Commonwealth Games Federation deepens fan engagement with Sony Ci Media Cloud

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) is the governing body responsible for the delivery of the Commonwealth Games, a truly global multi-sport event. CGF also oversees the 74-member Commonwealth Games Associations (CGAs) that are separately responsible for managing their respective teams at the national level.

CGF is the owner of a substantial content library, including two decades’ worth of video and still images from Commonwealth Games events around the world. In 2019 the Federation adopted a digital strategy to put in place a more sustainable infrastructure that would allow digital products to be used from Games to Games providing consistent platforms for stakeholders and the worldwide audience. “It became evident that we needed to have significantly more ownership of our own assets, and to manage that relationship with the stakeholders,” notes Sarah Griffiths, Head of Digital at the CGF.#

The 2022 Commonwealth Games hosted in Birmingham marked the first deployment of a powerful new Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform, created to address CGF’s current and future content ambitions.

Built on the backbone of Sony’s Ci Media Cloud and integrated with the digital platform delivered by Pulselive, one of Sony’s Sport Businesses, the DAM served as the central hub for all digital content operations during the course of the 11-day Birmingham Games. Sony Ci handled images, video files and live streams via integration to content sources and distribution targets while also enabling secure access for CFG staff, sports teams, sponsors and rights holders. “Pulselive was our preferred digital provider,” confirms Sarah. “They also brought to the table the Sony Ci media platform – which was just brilliant in terms of how it worked and integrated with everything that Pulselive delivered.”

The platform allowed assets from any of the Games’ respective content providers to be automatically ingested into Ci Media Cloud and made available for live feeds and streaming. Content ingested through Ci was automatically fed through to the CMS (Content Management System) platform and delivered onto CGF’s front-end web platform.

“It just blew our minds in terms of how comprehensive it was,” affirms Sarah. “For the Queen’s Baton Relay, for example, 72 CGAs were able to upload their own content that was then made available to news agencies and other stakeholders. This allowed us to instantaneously promote what was happening across to the other side of the world. This really supported the promotion of the Birmingham 2022 Games as the world emerged from lockdown.”

Content generated during the 11 days of the Games in Birmingham totaled a huge 29 Terabytes, representing almost 46,000 video and image files, while the platform’s Global Events Manager coordinated the delivery of over 22,000 hours of streamed content.

Platform users – including CGAs, rights holders, sports teams and sponsors around the world – were able to instantly access all content to use for their own promotional purposes. In addition, a live feed from the Games’ host broadcaster was also delivered over IP to 2,000 smart TVs at venues and the athletes’ villages, running an embedded app created by Pulselive to display tailored content feeds.

“All our stakeholders who’ve actually embraced using Sony Ci Media Cloud have expressed how easy it is to use, and the increased functionality that they’re seeing across the platform,” confirms Sarah. “Everybody loves the fact that we can provide very quick links to MediaBoxes, to instantly download and upload content as well. There is no doubt that it has revolutionized how all our stakeholders work and engage with us around digital assets.”

Following its successful debut at the Birmingham 2022 Games, the new platform is set to transform CGF’s digital footprint, delivering an industry-leading, athlete-centered event experience, exciting and inspiring fans around the world. Beyond Birmingham 2022, Ci Media Cloud will empower Commonwealth Sport to deliver a more consistent experience, building on the success of previous events. “As we look to work with a new organizing committee to host the Games in the future, we will be ensuring that we are embracing new functionality and looking at how we can innovate to deliver greater value as we move forward,” concludes Sarah.