Telos Alliance – Next Generation Audio: The future of broadcast audio is here, today
Costa Nikols, Executive-Team Strategy Advisor, Media & Entertainment, Telos Alliance
Audiences today expect higher quality media, whether content is being viewed on a television, mobile device, or streaming platform. Listeners now anticipate consistent, high-quality audio that is clear, personally engaging, and available in their preferred language. Advances in media delivery have ensured that audio experiences are more immersive and enjoyable, meeting the expectations of modern viewers. With immersive technologies like Dolby Atmos and MPEG-H, viewers can expect more dynamic home entertainment. Content creators and platforms should deliver audio that meets these expectations, including consistent loudness, clear dialogue, and support for personalized standards. Enhanced audio quality boosts engagement, making content more enjoyable and effective. For broadcasters and streamers, this translates to loyal viewers, valuable audiences for advertisers, and sustainable subscription revenues.
Step forward: Next-Generation Audio (NGA)
Audio quality in live broadcasts and streaming has remained the same for over a decade. Next-Generation Audio (NGA) technology offers the potential to enrich this aspect by providing more sophisticated audio experiences at home. NGA introduces advanced features such as enhanced dialogue, immersive audio, and personalization for greater preference and accessibility. It allows the audience more control, enabling options such as switching commentators, changing language tracks, or fine-tuning audio, thereby delivering a personalized and immersive listening experience.
Supporting NGA’s capabilities are technologies like object-based audio and new industry standards for metadata, such as Serial ADM (S-ADM), allowing for more diversity than traditional channel-based audio. With broadcast infrastructure transitioning from SDI to ST-2110 IP, it ultimately enables technologies like NGA to offer flexible, personalized audio experiences. This approach streamlines production in multi-platform, multi-format environments by delivering audio, video, and metadata separately, allowing broadcasters and content distributors to offer more audio profiles beyond the traditional channel-based audio requirements. As customization and user-centric features become more integral, there is rapidly growing interest among innovative sports broadcasters and producers to adopt and implement NGA methodologies to enhance audience immersion and personalization.
Sports leaders are securing early wins with NGA
Several pioneers in the sports broadcast domain have already experimented with new NGA experiences across major live events, including highly-watched occurrences like the Paris summer games. Last year, France TV, alongside several other European broadcasters, introduced S-ADM in major sports broadcasts, captivating audiences with exclusive, tailored experiences only NGA can offer. At Paris 2024, France TV showcased Dolby Atmos and the latest SMPTE 2110-41 standards, utilizing advanced audio processing tools to enhance accessibility and deliver more personalized features such as multilingual audio and audio descriptions. This implementation of NGA represents an initial exploration into immersive audio technologies, setting the stage for broader application. Collaborations with various sports broadcasting customers are ongoing to trial and deploy new NGA-ready audio workflows that enhance fan experiences. The sports broadcast community prioritizes fan engagement and superior immersive quality, promising continued interest in NGA for future sports events.
It’s time for better than good enough
Adhering to outdated, one-size-fits-all audio workflows is no longer feasible. In a landscape where broadcasters must produce more content across more platforms with fewer resources, the challenges of audio management are expanding exponentially. Just as video workflows have evolved, audio must follow suit. With increasing downstream formatting requirements and global distribution endpoints, producers need more intelligent, automation-rich mixing and processing solutions to achieve the required scale and efficiency.
While audio experiences, whether through broadcast or streaming, have not always kept pace with audience demands for quality, cutting-edge audio standards and modern workflows present opportunities to accelerate innovation in audio. NGA establishes a new benchmark that will redefine audience experiences. From immersive audio to advanced customization, the potential for innovation is vast. With a growing appetite for superior sound and a market ripe for change, the stage is set for an audio revolution that transforms how content engages, excites, and inspires audiences.
