On August 5, for one hour a day during four days, National Geographicachieved one of the greatest innovations of the year with the launch of Yellowstone Live, a multiplatform transmission that included more than 34 live cameras and new cell phone bundling technology, to capture and exhibit one of the most beautiful and dynamic environments in the world, the Yellowstone ecosystem.
This live broadcast, which showed the best of Greater Yellowstone Park, the oldest and most appreciated national park in the United States, was cataloged as an unprecedented transmission. Indeed, it allowed participants to tour the area and its surroundings in real time, on a large and impressive scale.
A transmission as impressive as Yellowstone Livehad never been attempted before, even though it was the renewal of Earth Livethat NatGeoran last year, using the same producer, the four-time Emmy winner, Al Berman, and his company Berman Productions.
Evolve, an award-winning production house with several Emmys and a creative studio founded by brothers Joel and Jesse Edwards, partnered with National Geographic’sair marketing team to create a series of promotional announcements prior to the live television event. It was the biggest and boldest transmission of the summer.
NASA, through its YouTube channel, offers its users similar transmissions of space and natural phenomena that occur beyond the ozone layer. Facebook and Instagram also allow streaming connections, though they are limited to under an hour, and they do not use 360 degree technology or 4K as Yellowstone Livedoes. This is just one more element that distinguishes it from other television channels.
This idea could serve as inspiration for many other television channels or systems that wish to offer their users more real, dynamic and close content, while also offering the opportunity to interact directly with animators, and other users connected to “the Live”, as Live transmissions are also called.
LIVE transmissions and Innovation
At its conception, TV was established as the means of mass communication par excellence. In 1926 it began to air, and eleven years later, 400 million people in 31 countries were able to watch the first live satellite transmission thanks to the BBC. Things are not so different today, despite the former need for so much machinery, because thanks to the Internet, billions of users have access to live broadcasts, from other perspectives, and using other tools.
Marlon Quintero, author of the book Innovation for Media Content Creation, talks about these innovations in his work. He describes that the phenomenon thus: "Some entertainment companies assume bigger challenges than others and use a more intuitive approach to creating content ... Not everyone is willing to take big risks when they create content."
The author also highlights that, "a radical innovation creates a new operating framework, a new industry, a new business model and a new field of expertise within the entertainment sector". NatGeo’s work with Berman Productionsand Evolve, is a perfect example of this.
"Many radical innovations in the media have the potential to displace already established programs, and know how to produce new bursts of creative thinking," especially in these moments. "The entertainment industry has always turned to technology to make better content," Quintero’s book tells us, time and time again.
With information from:: www.screenrant.com, www.nasa.gov, www.youtube.com,
www.excelsior.com.mx, www.elcomercio.pe, www.kienyke.com
