In preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Alibaba Cloud and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) introduced OBS Cloud 3.0, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the broadcast experience.
This advanced system will deliver frame-freeze slow-motion replays of athletes’ performances, providing sports fans and analysts with detailed information for deeper analysis. For new viewers, these replays can serve as educational tools to understand the Games during key moments better.
Alibaba Cloud has deployed 17 multi-camera replay systems across 14 venues covering 21 sports, including rugby sevens, badminton, athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, table tennis, wrestling, tennis, judo, breaking, BMX freestyle, and skateboarding. The footage from these cameras will be sent to the cloud, where Alibaba Cloud’s AI-driven computing capabilities enable live spatial reconstruction and real-time 3D rendering. The reconstructed moments will be integrated into live coverage within seconds, enhancing the viewing experience.
OBS Olympic Video Player (OVP), an advanced multi-platform video player service, will leverage Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure to support ultra-high-definition (UHD) live streaming for the first time. The OVP service provides media rights-holders (MRHs), especially small and medium-sized organizations, with a turnkey solution to deliver high-quality videos without complex in-house development.
OBS Live Cloud
Alibaba Cloud became an Olympic Worldwide Partner in January 2017 and launched OBS Cloud in 2018. It supported Tokyo 2020, the first Olympic Games to be broadcast via the cloud, and has been working with OBS to maintain high broadcasting standards with its cloud technologies.
OBS Cloud 3.0, a combination of cloud technologies powered by AI, makes the work of OBS and MRHs more efficient. For Paris 2024, OBS Cloud 3.0 will support several critical functions, fully utilizing the benefits of cloud technologies, including operational scalability, cost-efficiency, improved sustainability, enhanced remote working capabilities, and effective real-time workflow collaboration.
OBS Live Cloud, part of OBS Cloud 3.0, will be the primary method of remote distribution to MRHs for the first time in Olympic history, replacing satellite distribution. For Paris 2024, two-thirds of booked remote services (across 54 broadcasters) will use OBS Live Cloud, including two UHD broadcasters. A total of 379 video feeds (11 UHD, 368 HD) and 100 audio feeds will be transmitted via the Live Cloud. This cloud-based content transmission offers low latency, high resilience, scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency, increasing the stability and agility of worldwide broadcasting.
Debuted at Tokyo 2020 with a UHD broadcaster, OBS Live Cloud was offered as a standard service at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, with 22 subscribed broadcasters. Before this technology breakthrough, broadcasters relied on costly international telecommunication optical circuits and extensive equipment setup to send live footage globally.
Yiannis Exarchos, OBS Chief Executive Officer, highlighted the importance of these technologies: “With approximately half of the world’s population watching the Games, technologies like Alibaba Cloud help us tell the stories of the best athletes in the world and bring the world together in more exciting and inspirational ways. Broadcasting the Games is fundamental, and having partners like Alibaba that help us bring this dream to life is very valuable for us.”
Content+, OBS’ content delivery platform, remains fully hosted on Alibaba Cloud and simplifies remote production workflows. For Paris 2024, OBS will produce over 11,000 hours of content, a 15% increase from Tokyo 2020. Content+ allows MRHs to create their own highlights quickly and deliver content in UHD for the first time, offering vertical screen compatibility for optimal mobile viewing.