Drones Take Center Stage in Winter Games Broadcast

If you’ve been watching the Winter Olympics on TV or have come across some clips on social media, you might have noticed a whole new point of view being used in many of the sports – drones.

These “FPV” or “First Person View” shots are meant to give the viewer a sense of the speed involved and the skill involved, something that’s hard to do from fixed cameras along a course.

While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen drone shots used in the Olympics, let alone any sport, it’s most likely the largest drone fleet used at a single event on record.

All this comes from the Olympic broadcast team (OBS), who are the skilled technicians that set up all the broadcasting facilities from cameras, camera operators, broadcast positions, and the live switching of events, including graphics and even a “world feed” commentary.

EFTM understands that OBS are using 25 FPV drones for its coverage of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games. Just in the last 24 hours I’ve seen them used in the Downhill, Luge, and even Speed Skating.

The IOC’s sports director, Pierre Ducrey told media “we look at this as an evolution of the sport”

“The expectation of everyone today is to have this kind of experience when you consume a sports event – even more so for the Olympic Games”

He went on to say “We strive to offer the best viewing experience whether in the stadium or outside”

While DJI might be the global drone leader for consumer and professional drones, it’s very clear to us that the drones in use by OBS at the Olympics are custom FPV drones, as we can see in this shot:

The technology has come a long way, 10 years ago a huge drone was used above the downhill skiing and in a near disaster it fell from the sky narrowly missing a competitor during a run.

You can see from this BBC clip that it was an enormous drone.

There’s a bit of chatter online about the buzzing sound of the drone in TV coverage, and no doubt spectators too would be hearing it.

The question is, does it affect the competitors in any way?

Whatever the case, this almost “on board” view of the sports makes them far more engaging to watch.