No tilt, no guilt: The inside story of how Disney Star incorporated vertical cricket viewing at World Cup 2023

In the ever-evolving landscape of sports, technology has been the driving force behind revolutionary transformations in the way fans experience their favorite games. In this era of instant connectivity, real-time engagement, and immersive content, one name that stands out as a trailblazer in the field of sports streaming is Disney Star. Sanjog Gupta, the Head of Sports at Disney Star, has been at the helm of one of the most significant innovations in sports streaming; the introduction of the vertical live feed for live cricket streaming during the 2023 World Cup. The innovation not only brings a new level of engagement but also represents a bold step towards the future of sports viewing.

With multiple players entering the sports live streaming market over the past few years, we have witnessed a remarkable convergence of sports and technology. Disney+ Hotstar, consistently at the forefront of this transformative journey, has been a driving force in shaping the digital sports viewing landscape. With the introduction of a vertical live feed for the biggest cricketing tournament in the world, the organisation aims to bring fans closer to the action than ever before. In fact, the live broadcast for the first 18 matches at the ongoing World Cup has clocked up 123.8 billion viewing minutes, which is a 43% growth compared to the previous edition in England and Wales in 2019.

The World Cup has also witnessed an incredible 364.2 million viewers tuning in to the live broadcast of the first 18 matches of the tournament. We sit with Sanjog to uncover the intricacies of Disney Star's technological innovation and explore how it promises to revolutionize the sports-watching experience during the 2023 World Cup and beyond.

The introduction of a vertical video feed for World Cup 2023 is a groundbreaking move. Can you elaborate on how this idea came to be?

There have been profound shifts in consumption patterns, largely driven by improved accessibility of data and the acceptability of watching video on a smaller screen. We hypothesized that while consumers and their content consumption have changed, cricket broadcasts seem to be serving only fans on the big screen and largely just repurposing whatever is produced for the big screen to the small screen, instead of genuinely taking cognizance of the fact that there are now millions of users who watch live sports content on the mobile screen.

So why not an experience that is natively built for the mobile user which harnesses the natural functionality and organic features of the device? As the first step in that journey, we observed that our usage of the mobile screen tends to be mostly vertical. When you're chatting with someone, it's vertical. When you're on a call, it's vertical. Most apps you use, tend to be vertical. So the configuration of the experience for the mobile device had to be vertical, which is structurally different from the experience being offered currently.

The second principle was that the experience had to be designed from scratch the same was way it built for the big screen. The big screen offers an uninterrupted, seamless, immersive, and community-based experience, right? The mobile screen offers enhanced accessibility, mobility and interactivity. Consumption on the big screen is about long, continuous sessions of engagement while as consumption on the mobile screen is about shorter, more frequent sessions with multiple entries and exits. The mobile screen also enables multi-tasking, which contributes to this consumption behaviour.

If the foundational principles of how consumers consume on the big screen versus how consumers consume on the small screen are distinct, then the feeds have to be distinctly differentiated, in fact unique to a large extent.

How has been the feedback from customers over the vertical live feed?

We've received a lot of positive feedback. We launched it to a small set of users during the Asia Cup because we wanted to build the entire experience based on user feedback we were receiving. We were in a ‘test and learn’ mode for almost a month.

There have been three stages of development here. The first stage of development was the design phase where we were designing the experience. We looked at a lot of studies for insights. Eye tracking studies mentioned what parts of the screen your eyes tend to go to when you are consuming content or when you’re viewing mobile video because it's not the same as when it is on the big screen.

The second part of the design phase was also developing the operation. We placed multiple additional cameras on the ground to be able to capture the experience in a vertical format, instead of just bringing in camera feeds which are being captured horizontally and then being repurposed. Six cameras have been placed at every venue that matches are being played at, which deliver to us feeds, which are in shooting video in native 9:14 mode instead of the traditional 16:9. There are two parallel production workflows for the two vertical feeds, which run independently of the “horizontal operation” with complete complement of cameras, audio, replays, commentary and graphics. The entire production is centralized in Mumbai with each venue being connected via broadband.

The third phase was development of the UI, which included how graphics were presented and the use of split-screens. It also involved the working of the Max View feature inside the app. The Disney+ Hotstar did a terrific job in developing a seamless, intuitive UX which enables Max View.

Did you make any changes based on the feedback that you received?

There were quite a few changes we made along the way, some significant and others, seemingly trivial but important. Our initial design for the on-screen graphics did not include the name of the non-striker as we were trying to conserve screen space. We received feedback during the Asia Cup fans were interested in knowing who the non-striker was, especially when they were logging on to the experience. We added a feature for the World Cup, which toggles between the striker and the non-striker’s name.

The third phase of development, as I mentioned earlier, was before the start of the World Cup. The MaxView tab was added to the app. The team also introduced the feature which remembers the mode in which you watched the match during your last engagement session and takes you back to that when you return. It minimizes friction in discovery and navigation inside the app.

Have commentators been trained to go on-air for such a feed?

This is phase one of the launch and our focus has been on delivering a unique viewing experience. We prioritised designing of the production and the operation, putting the operation and the tech stack in place, and enabling features, which we believe are more critical to the experience of watching vertically than other elements may be.

Our foundational principles were focused on elements of coverage which will make maximum difference to the consumer’s experience, and we felt commentary wasn’t one of these key elements that will differentiate the vertical feed from the horizontal feed. For instance, in MaxView, one has the ability to just swipe up and see the scorecard or text commentary at any time. So, in phase one of the launch, we have customized commentary to a limited extent. We have focused a lot more on UI and UX elements, which we felt were significant differentiators.

Do you believe such technology can be incorporated in other sports like football?

One of the drawbacks of the feed which we identified during the design phase was that core fans were not seeing the full expanse of the field, and would miss out on knowing where the fielders were as the bowler ran in. So, inspired by gaming experiences, we introduced a graphic field map, which will tell you where the fielders are for a particular delivery. And that was our solution to ensure that as a fan, you won’t miss out on critical information linked to the play.

Now, let me link it back to your question. Firstly, this is a paradigm shift in the way live sports experiences are being served. It is an experience being fashioned for a screen of a different size with distinct consumer behaviour and foundational features. And if our hypothesis is proven correct then this automatically means that there is an opportunity to deepen the engagement of a mobile user for any live sporting experience, irrespective of the nature of the sport.

For example, in the case of football, when it is fashioned for the big screen, the expanse of the video tends to cover a fairly large part of the field of play, meaning that you're not so close to the athlete in action. And when you are close to the player in action, you are unable to see what the opposition team's formation looks like, or for that matter, where the players are on the field of play. Could that not be an opportunity for customization of a very different kind?

To my mind, this is the start of an evolutionary phase, of delivering custom-built viewing experiences for mobile devices, which are differentiated from the live sports broadcasts which are fashioned for a big screen.

Earlier this year, Disney Star had also experimented with live 3D projectors of experts in the studio during the IPL. What has been a major motivation behind such rapid innovations in technology?

The source of motivation is simple. It comes from a deep belief that we are in the business of serving sports fans, which can unlock growth for the sport and the sporting property. We deepen the engagement with core as well as casual fans and get non-fans to sample a sporting property. It can only be done if the design, presentation and delivery of the sport is customised to the preference of various audience segments and harnesses fully the utility of devices the experience if being served on. The ambition is always growth.

We've been on this path of innovation and have been constantly challenging ourselves to come up with new modes of delight for fans. And I don't see that purpose changing anytime soon. Once the World Cup is over, the question we will be asking is about Pro Kabaddi, which starts in December. How are we going to recruit new fans into the sport and how are we going to deepen the engagement with existing fans?

Let’s talk about content. Over the past few years, Disney Star has focussed significantly on cricket-centric shows like Follow the Blues, Super V, etc. Going ahead, what changes can we see in your cricket content strategy?

Our content strategy is ever-evolving. One of the things that we have to accept while being obsessed with fans, is that they are evolving rapidly. And the only way that we can continue to be at the forefront of sports broadcasting, not just in India, but around the world, is to evolve with them.

We are also drivers of change and want to shape the direction of sports viewing habits. Our stated objectives include growth of other sports in the country and the continued push for women’s sport. For example, the launch of Kabaddi in 2014, was largely to drive India from being a single sport country to a multi-sport nation.

And we are seeing the benefits of that already. The fact that we have invested significantly in the government's Khelo India program over the last five years and have been broadcasting the games live as well as featuring athletes from those games across our broadcasts, has turned the spotlight on sports at the grassroots level.

So be it launching Pro Kabaddi, or focussing attention on athletes coming through the ranks from the grassroots to the elite level – which, to some extent, has contributed to India's performance in the Asian games – the aim is always going to be to drive more and more consumers to engage more deeply with sport.

How important is ICC as a partner for Disney Star?

ICC is, perhaps, the most important partner for the deployment of any of our innovations. Taking the example of the vertical feed itself, ICC has been a part of the entire design, development and deployment process.

The design of the experience, followed by the design of the operation, followed by soft launch feedback, testing, and then incorporation of feedback. And then, the final delivery of the experience… they have been partners in the entire process from the get-go.

ICC events also provide us with the widest possible stage to showcase innovations that can, over some time, become the new reality of live sports experiences. Anything that we launch at an ICC event tends to be noticed the world over. So, ICC is a strategic partner in our endeavor to push the boundaries of sports viewing experiences.