Boost Graphics, formerly Netco Sports, is the new brand that identifies the “Graphics & Data” department of EMG, Euro Media Group at a European level.
In Basketball, and in particular for the Italian Lega Basket Serie A, Boost Graphics EMG provides both the Data Hub, that is the software and the statistical survey infrastructure, and all the new television graphics desired by the new president, in office since March 2020, Umberto Gandini.
Silvia Sordelli, Lega Basket Serie A TV & New Media Consultant tells:
"At the beginning of last season, with the appointment of the new president of Lega Basket Serie A, Umberto Gandini, we realized that the tv graphics, not so much for the content of the information but just for how they appeared visually, could have been improved a lot.
So we asked Boost Graphics to prepare some proposals for the “rejuvenation” of the graphic contents on the air and immediately they managed to meet our needs.
Today we are very satisfied with the results as we wanted more vivid, lively, new, and incisive images, and greater recognition of the players who appear at the beginning, in the quintets.
We wanted the players to be as visible and recognizable as possible in the graphics, enhanced by a whole series of corollary information, including statistics and comparisons with the previous days.
In general, we requested a graphic that could be better expressed in each event and therefore made the various days more different and immediately recognizable thanks to different colors.
Today the Championship has blue as its reference color, the Italian Cup is characterized by green and the Super Cup stands out for its red: each event
features customized graphics drawn by its own color dominant.
Another significant change of look has been set to allow our marketing advisor, Infront, to customize each event by including the sponsor who invests on a given day."
A few numbers
The whole season boasts a lot of games, 240 of "regular season" plus the play-offs for a total of about 300 matches a year played in about 15 arenas scattered throughout Italy.
All the matches rights are owned by Discovery Group which broadcasts two of them on Eurosport 2 and the rest on the OTT Discovery Plus platform.
Italian public broadcaster RAI airs a match on the free to air digital terrestrial channel RAI Sport on Sunday evening in prime time; moreover, during the playoffs RAI broadcasts all the matches concurrently with Eurosport 2.
Dario Marra, Head of Operations at Boost Graphics: let's deepen.
"The main commitment for the new season was to create and finalize the data infrastructure useful for collecting statistical data for different users, the so-called" Data Hub ".
The related development process was carried out on the entire chain: from the detection software to the infrastructure for data delivey.
A special tool owned by Boost takes care of the detection of game statistics and manages all the APIs useful for websites and applications that return the data display.
Furthermore, on the recommendation and for the Serie A Basketball League, Boost has created all the new graphics for the 2020-21 season and the “look and feel” of the new brand line that is broadcast on Discovery Channel Group, the official host broadcaster.
All television production is managed by EMG where many matches are shot on site by mobile OB-vehicles and others are instead produced by the techniques of remote production live in connection with the production and broadcasting studios of in Cologno Monzese.
The games are played over the weekend, usually with eight matches, in which each “palazzetto” sees the presence of a Boost operator who interfaces with the Cologno presidium for all useful checks and connects with the "scoreboard" to acquire game time live.
It also connects with the "Scout" that is the production of the official statistics of the match to receive all the numbers of the match in real time.
The Scout, which is based on staff provided by the clubs, operates through an interface also created by Boost Graphics which opens the front of the Data Hub infrastructure created for Lega Basket Serie A.
From the gallery of EMG in Cologno in the case of remote production, or from the mobile van in the case of direction from the venue, the editorial indications are received by the producer-makers to package the television product as accurately as possible.
All graphics are currently produced in HD and based on a full set of backend update releases that all operators receive prior to the events.
Thus, once operational in the field, all elements and information are updated according to the customer's needs.
Some commercial partners have been associated with the graphic templates and Boost has implemented a series of automatisms to associate each sponsor with the relative graphic output.
On-air graphics provide comprehensive, always-on-air information for the viewer, such as the score for guests and home team and their playing time.
The information cyclically rises as a pop-up to update us on the most relevant statistical content.
During game breaks, in-depth graphics are broadcast such as head-to-head comparisons between teams and / or between players, rotating focus on a particular player, ranking on certain categories of statistics, rankings, results, next rounds: all that it composes the data asset which, once managed, is also enhanced in graphics.
In typical on-site production, the Boost van delivers key and fill signals for graphics and data to the on-site OB-truck.
In the case of remote production from the field, the Boost operator is interfaced with statistical data, the game board and, being networked with the control unit in Cologno, he can drive the graphics engines within the main control room for remote titling.
On field, in addition to the fiber optic cabling to the scoreboard station, Boost carries out the cabling to the Scout station, the main and backup stations, and, where required, to the commentators' facilities who must have visibility of the statistics".
The added value
The added value of Boost Graphics is precisely the enhancement of the data, frequently and in real time, almost a canonical service but extended and improved in spectacularity and punctuality.
One of the most appreciated features of Boost is that the entire asset is taken care of for the customer, not only the broadcasting graphics and related statistical data.
They take care of everything, from the creation of the graphic design to its implementation for the broadcaster's playout operations, to the total management of statistical data not only in receiving them, but also creating the infrastructure and architecture that allows them to be conveyed and rendered, that is usable by other takers.
In practice, with a 360-degree work”.
###
© 2021 roberto landini presspool press office - EMG Italia
