The Super Election Year
Posted on Jan 7, 2025 by FEED Staff
As 2024 draws to a conclusion, FEED reflects on the biggest year for elections on record – and the broadcast tech instrumental to their coverage
Words by Verity Butler
At time of writing, exactly one week has passed since arguably one of the most important elections in democracy’s history took place. With President-Elect Trump being the second US president ever to secure a non-consecutive second term, the world’s gaze was fixed upon news outlets to witness the outcome of the tumultuous (and at times life-threatening) Democratic and Republican campaigns.
The sheer quantity of coverage both in the lead up to and on election night itself only emphasised America’s influence on global politics, with most countries offering degrees of US election showtime almost equal to their own nation’s poll nights.
Though it has rightly been one of the most significant political talking points of this year (and likely will be for the next four too!), it’s important to note that Trump’s re-election wasn’t the only record being broken. Setting Maga hats and Joe Biden fail compilations to one side, 2024 has been dubbed the ‘super election year’ – with a total of 64 major elections having taken place around the world. Globally, more voters than ever before have journeyed to polls and post boxes – a figure representing almost half of the world’s population. Somewhat eclipsed by the noise around the US election, many might not realise that the 63 other outcomes led to similarly crucial repercussions on the rest of the world.
Over in Taiwan, the outcome of the vote fundamentally shaped Beijing’s attitude towards the self-governed island – which it has repeatedly threatened with invasion. The results symbolised a determined defiance from the Taiwanese people, who chose to continue forwards with the party defending its independence.
In June, 640 million Indians took to the polls for the general election. The results came as a shock to India (and the world); despite securing a third term, Prime Minister Modi faced significant losses, which highlights the resilience of the densely populated country’s democratic system.
Across the border, Pakistan’s election presented its own series of dramatic twists. Incredibly, one of its candidates – former Prime Minister Imran Khan – was sentenced to over two decades in prison the week prior to the election, on charges ranging from leaking state secrets to unlawful marriage. Pakistan’s Supreme Court then stripped Khan’s party of its recognisable cricket bat symbol (him being the country’s successful former cricket captain), meaning neither the party name nor its icon were visible on the ballots. This had a devastating effect for Khan, since election symbols are extremely important in Pakistan, with 40% of the population being illiterate.
Back in the west, July saw the population of the United Kingdom turn out in their hordes to overthrow a decade of right-leaning rule with the first Labour landslide since Tony Blair in 1997. This symbolised a desperate cry for change from the UK public after a series of political fails during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the Tory party’s infamous handling of Brexit.
Across the channel, in a shock move a matter of weeks before hosting the 2024 Olympic Games, President Macron called a snap election to clarify France’s political situation. Unsurprisingly, the election results only seemed to further confuse the country’s politics, with a surge of support for the left-wing New Popular Front coalition foiling Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party.
The sheer quantity of elections paired with the web being rife with misinformation and deepfakes meant that relaying the correct information quickly and accurately to the public has never been more challenging for broadcasters.
To meet these complex demands, political coverage has triggered a steep rise in media innovation. Having been at the forefront of election tech, Vizrt has worked with the likes of CNN, Sky News, Al Jazeera and NBC to deliver coverage for some of the most important votes of recent times.
“As the US election has shown,” highlights Martin Klampferer, director of R&D at Vizrt, “these political events are no longer national matters but international spectacles, with broadcasters each competing for a coveted share of viewers.”
From sharp maps and exit poll graphics to extended reality studios, the ways in which we receive our political information have evolved exponentially. The viewing figures of this crucial coverage only serve to cement this. With Trump declared winner of the US election, Forbes claims his preferred news network Fox News also came away as a victor. More than 35 million households watched the coverage – with the average one tuning in for two hours and 13 minutes.
But what are the tools delivering this wildly popular coverage, and how are media organisations combatting the divisive power of disinformation?
Voice-activated versatility
Jim Doyle, the vice president of creative services at Ross Video, highlights that conveying results is – naturally – the base expectation of any election coverage. But being able to tell a compelling story with that data is where broadcasters can excel.
“On the graphics side,” he explains, “election coverage has changed a lot due to improvements in data processing capabilities. We have a tremendous cache of data going back many years that we’ve been able to visualise in unique ways to share an interesting narrative. That has enabled on-air talent to talk more in-depth about hot topics leading up to elections and explain how results are developing in key battleground areas.”
Following the recent election, the world is more acutely aware of those swing states’ significance than ever before. These select regions were the indisputable stars of the US election coverage show, with presenters able to cleverly dip into archival voting data, using visualisations to compare this with results trickling in over the course of election night.
“We did the 2020 elections broadcasts with Fox News, leveraging all these tools to create an election presentation no one had seen before,” Doyle recalls. “This year, we took our production to a new level using some exciting technology. It might not be obvious to viewers, but the networks used our voice-controlled graphics system that allows the presenter on-set to verbally ask for the next graphic.”
Following this request, AI enhancements recall the graphic from Ross Video’s Xpression tool, instantly delivering it to the feed so presenters can speak over it. “This has never been done before, and we think it will be an industry game changer as we expand into other formats.”
According to Doyle, redundancy and reliability should be top priorities when looking to execute a seamless election broadcast.
“Rehearse with your technology,” he advises. “Use it, play with it, make sure it will do everything you want. Don’t wait until the last minute to innovate. Start early, get with your content people and figure things out as soon as you can. Ross delivers very successful visualisations for customers, but this is because we often start planning a year in advance.”
Timely translations
What sets the US election apart from the others is the global audience it garners. Its phenomenal significance has led to many an all-nighter being pulled by those in the international community, awaiting the outcome with collective bated breath. Therefore, top-tier translation tools are critical.
With its portfolio of AI-powered localisation solutions, the team at XL8 know the importance of meeting the demands of an international audience all too well. “Election coverage has become much more globally accessible, driven by advances in technology like real-time AI translation,” states Tim Jung, founder and CEO of XL8. “With heightened international political interest due to significant global events, the media landscape has evolved to provide immediate, multilingual coverage, making live information accessible worldwide.”
This shift means language barriers are no longer a major obstacle, achieving inclusivity and engagement enhancements on a global scale.
The embarrassing experience of a translation error is universal; most can admit to – at some point in their lives – attempting to communicate with someone via Google Translate and instead saying something entirely different due to the tool’s rudimentary nature. Thankfully, the translation technologies available to broadcasters are far more powerful, largely owed to breakthroughs in AI.
“Key to election coverage is the ability to deliver accurate, real-time translations that are culturally appropriate,” says Jung. “Precision is especially critical because of the nuanced language involved, including humour and sarcasm, which must be handled effectively to avoid miscommunication.
“Advanced AI tools enable broadcasters to provide live, contextually accurate translations to ensure that audiences worldwide receive the intended message without losing or misrepresenting any meaning. This capability is crucial for engaging diverse audiences in fast-moving news scenarios like election cycles.”
This ultimately ties into boosting monetisation. Without a solid translation offering, broadcasters are massively limiting their audience range. “The 2024 election cycle has underscored the importance of speed, accuracy and cultural sensitivity in broadcast media,” Jung concludes. “With the surge in demand for multilingual, real-time coverage, broadcasters have seen the necessity of integrating sophisticated AI translation tools to meet audience expectations.”
Demystifying disinformation
“One of the biggest questions is: how do we work together to figure out a healthy information ecosystem in the AI era?” asks Claire Leibowicz, head of the AI and Media Integrity programme at the Partnership on AI (PAI).
She spoke at a panel in October 2024 titled: Deepfakes, Cheapfakes and Gen AI in the Election at the Election Coverage Summit of the NAB Show New York. Joining Leibowicz on the panel were Scott Ehrlich, chief innovation officer at Sinclair, Mounir Ibrahim, Truepic’s chief communications officer and head of public affairs and impact, as well as Bruce MacCormack, chair of IPTC Media Provenance.
Broadcasters are realising that addressing AI and disinformation during an election requires a multi-faceted, holistic approach. The panel was extremely enlightening on that front, discussing the role of tech platforms in curbing the spread of misinformation.
Leibowicz stresses that it’s easy to fall into the trap of using AI as a scapegoat.
“For this election cycle,” she continues, “people are a lot more aware of AI – there is a greater public consciousness of it – and are therefore anticipating that misinformation will affect what they see. A key point to reiterate is that this form of misinformation isn’t new. I’m more concerned about claims of things being fake that use AI for plausible deniability.”
Unfortunately, Leibowicz’s concerns surrounding this reverse-psychology approach were far from unfounded. During Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Detroit back in August, Trump falsely claimed that images of swarming crowds were AI-generated, thus fanning the disinformation flames among Republican supporters.
“I think our solution to the misinformation problem needs to be privy to the fact that it’s possible to manipulate public opinion without using technology.
“I come to this from a background of technology within news,” says MacCormack. “Working with CBC Radio Canada, we started worrying about AI around 2017/18. We quickly concluded that stand-alone detection wasn’t a viable solution for many reasons – mainly not having enough longevity and that the accuracy isn’t going to scale.
“A key approach is to follow a file’s history and prove what is true. They have been doing this in banking for years, so we thought we’d do a lift and shift. Eventually we created something called the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, which is now 120 companies strong.”
A collaborative, inter-sector approach to verification is crucial. Additionally, many media organisations have been known to develop internal initiatives. BBC Verify, for example, is dedicated to examining the facts and figures behind a story to determine whether or not it’s true. It works across the entirety of BBC News and now has a consistent presence throughout its election coverage.
One of the panellists, Mounir Ibrahim, shares his company Truepic’s impact within the validation arena. “We started thinking about this back in 2015/16, pre-AI,” he says.
“I was formerly a US diplomat and saw images coming from war zones daily. We often couldn’t determine if they were accurate, so the question was always: if we can’t prove that it’s fake, how can we prove that it’s real?
“That’s how Truepic came about. We felt that if we could figure out a way to cryptographically hash and secure metadata and pixels from a point of capture, we could then determine an interoperable standard that can allow verified information to travel safely through the internet.”
MacCormack emphasises the importance of organisations like Truepic, stating that “as of last year, 150 billion synthetic images have been created, which is the same number as that of photographs taken since the invention of the camera.”
Extended elections
Thinking about election coverage, the mind conjures up images of glossy studios featuring presenters interacting with screens, wandering across AR maps and swiping through virtual data.
We’re, of course, discussing extended reality – a dominant force in most kinds of news coverage at present. The global XR market reached almost $30 billion in 2022 and is set to hit $100 billion by 2026, according to Statista. There are many major vendors spearheading this field – one of which is Brainstorm. A specialist company, Brainstorm provides real-time 3D graphics and virtual set solutions for broadcast, feature film production and corporate presentations.
Earlier this year, it was deployed by Basque Country public broadcaster EITB to cover its regional elections. EITB decided to distribute this across two of its channels; so, while data was coming from a single source, that same content had to be repurposed for two shows which were being simultaneously operated and broadcast.
Chosen to create the AR, virtual and graphics content, Brainstorm deployed its Infinityset for all the virtual imagery, virtual sets and immersive content. Aston was used for the creation, animation and real-time data display in the AR graphics and Aston On Demand for the graphics playout.
One of the channels delivered the coverage in Basque and the other in Spanish, so Brainstorm technicians created bespoke translation to ensure everything was running smoothly and avoided issues with duplication.
From immersive reporting experiences to cutting-edge visualisations, these technologies are reshaping how stories are told, not just in election coverage but in the wider broadcast news industry.
Cellular on speed dial
Cellular broadcast’s popularity has a lot to thank the sports sector for, as it’s the favoured choice for those more challenging live environments. With its middle name being unpredictability, election broadcasting is also a strong candidate for leveraging 5G broadcast. LiveU can vouch for this, having been integral in delivering the US coverage to global audiences.
With thousands of people crowding around Howard University and West Palm Beach for each candidate’s respective planned victory events, broadcasters needed to ensure they had enough bandwidth to not only capture each of the victory and concession speeches, but also crowd reactions and interviews.
Over 4000 LiveU units were deployed to cover election day, proving to be the largest fleet of LiveU encoders deployed for a single event ever. Its LU800 production field unit led the way, with deployments across hundreds of scenarios.
Thanks to LiveU’s deployment, audiences across the pond in the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and more had full, unrestricted access to the night of high-stakes politics.
“We chose to use the latest LiveU field units with HEVC and H.265 transmission,” says Luca Rovinalti, CEO of Svet Solutions Media, “combined with LiveU Net 5G dongles to ensure a reliable, stable connection for both candidates’ headquarters and the key swing states that ultimately decided the outcome of the election.
“As with most of our productions, LiveU enabled us to efficiently move our crews across the US without needing to employ any of the traditional live production equipment.”
Joke’s on you!
Political events like general elections are unique in that, although profoundly important, they tend to match that seriousness with a healthy dose of silliness. With the rise of meme culture adding fuel to the farcical fire, as well as certain orange-in-hue political figures being irrevocably ‘memeable’, there is ample material to work with. This has caused comedic commentary to play an increasingly popular role in political coverage.
Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is a prime example of this. A satirical news programme, it presents a range of analysis on current events and political issues. Hosted by a series of comedians, the show offers critical commentary on media, politics and society.
During The Daily Show’s coverage of the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC), Riedel’s Mediornet was deployed by East Shore Sound as support. The show faced some tight set-up times for its DNC coverage at the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture in Chicago. The historic venue was built in 1911; as a result, it offered certain unique space considerations.
“What really drove Comedy Central’s employment of Mediornet for The Daily Show was the modular flexibility of it,” states Bill Saltzer, president of East Shore Sound.
With the introduction of Mediornet more than a decade ago, Riedel has led the distribution movement when it comes to approaching video infrastructures, by combining signal transport, routing, processing and conversion in a redundant real-time network.
“The whole production was driven by a router in an OB truck,” Saltzer continues. “The challenge is that it takes a lot of time to programme a production router and most OB trucks aren’t able to do that until they’re actually on site. With Mediornet, we were able to set it all up in our office – every node and router control panel.”
Cast your ballot
The political coverage of the 21st century comes in an array of shapes and sizes.
From snappy vertical video to visionary virtual studios with built-in XR tools to deliver engaging rolling coverage, the sheer scale of media tech on offer is staggering.
As the super election year draws to a close, we are entering 2025 living the consequences of those major votes. The lines between celebrity and politician are becoming increasingly blurred, first with Trump and now with tech giant Elon Musk and Fox News host Pete Hegseth heading up two major governmental roles – we face some unprecedented times ahead.
“Looking forward to future elections – and other large-scale news events – there’s an opportunity for even greater innovations that are still in their infancy,” concludes Klampferer.
The role of media will be ever more critical for keeping the world truthfully informed throughout this turbulent political era.
