Already world-renowned for its reports on the environment, The Weather Channel is now making waves in a different area – sports. The channel’s use of augmented reality in its coverage of complementary topics is blending the line between real and virtual, creating a more engaging experience for viewers.
The AR experiment began in 2015 with a live, three-dimensional representation of a tornado, which the team hoped would make the science behind the phenomena more exciting. Vice President of Design Michael Potts explains, “We were looking for new and interesting ways to engage the viewers beyond having a great presenter at a map telling the forecasts. How do we dive deeper into the stories of the weather?”
The response to the tornado was overwhelmingly positive, so the team knew immediately that the technology could soon be applied to a number of stories beyond natural disasters. One particularly successful use case over the past few months has been sports, where Potts, a former Turner Sports executive, believes there is a natural fit.
“Our audience is equally receptive. They’re sports fans,” he said. “We’ve always done forecasts for events and major events, but now we’re able to dive deeper into the meanings and the reasons and attach the science behind it.”
A typical segment with the channel’s proprietary augmented reality involves a reporter walking around a live 3D model of a sporting event explaining how the weather will effect the gameplay. For example, the anchor might note that a 5 mph wind will decrease ball flight at the Masters while a virtual wind gusts over the green.
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These displays come together using an Ncam optical tracking system in concert with the VizRT on-air graphics system. The Ncam camera-tracking allows any object to be placed within the scene at any angle, creating a photorealistic sensation. Even more incredibly, all of these shots are done live, with no extra editing happening in postproduction. In order to orchestrate it all in one shot, the talent must have a true understanding of where the augmented reality models are, just as they would in real life.
Despite the increased level of difficulty, on-screen personalities have seemed to embrace this new technology. Potts says that, “Most of our talent is just so excited…They get involved, there’s storytelling here that’s immersive for them.”
Not only have broadcasters enjoyed working with AR, but the audience has loved it too. In The Weather Channel conducted polls, augmented reality has consistently proven to increase levels of engagement and length of tune.
Although they are already ahead of most other networks, Potts hopes to continue innovating in the space. He believes the next step involves, “unlocking depth perception and real-time light and shadowing where the environment is effected by the lights in the studio…take off the harness if you will, so that the presentation itself it gets more and more and more lifelike.”