World Athletics Productions unveils World Championships broadcast firsts

World Athletics Productions, a joint venture between World Athletics and ITN Sport, has revealed the broadcast firsts that will be in place for this month’s World Athletics Championships. 

Taking place 19-27 August in Budapest, the host broadcaster will be creating content for an estimated audience of one billion in 200 territories and over 100 rights holders. 

This time round the broadcast compound is twice the size that it was for the competition in Oregon last year, and includes 10 galleries, over 250 cabins, more than 20 rights holder OB trucks, six studios, 10km of power cable, 52km of SMPTE cable, 22km of fibre installed, and 130+ cameras with a full team of 400 on the ground. 

In addition, 80% of producers and 60% of directors are women, in keeping with ITN Sport’s commitment to reflect athletics off-camera.

In terms of firsts, this year will see cameras film athletes as they find out whether they have qualified for the subsequent rounds. For all sprints, hurdles and 800m events, a room will be set up where non-automatic qualifiers can wait to see if they have advanced. The room will have comfortable chairs on which to relax, TV screens to watch subsequent races, foam rollers and stretch bands, refreshments, as well as access to their coaches and kit. Athletes can stay in the room for up to 20 minutes and will then be taken through the mixed zone.

In addition, there will be wirecam for the horizontal jumps, to better show the speed the athletes are moving, and the final kilometre of the marathon race walks will be the longest distance of Wirecam used in athletics or in a major city before.

Finally, the marathon will also be the first major road race event to be broadcast without a helicopter, instead the race will be captured via a drone, jimmy jibs and camera planning to minimise the environmental impact of the production.

Alastair Waddington, ITN director of sport and managing director of World Athletics Productions, said: “The World Athletics Championships demand a fitting production plan and support services for the biggest international sports event of the summer. Broadcast and streamed live in more than 200 countries, there’ll be a combined audience of more than one billion. The National Athletics Centre is a stunning purpose-built stadium, and after the intimacy of Oregon, this will be a grand celebration on the banks of the Danube.

“Our approach as ever, will be service orientated as we capitalise on our collaboration with rights holding broadcasters over the past few years to attract new audiences to athletics. Audiences can expect ITN’s signature up-close-and-personal storytelling to celebrate heroes, rivalries, and performances, as we put the athletes front and center once more. Whether they are on the track, in the Call Room, or behind the scenes – viewers at home are guaranteed the best seat in the house.”