Industry Insights: Cloud, automation and the future of broadcast graphics

By NCS Staff July 24, 2025

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From real-time rendering and AI-driven automation to hybrid cloud workflows and the evolving role of Unreal Engine, the world of broadcast graphics continues to adapt.

In this first installment of our multi-part Industry Insights roundtable on graphics and virtual production, leading technology providers explore how graphics systems and virtual tools are being reimagined for today’s broadcast environment.

The discussion covers the key decision points when selecting graphics platforms, how rendering engines are evolving to meet both design and editorial needs, and the delicate balance between automation and creative control. As broadcasters adapt to distributed workflows and high viewer expectations, the role of graphics is more vital and complex than ever.


Key takeaways from this Industry Insights roundtable

  • Graphics system selection: Broadcasters must prioritize future-proofing, unified control, and seamless integration when choosing platforms.
  • Cloud and remote production: Distributed workflows demand collaborative graphics tools that maintain brand consistency across locations.
  • Rendering technology advancements: New capabilities like PBR and ray tracing are powerful, but often require hybrid approaches with traditional engines.
  • Cross-platform consistency: Shared assets and adaptable templates ensure graphics remain cohesive across TV, streaming, and social media.
  • AI and automation: While automation improves efficiency, human creativity still drives impactful and innovative visual storytelling.

What key factors influence the selection of graphics systems for broadcast?

Onur Can Gulenc, sales manager, Zero Density: This is a big decision for any broadcaster, and they should take into account that the system they will select will be future-proof and have a clear roadmap. Creating and controlling all graphics from one platform using the power of Unreal Engine 5 is undoubtedly crucial for broadcasters. Effortlessly operating all broadcast graphics content and seamlessly executing from one control interface is a big convenience. Coupled with integration with every aspect of the production workflow, these benefits and more become items of consideration when selecting their graphics systems.

How have broadcasters adapted graphics systems for remote and distributed production environments?

Mike Paquin, senior product manager, virtual solutions, Ross Video: The shift to remote and distributed production has driven broadcasters to adopt cloud-based graphics solutions and more collaborative workflows. Teams can now create, manage, and deploy graphics from virtually anywhere, supporting consistent branding and quality across all platforms. This flexibility has become especially valuable for covering niche events and providing localized content.

What advancements in rendering technology are broadcasters prioritizing today?

Marcus B. Brodersen, CEO, Pixotope: Broadcasters are universally shifting to real-time graphics solutions that let them adapt graphics on-the-fly during live broadcasts while accelerating pre-rendered workflows — what used to take hours now happens in minutes. AI can be a great efficiency multiplier, and even enable entirely new workflows, when used as part of the video processing workflow.

Miguel Churruca, marketing and communications director, Brainstorm: Rendering technologies like PBR rendering or real-time ray tracing are now possible with existing industry-standard hardware, which allows for increasingly complex scenes as it evolves. Also, Unreal Engine has become common for virtual set creation, representing a major step forward in the quality of the virtual scenes, making them as real as reality itself. But, at the same time it was clear that it was not as suitable for broadcast graphics, as they have specific requirements, like database connections, statistics, tickers, social media or lower-thirds, a variety of elements that are alien to the game engine framework but essential for broadcast operation. Creating these directly in Unreal Engine force designers to deal with UE blueprints, which may be complex to create and manage. So, broadcasters now understand that traditional broadcast real-time 3D render engines can, and should, co-exist with UE scenes to get the best of both worlds.

How do graphics teams manage asset creation and consistency across multiple platforms?

Miguel Churruca, marketing and communications director, Brainstorm: Collaborative workflows are essential in broadcast graphics operations, not only in the creation process but also in playout. In the creation process, different designers work in different aspects of a project, prior to combine all the pieces, and further changes or updates may be performed at any time. So, accessing common assets storage, the ability of using the same resources and the possibility of adapting different pieces using the same assets are paramount.

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Graphics are no longer isolated elements, but belong to a larger project and need to be re-used for different formats, not just the 16:9 canvas and designers need to think about all the applications, from television to social media, streaming or second screens. Graphic templates are essential for this, to preserve the looks and automate the versioning process, and, on top of that, the graphics solutions must integrate in newsroom and automation workflows, featuring both broadcast and IT connectivity, and be controlled by external control and playout systems.

So, being able to integrate external data feeds into templates is essential for modern graphics operation, and these data can come from many different sources: imagine a typical situation we need to deliver real-time augmented reality 3D graphics based on social media feeds and data coming from the internet, incorporating live social media moderation and publishing both to broadcast graphics and second screen applications, while adding other data feeds into the same templates.

What challenges do broadcasters encounter with graphics workflows in hybrid cloud environments?

Mike Paquin, senior product manager, virtual solutions, Ross Video: Managing latency, ensuring data security, and synchronizing assets across different locations are ongoing challenges in hybrid cloud workflows. Broadcasters must carefully design their systems to maintain reliability and performance while taking advantage of cloud scalability. Asset management and version control also become more complex in these distributed environments.

How is automation and potentially AI changing graphics systems?

Mike Paquin, senior product manager, virtual solutions, Ross Video: Automation and AI are enabling faster, more efficient graphics creation and real-time data integration, reducing manual effort and streamlining workflows. These tools allow creative teams to focus more on storytelling as repetitive or data-driven tasks are automated. The result is more dynamic, personalized, and engaging content for audiences.

Steve Taylor, chief product and technology officer, Vizrt: I’m trying to focus those technologies on a lot more about the efficiency of getting to the point of publication. So taking away the boring parts of preparing events and creating a rundown, bringing the right graphics in the right place, maybe building a studio or some backgrounds and things that are less demanding or creative, but I don’t want to make that sound like all of the artists in the world need to go home. I know there’s lots of people that will be putting (generative AI characters in as anchors). Of course, we can and will work with them, but personally, I’d like to keep a bit of that human element of storytelling, because I think that creates the appeal and allows people to be more innovative.

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