Bundesliga Working On Mobile Orientated Vertical Broadcasts

The German Football League (DFL) is working on the implementation of 9:16 aspect ratio formatting broadcasts for social media vertical viewing, after successfully trialling the view in a live Bundesliga match.

Audiences watching via social media on mobile devices were able to view Werder Bremen’s 3-2 victory over Wolfsburg on a vertical screen for the first time, an innovation that is being reviewed by the German league before officially rolling out consistently for public use.

The DFL’s executive vice president for digital innovations, Andreas Heyden, said the test was produced by the DFL’s subsidiaries DFL Digital Sports and Sportcast, and was a great first success in the process.

“We are very satisfied with the test,” Heyden said.

“As always, we develop innovations by adopting the fan’s perspective.

“We see that vertical videos in social media on mobile devices are better received than ones in horizontal orientation.

“The successful test in Wolfsburg provides us with a good basis for further considerations as to how we can do even better justice to this usage behaviour in the future,” he said.

This test from the DFL further extends on their work to introduce new technology in recent years, following their test of a mini ultra-slow-motion camera in live games and a new 5G augmented reality mobile app aimed at giving fans a more engaging look into Germans top-flight of soccer.

The test using the 9:16 aspect ratio formatting broadcast was produced with additional technology including signal extenders and five additional cameras tilted with a specially designed tripod to support the vertical view.

If implemented, the mobile phone optimised vertical broadcast view could see the Bundesliga take further steps above its European competition and increase fan engagement to further compete with other nearby major competitions such as the English Premier League, French Ligue 1, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga.