LiveU EcoSystem Drives Record Surge in Live IP Video for 2024 US Election, Doubling 2020 Usage
Represents the largest fleet of LiveU encoders ever deployed for a single event, together with record-breaking usage figures for the story-centric solutions LiveU Matrix and LiveU Ingest
LiveU’s IP-video technology has been synonymous with election coverage since the company was founded in 2006, enabling networks and journalists to deliver non-stop on-the-ground reporting and real-time results. The 2024 US Presidential Election took the coverage to new heights with the LiveU EcoSystem operating at full strength over the Election Day 48-hour period. Over 4,000 field units were in use, representing the largest fleet of LiveU encoders ever deployed for a single event – almost double the number deployed for the 2020 US election. 925 customers from 56 countries worldwide transmitted over 40TB of data, representing almost 40,000 hours of live content (that’s over four and a half years of live coverage!).
LiveU’s flagship LU800 units were used nationwide in diverse scenarios, within remote (REMI) and on-site productions, transmitting live feeds to control rooms across the US, as well as Latin America, the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Africa. News crews used their LiveU packs nationwide, covering every key moment from supporters’ reactions to the victory and concession speeches.
The company’s cloud-native IP-video distribution solution LiveU Matrix played a key role with the distribution of 23,000 hours of live feeds and 7,500 feeds shared, almost double the content distributed during the 2020 election. The LiveU Matrix platform enabled broadcasters worldwide to exchange high-quality, low-latency live feeds and create collaborative news pools, helping to expand content coverage from battleground states to campaign headquarters.
For the first time in a major event, LiveU Ingest was truly instrumental in the production process with leading broadcasters deploying the story-centric solution for automatic recording and story metadata tagging, integrated with their MAM systems. Around 6,500 recordings of live feeds and over 4,000 hours of content were recorded over the Election Day period. Cross-station content visibility enabled participating stations to easily access each other’s content. Customers could process video faster in the field, with peace of mind knowing that everything was automatically recorded.
LiveU’s Mobile Data service was also in use, combined with LAN access at the key campaign sites and leveraging the LiveU Reliable Transport (LRT™) protocol for optimal performance and resiliency.
Brian Tully, Senior VP Sales, LiveU, said, « This election created an unprecedented amount of action, excitement and interest worldwide, with LiveU’s EcoSystem at the heart of the coverage. A vast amount of video traffic flowed through every stage – from the on-location encoders to the production control rooms. It was truly incredible to see all the election content created, produced and shared using our technology. Our teams were operating at full speed, ensuring the highest levels of reliability, video performance and customer support across the country, including Howard University, West Palm Beach, and the battleground states. »
With a dedicated Election Day taskforce in place, LiveU world-renowned 24/7 phone and email support was bolstered by engineers deployed on-site at candidate headquarters, ready to support and provide more equipment as needed.
Tully summed up, « I’m truly proud of our Customer Success team for their round-the-clock support and dedication. Our customers knew that they could count on us at every moment, and the customer enablement provided before Election Day for LiveU Ingest proved invaluable. The scale of LiveU’s support was at the highest level, not only our on-the-ground support but also our dedicated Command Center with over 20 people supporting our global customers for 15-hours straight. »
Earlier on in the election cycle, at the RNC (Republican National Convention) and DNC (Democratic National Convention), the company also provided customers with the option of adding LiveU Private Connectivity. This option, which provides uncontested connectivity via a dedicated Private 5G connection, is also being made available for the inauguration.
For more information about LiveU’s election coverage, read our blog: