Webb, internal communications lead at Vizrt. “For a while, we’d been thinking about the fact that we produced all these amazing products for broadcasters. Why can’t we use them for ourselves internally to do what broadcasters do? Reach an audience and engage with them as well.” Vizrt already had a solid internal comms system in place, but knew it was time to up its game. The company had tried internal newsletters, webinars, town halls and various internal social platforms. The
REALITY CHECK Vizrt’s studio in Bergen includes a full virtual set and uses Viz Virtual Studio to incliude AR graphics in the broadcast
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