The Rugby World Cup kicks off today in Japan. It’s the 7th most viewed sporting event on the planet, behind things like the Olympics, the soccer/football World Cup and the Tour de France…but well ahead of the World Series and any Superbowl.
Here’s the list of the Top 10 most-watched sporting events based on worldwide TV ratings:
1. Soccer/Football WC: 3.4 billion
2. Tour de France: 2.6 billion
3. Summer Olympics: 2 billion
4. UEFA Champions League (total): 1.7 billion
5. FIFA Confederations Cup: 1 billion
6. Pan-Asian Games: 985 million
7. Rugby WC: 790 million
8. Giro d’Italia: 775 million
9. Winter Olympics: 448 million
10. Cricket WC: 400 million
And now for the first time ever, action is set to be broadcast publicly in Japan in 8K….double the resolution of 4K and four times the quality of broadcast HD today.
WhatTheHiFi.com has a great article detailing the hows and whys of broadcasting an event of this scale. It focuses on camera usage and what will be available for fans when the tournament kicks off today with the hosts taking on Russia.
This year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan will be broadcast in 8K, the tournament’s organisers have announced.
Japanese broadcaster NHK will offer up the 8K footage, but only to its domestic audience. Everyone outside Japan will have to make do with 4K, where available. That’s hardly a hardship, seeing as 8K TVs aren’t on sale in most countries yet. (And those that are don’t exactly come cheap.)
For more: https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/the-2019-rugby-world-cup-will-be-broadcast-in-8k
How do you think the constant upgrading of broadcast technology will impact sportscasting in the future? Do technical changes like this change the way that you go about a game? How did the HD revolution, or the streaming revolution change you as a sports broadcaster?
Let us know in the comments or on Twitter: @sportscastlfe
