The TATA IPL is the biggest T20 cricket league in the world, held annually in India. The league features ten franchise teams and commenced its first season in 2008. When planning for the 2024 season of the TATA IPL, its official digital partner JioCinema had a requirement for the very latest augmented reality and virtual studio solution and for that they turned to Pixotope.

Viacom18 Sports Head – Content, Production and Digital Siddharth Sharma explained, “We partnered with Pixotope solutions for the TATA IPL 2024 to enhance the viewer experience with real-time graphics and augmented reality. Pixotope is an industry leader with their Chroma Keyer, easy to use UI, seamless integration with Unreal Engine, flexibility and unparalleled support. Pixotope truly stood out for its seamless integration with live sports streaming and played a part in delivering a uniquely immersive viewer experience during this season. Pixotope enabled us to deliver a one-of-a-kind lean-in experience to viewers for TATA IPL 2024 and we will be partnering with them for an upcoming major global sporting production this month.”

Pixotope’s Vice President APAC Andrew Tan commented, “Both JioCinema and their service provider wTVision undertook an extensive evaluation process before choosing Pixotope and we are delighted that we were the right solution fit for JioCinema’s requirements within this important project. The implementation of our solution across AR to virtual studios to XR production by JioCinema further established our capabilities across all types of virtual production in the most mission critical scenarios. Our customers’ success, which in the case for the TATA IPL 2024, was a significantly immersive and lean-in experience with the help of virtual production, is very important to us.”

For the TATA IPL 2024, JioCinema required advanced storytelling tools to elevate their content to the next level. They sought a solution with a good chroma keyer that would seamlessly integrate with Unreal Engine, deliver flawless green screen results, offer user-friendly software for last-minute adjustments, have a fast and efficient workflow, high-quality graphics and provide excellent technical support.

As part of the project, JioCinema acquired Pixotope’s AR/VS and XR solutions for their new purpose-built seven studio facility made up of five green screen studios and two studios equipped with LED walls. In total, the company purchased 36 Pixotope engines which they used for virtual production, virtual studios and set extensions.

This gave JioCinema the flexibility to import Unreal projects and execute productions incredibly efficiently and as a result, JioCinema successfully used Pixotope virtual production and AR/VS solutions in the green screen studios and their XR solution in the LED wall studios to enhance the virtual sets for the live broadcasts.

JioCinema had three main executions for which they used the Pixotope solutions. Firstly Pre-Production Setup which involved the design and creation of virtual sets and AR graphics and calibrating and configuring chroma keying for seamless integration. The second was Live Production Integration to set up cameras and ensure proper chroma key and which used the in-house control application for real-time adjustments. Finally, the streaming execution where they applied real-time graphics overlays and augmented reality elements during live shows.

It is a workflow that performed extremely well for the JioCinema team as it ensured efficient, high-quality virtual sets, enhancing the overall broadcast experience for TATA IPL viewers.

With a sporting competition as large and prestigious as the TATA IPL there are inevitably production challenges to overcome. In this case, however, Pixotope stepped up to help before they arose taking proactive measures by conducting training sessions for JioCinema and their service provider wTVision ahead of the event. This ensured that all stakeholders were well-acquainted with the Pixotope solutions, minimising any potential production issues. Additionally, Pixotope’s quick response time, support and presence of on-site experts guaranteed that any issues or assistance needed by stakeholders were promptly addressed.

The benefits of adopting a Pixotope solution don’t end in the production process either as Pixotope added value to JioCinema in other ways too.

Pixotope’s Sales Director – SAARC, Saahil Setia said, “Pixotope has added significant value to JioCinema for the TATA IPL and future events by providing industry-leading, user-friendly storytelling tools. This enabled JioCinema team to quickly adapt to our solution and create eye-catching visuals. Our collaboration with their highly skilled service provider partner, wTVision has been instrumental in executing the project. The incorporation of this partnership with immersive graphics, interactive AR and photorealistic visuals has been pivotal in achieving a remarkable viewer experience for TATA IPL 2024 on JioCinema’s streaming platform.”

This meant that Pixotope not only helped JioCinema achieve the best quality virtual sets, but their versatile licensing also helped achieve great cost savings for the company all of which contributed to a better, more immersive experience for TATA IPL viewers.

It’s clear that JioCinema’s use of Pixotope solutions and the impact they have had on TATA IPL viewers has been extremely positive as they enjoyed a far more dynamic, interactive, and extended viewing experience than ever before.