Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 125, December 2019 | Page 29

Commentary team for
the FNB Cape Town 12
ONERUN
Durban. The broadcasts once again went well, with
very good viewer stats and feedback. Your viewership
is very much dependant on pre-race marketing to let
people know about it, so that they can then log in,
because livestreaming is still extremely new in SA.”
Manfred explains that in the traditional TV broadcast
model, the SABC buys the broadcasting rights
from ASA, then the SABC determines the running
order, presenters, interviews, story line, positioning
of cameras, which race sponsors will feature,
advertising, etc. That’s where the livestream option
offers big advantages. “You can basically do what you
want – there are no rules around advertising, or who
you can interview, as long as you don’t infringe on
basic rights and laws. Many of the rules or limits of TV
just don’t apply.”
from Vince, saying he needed help with producing a
livestream broadcast of the race. ASA and the SABC
had been unable to come to an agreement about
renewing the broadcast rights to all running events in
the country, and the race had decided to do its own
broadcast. Pedigree Media, led by Salama Kahn and
Robin Paulsen, had been given the job, and they had
brought in Vince to manage the crew and outside
broadcast van, or OB van.”
“I told him the only way I would do it was if I could
do commentary, and he agreed. So while Salama
managed the client side, I managed the content side,
which included producing pre-race inserts, then doing
race day commentary with Cuan Walker. We pulled
the whole thing off in three days, and considering the
rush, it actually went very smoothly! Best of all was
the great feedback we received afterwards, from Two
Oceans and the running public.”
Success Breeds Success
While still on air doing the Two Oceans broadcast,
Manfred received a message from Michael Meyer
at Stillwater Sport to say he and Cuan were doing a
great job. Manfred was already working as the media
manager on Stillwater’s FNB Run Your City series of
road races, and now Michael asked Salama if she
could do a livestream broadcast of the FNB races in
Cape Town in May and Durban in October. “She then
pulled me in again and together we managed the
stream, with my input mainly on the content side,”
says Manfred.
“For the FNB races, I advised on content, story line,
some of the camera positioning, and the running order
of the broadcast, and was part of the commentary
team in Cape Town with Mosibodi Whitehead and
Alec Riddle, and then with Mosibodi and Cuan in
“So, Salama and I put together the running order for
our broadcast and present it to the client for approval.
The event thus drives the message that it wants,
can give direct return on investment for sponsors
and partners, and can even sell its own advertising
around the broadcast to offset event costs – and ads
on YouTube are way cheaper than on TV! Another
advantage is the ability to play ads without breaking
away from the broadcast, using split screens or insert
boxes, which TV tends not to do.”
More Broadcast Requests
While working at the Comrades Marathon in June,
Manfred was approached by the Soweto Marathon
Trust with a request for a livestream broadcast at
its race in November. Once again partnering with
Pedigree Media, he says they decided to try a
few new things, and it went remarkably well. “I’m
proud that we put together a whole new crew for
commentary and presenting, and hopefully that will
make a difference in the industry.”
“I was anchor commentator again, and we used
Mosibodi in a dual role as commentator and finish line
interviewer. We also brought in Teboga Masehla, who
is still the SA Record-holder in the women’s 3000m
Steeplechase. She had done some commentary
work, but never on live TV, which can be hard when
you have the distraction of a director talking to you
through the earpiece, but she came through with
flying colours. We also had Ntutu Letseka in the role of
analyst, providing data and stats, plus Lindsay Parry,
the official Soweto Marathon Coach, adding scientific
and coaching input. At times, I just let Ntutu and
Lindsay talk – I didn’t need to drive the conversation,
because they brought in personal and technical
experience of the route, athletes, training, etc, and
Mosibodi’s knowledge of Soweto was brilliant.”
Once again, Manfred says the feedback after the
broadcast was brilliant, and points to still more work
coming the team’s way. “Several people told us that
our broadcast was better than the SABC, and we
know we did it at a substantially lower cost than the
SABC! The Soweto Marathon Trust has already said
they want a livestream broadcast again next year, and
we’ve been approached by several other events for
quotes, so we’re looking forward to 2020.”
Way of the Future
Looking ahead, Manfred says he believes that
livestreaming is the future of athletics broadcasting,
because livestream allows a broader audience on
phones, tablets and computers. More importantly, it is
far cheaper. “In SA, the SABC uses hugely expensive
OB vans that were bought for the 2010 World Cup.
The hire costs are about a million rand just to get
one of these vans to an event! But technology has
advanced, and at Soweto we had a much smaller van,
basically a trailer that hooks up to a car. It was a bit
cramped, but did the job, and cost roughly one tenth
of an SABC van.”
“Also, we don’t need expensive choppers in the air,
to get a high definition signal from the camera bikes
following the leaders. The SABC OB van converts
that signal to standard definition, which then gets
sent to the SABC in Auckland Park for broadcast on
their channel. Their static cameras on the route also
have their own OB vans, which send a signal to the
main OB van. We get around all of that by using live
view cameras, which use data to send the footage
to our van via cellular technology. From there, the
footage is sent out to a YouTube channel, and the
link to that channel can be shared on all the social
media platforms, so anybody can watch via YouTube,
Facebook, Twitter, etc.”
Another massive factor going for livestreaming is that
it can tick a very important box for the bigger events
that have or are chasing IAAF/WA label status. To
qualify for a platinum, gold, silver or bronze label,
a race must meet certain criteria, including entry
numbers, an elite contingent from various countries,
road closures and anti-doping testing. Another
requirement is a live broadcast, or at least a highlights
package, that must go out to a minimum of five
international regions. “This effectively means the
SABC cannot be a role player, as they do not hold the
international rights to events, whereas by putting it on
a YouTube channel, it can go to all regions around the
world,” says Manfred.
“Our only real challenge at the moment is the cost
of data, which affects viewership, and the SABC’s
monopoly on broadcast rights of the entire sport
through their deal with ASA, but our first few
broadcasts have opened doors, and events and
sponsors are realising that the SABC is no longer the
only option. Broadcasting is evolving quickly, and
livestreaming is revolutionising how the sport will be
broadcast and brought to the people.”
FNB Durban 10
CITYSURFRUN
Soweto Marathon OB van
Soweto Marathon
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