Olympic Broadcasting Services Tokyo effort, by the numbers

For the Tokyo Olympics, the Olympic Broadcasting Services will utilize a workforce of over 8,000 to produce 9,500 hours of content which will be distributed to rights holders around the world. 

By the Numbers

  • 9,500+ estimated hours of content produced by OBS
  • 3,800 – 4,000 estimated hours of sports and ceremonies
  • 118 HD contribution multilateral feeds
  • 68 UHD contribution multilateral feeds
  • 76 HD distribution feeds
  • 44 UHD distribution feeds
  • 31 Outside Broadcast (OB) vans
  • 22 fly-away systems
  • 1,049 camera systems
  • 210+ slow-motion cameras
  • 250 minicams
  • 18 cablecam systems
  • 27 tracking camera systems
  • 37 jibs and cranes
  • 3,600 microphones

This year’s Olympics mark the first time the event has been produced as native UHD HDR with 5.1.4 immersive audio through an all-IP infrastructure and workflow. 

New technologies include 3D athlete tracking in partnership with Intel and Alibaba, multi-camera replay systems, 2D image tracking, immersive panoramic coverage along with unique sport-specific technology like biometric data for archery and Intel’s True View for basketball. 

As part of IP workflow, OBS has also developed its own cloud for remote production and broadcast workflows in partnership with Alibaba.

Photo courtesy of Olympic Broadcasting Services.