German Football League trials vertical mode coverage on Bundesliga match

During the test transmission in Wolfsburg, the 9:16 feed was produced with additional technology independent of the base signal. Five additional cameras were used in the stadium for the 9:16 production, adding to the 16:9 cameras that were in place for the standard widescreen coverage of the game.

For the portrait mode coverage, professional broadcast cameras were tilted using special tripods while viewing monitors in a separate control room (pictured below) were also rotated by 90 degrees. The images were captured in Ultra HD. The test was implemented by the DFL subsidiaries DFL Digital Sports and Sportcast.

Andreas Heyden, EVP of digital innovations at the DFL Group said that the vertical footage from the game in Wolfsburg is initially intended for internal evaluation. “As always, we develop innovations by adopting the fan’s perspective.,” he explained.

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

Sportcast is a full subsidiary of the DFL, based in Cologne. Since the 2006-07 season, it has acted as host broadcaster and produced the TV base signal for all games in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, as well as the Supercup and promotion/relegation play-offs for national and international rights holders.