“I’d rather hammer a nail through my p***s than watch the Matilda’s play in the Asian Cup”.
—Marty Sheargold
People think women’s soccer will never be as popular on TV because men are more athletic.
We thought this was just a gender issue, but a closer look revealed it was also a broadcasting issue.
The coverage of women’s soccer seems less exciting because there’s not as much money in production, meaning there are fewer camera angles, fewer cuts to shot and barely any replays.
So to address the gender gap, we had to tackle the broadcasting gap first.
Sheargold’s repugnant comments got us thinking, how could we make the Asian Cup more exciting while promoting Telstra’s 5G network coverage?
The Broadcast Gap
We improved the live broadcast of the Asian Cup by turning every soccer fan into a cameraperson.
During the game, fans connected to Telstra's 5G network and scanned a QR code which linked their smartphone directly to the broadcast room.
With the help of AI, the production team sifted through new footage taken by spectators to fill in the gaps and improve the coverage.
