Cisco Webex’s Pivot to Live TV: ‘What Can We Do to Be Part of the Solution?’
Cisco Webex was not originally designed for broadcast. But when the world changed, so did Webex, evolving from a secure business communication platform to one that is now also leading the way in producing live television.
Last weekend’s charity golf tournament between Tom Brady, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods wasn’t just one of the first live sports since COVID-19, it was also the most watched golf broadcast in cable TV history. The Match: Champions for Charity averaged 5.8 million viewers and raised $20 million for COVID-19 relief.
In partnership with Turner Sports and Octagon, Cisco Webex played a key part in the broadcast, allowing celebrity athletes from across the country to participate. Viewers saw Russell Wilson join the broadcast to announce that he was donating 300,000 meals, and they also saw J.J. Watt, Alex Rodriguez and others make appearances. All of this was done remotely, at broadcast-level quality.
CISCO WEBEX: Innovative Sports Content Production and Promotion
Pulling it off required what Emily Sisson, the VP of Integrated Marketing at Octagon, called “a sprint.” All guests scheduled to appear on the broadcast received a kit from Cisco, which included a DX80, Cisco’s collaboration desktop display, and audio equipment. Cisco walked guests through test runs, and was ready to assist on match day.
Despite Turner sending just a third of its typical production crew to Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., and despite the weather not cooperating with regular downpours, the broadcast was a success. “You saw what we did with Cisco and the video quality,” says Will Funk, EVP of Sports Partnership and Branded Content at Turner Sports. “To have a brand come in and have programming that adds value was terrific.
“The interview with A-Rod live to talk to players—it’s one thing to have our talent on site talking to the players. It’s another thing to have someone remotely call in via Cisco Webex and talk directly to the players. Viewers loved it and it added to the show and it was enabled by a partner. That’s the best-case scenario.”
Webex, if you’re wondering, is still operating as a secure business communication platform, having logged nearly 30 billion meeting minutes in April alone. But over the past few months it has been expanding into television and beyond. As the pandemic began to spread in Asia this winter, networks such as CNN were trying to figure out how to prepare their hosts and guests for a transition to remote broadcasting. Cisco now powers The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and more.
“It’s been an interesting shift internally,” says Cisco’s Director of Global Sponsorships Brian Eaton. “There’s a lot of flex. That’s the culture of our company—what can we do to be part of the solution?”
Cisco will continue to use Webex in sports productions. An upcoming telecast in June will feature a number of athletes who already have DX80s and will use them to join the program remotely. “There continues to be incredible opportunities for Cisco and the Webex brand,” Sisson says. “The old model—that doesn’t exist anymore. It’s forcing all of us to change.”
Some of those changes were apparent during The Match: Champions for Charity. Innovations such as cart cams, talking to the players during the round, and the use of drones brought an intimacy that is rarely achieved but will be necessary during the age of social distancing and modern broadcasting.
“Some of this is going to be permanent,” says Eaton. “Whether it’s the changing nature of the sports world or the flexibility of broadcasting—you can do all this stuff virtually. We’re helping them solve some of that. We’re helping networks in producing high quality broadcasts, do it in real time and keep it entertaining. Even before all this, we were testing different use cases. Thinking differently: How do we get a message out to a wider audience? It’s one thing to have 300 media people at an event. But to open your aperture to 3,000 media people, something other than flash quotes, doing it in real time, the possibilities start dawning on people.”
No matter what the future holds, Cisco will be ready to help support, innovate and make it work.
“A company this size is turning 90 degrees, if not 180, in a matter of seconds and we do it on a regular basis,” Eaton says. “It’s the nature of the people who work here.”
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