Use case: Esports Production

High stakes. High performance.

With millions of gaming fans tuning into the most prestigious night in Esports, we asked Ali Rezvan, head of broadcast production at Esports Awards 2024, to find out how he pulls it off flawlessly.

Overview

The Esports Awards is an annual event celebrating success and excellence in the esports industry. The platform-agnostic awards acknowledge the players, teams, organizations, and fans who make esports what they are.

This year’s awards were held during the Esports World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh, the world’s largest multi-title esports event. The live TV broadcast across Twitch, X, YouTube and other networks was streamed to eager fans worldwide.

Producing a live event of this scale is easier said than done. This once-a-year event was crucial for the team behind the Esports Awards to foster a sense of community with viewers and promote the growth and global impact of Esports.

Watch the Esports Awards 2024

Challenges

A lack of good options

Producing a live event as grand as the Esports Awards demands a team of seasoned professionals with the right tools. However, the available rundown software often fell short of expectations.

“Most [Rundown] software are bland, non-innovative, and expensive,” Ali quipped.

The problem wasn’t the absence of solutions but rather their limitations. Essential features for live TV broadcasting were often locked behind expensive add-ons, obscuring their real costs and straining budgets.

Moreover, the industry was craving innovation—the existing solutions hadn’t evolved in years, leaving broadcasters yearning for improved features and a more intuitive user experience.

Expectation gap: software stuck in the past

“We needed a cost-effective solution that constantly evolves.”

In the fast-paced world of live production, standing still is falling behind. Producers are constantly seeking ways to push the boundaries and deliver captivating experiences. With all the improvements in digital distribution, teams are eager to take advantage of this and increase viewership.

Yet many rely on tools that are relics of the past, struggling to keep pace with the demands of modern broadcasting. Ali’s team knew they needed software that could evolve with the times to give viewers what they demanded.

Timing, timing, timing

There is no room for error when you only have one shot at a live event once a year. “Our annual award show is an extremely critical factor—it is how we connect with our audiences across channels on that night.”

Besides staying on schedule and maintaining the show flow, precise timing is necessary to ensure that various elements such as cameras, audio, graphics, presenters, and award recipients are on time.

Solution & Implementation

Making the switch

Ali first found out about Rundown Studio through their partners. Deciding to switch from one workflow to another can be risky—but Rundown Studio turned out to be “super easy to learn, and their team had “no problems with integration.”

With a familiar interface and intuitive features to help broadcasters run a great show, switching up software was worth the results.

Team’s favorite feature: Live timing

In live TV, every millisecond counts. “The live time tracking is a key feature loved by the team.” It’s not a nice to have, but a necessity. Rundown Studio’s precise timing made a difference in the Esports Awards 2024 and ARC World Tour 2023.

What made Ali’s team keep coming back to Rundown Studio? He said the key reason was that “we were able to implement and use the live rundown timing feature to automatically track segment timings to know if we were over/under.”

Rundown Studio’s flexibility and dependability allow you to make changes immediately and adjust to overruns and underruns in real time with zero lag.

Rundown software that grows with you

The team at Esports Awards has tried and tested other rundown software, but none compares in terms of cost and development rate.

“Rundown Studio was not only rolling out new features as we were building the show, but also communicated those changes extremely well.”

It is difficult to keep up with the demands of discerning viewers. All it takes is a missed cue, an awkward silence, or overlapping audio to turn them off—signs that your software cannot keep up with your show’s pace.

Built by industry insiders for industry professionals, the team at Rundown Studio is responsive to feedback and always improving the product. Ali believes that with constant development, it can become one of the best production tools out there.

Unmatched customer support

Nothing is more frustrating than AI Chatbots handling urgent queries when facing issues. When answers are needed, you want a real person on the other end who just gets it.

Ali was extremely pleased with Rundown Studio’s founders’ hands-on involvement in ensuring their success. “Brilliant, super responsive and engaged with feedback.” In those busy days leading up to the event, the last thing you need are bottlenecks caused by customer service agents or account managers.

Forget expensive, high-maintenance custom software and clunky workarounds. This is as close as it gets to a tailored solution that fits right into your workflow and plays well with all your favorite tools, hardware, and integrations.

Summary & Outlook

Thinking of switching your run of show software? This is what Ali had to say about Rundown Studio: “The software is extremely versatile and one of the best that we have worked with.”

Who said advanced features had to be difficult to use? Rundown Studio aims to simplify complex productions with a familiar, user-friendly interface and powerful features for professional-grade shows every time.

Once you have experienced the ease of using Rundown Studio, there is no way back.