Spiideo, a Swedish startup, says it will revolutionize sports broadcasting with its AI-driven camera system. The company recently raised $20 million to enhance its technology, which mimics professional camera operators and can fully automate the broadcasting of 15 different sports.
According to the company, the system offers “TV-class” production at “previously unimaginable” price points, which they say will benefit smaller teams and niche sports.
The company says that more than 6,000 venues and 4,000 teams (including major football clubs and NBA franchises) are already using its advanced video analytics and live game data products. Spiideo says this latest round of funding will enable it to achieve 100% AI automation in sports broadcasting.
I’m excited to see how far Spiideo gets. Live switching a multi-camera video shoot is a true combination of art and science. Shots must be composed, then there’s an intricate dance between the director (the one calling the shots) and the technical director (the one pushing the buttons). A live sports shoot is a thing of beauty: reaction shots from crowds, a close up under the brim of a base runner’s cap just before an attempt to steal, etc.
There are other considerations. Right now, it takes a fairly big crew to cover a sporting event with “TV-class” (to use Spiideo’s words) production values. There would be a big market for technology that allowed you to cover and stream a high school game that looked like broadcast television. Can it be done by AI alone? Yes. Will Spiideo be the ones to do it? We’ll stay tuned.
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.