On Thursday 21 October the Gravity Media UK team co-ordinated eight technical manager guarantees for a remote FIFA ’22 Challenger powered by Adidas event for EA Sports that was streamed on Twitch and YouTube.   

The event has had 1.7m views since being broadcast on Twitch which saw a 2 v 2 tournament format promoting the new FIFA ’22 game matching pro football players with pro esports athletes across Europe, with football players from PSG, Juventus, Liverpool, Barcelona, Man City and Chelsea involved. The final saw Liverpool’s Jota and FNATIC’s Tekkz win 3-1 against Barcelona’s Pedri & Team DUX Gaming’s Jaime Alvarez.   

The event was co-ordinated with crew and players in the broadcast beaming in from USA, UK, France, Italy and Spain making it a truly remote production! At Gravity Media, we’ve been active in esports since Day 1, having been the first production company ever to bring a game into a TV workflow, including overcoming the challenge of region-specific encoding. Ever since, we’ve been an integral part of this incredible success story, working with all the key tournament organisers & publishers at some of the biggest live events on the planet.  

Find out more about our offerings in the esports market here and to see how we can help you with your next online or offline production, email enquiries@gravitymedia.com 

Sydney, Australia, 01 September 2021 – Gravity Media – theleading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators and distributors – has been chosen to deliver the technical infrastructure and facilities for the Cash Converters Supercars Eseries. Taking place on the iRacing platform from 25 August to 29 September, the Eseries offers fans a mix of Supercars main game drivers and elite sim racers, with teams competing for the top prize of more than $20,000.

Gravity Media’s Production Centres in Melbourne (PCM) and Sydney (PCS) will service all the needs for the Eseries broadcast. PCS will act as the main hub, with a dedicated studio setup housing a 10m x 2.5m LED wall to display various feeds managed from the control room. At PCM, a single camera, commentary kit and 103” Live Screen background will house the two main commentators – with audio embedded onto separate tracks via the camera feed and sent via a direct fibre service to the Sydney facility.

A dedicated IP audio circuit between PCM and PCS will facilitate the live commentary, as well as accommodating production and technical communications between the two facilities.

In addition, due to government lockdowns in New South Wales, Gravity Media will supply communications to the remote support team for the gaming equipment. This will consist of an IP system enabling the remote team to speak directly to the director, producer and onsite operators from within the control room at PCS. For the remote drivers, Gravity Media will integrate cameras via Zoom to allow the producer to select individual drivers during the races and interview them afterwards through communications integrated into PCS via Discord.

The Eseries program will be sent through to FoxSports to be integrated on its Foxtel channel, Kayo on its IP sports platform and Network 7 for its IP service 7Plus. Gravity Media will also encode a live stream of the control room for feeds on Facebook, Twitch and YouTube.

“We’re very pleased to be working with Gravity Media on this event. The company’s unparalleled experience and expertise in delivering high-quality broadcast infrastructures made it the perfect choice,” said Nathan Prendergast, general manager – television & content at Supercars Australia. “This project may have thrown up a few unexpected challenges, but we have no doubt this will be a fantastic event that delivers a top-quality experience for our fans.”

“Esports is continuing to grow rapidly, so we’re delighted to be involved in such a high-profile event at this exciting time for the industry,” said Ben Madgwick, Director of Media Services & Facilities, Gravity Media Australia. “Although the ongoing complexities of running a production in a COVID world – particularly with recent local lockdowns – presented some challenges to overcome, our team is well versed in adapting to any situation and providing innovative solutions that ensure the best possible delivery.”

Gravity Media is known worldwide for supplying high-quality broadcast equipment, production facilities and project management support for productions great and small.

Over the years, as our experience has grown and we’ve fine-tuned our techniques, we’ve developed specialist skills in a number of key markets and disciplines.

The world of eSports continues to develop at a pace. From niche beginnings, the genre is now mainstream, global, and continuing to grow, with audiences expected to surpass 550 million in 2021. It’s clearly a market whose time has come, and with around two billion dollars of revenue on the line, industry participants are now demanding ever-greater quality, coverage and interaction for their tech-savvy audiences – particularly as eSports need to compete for a share of online activity with other major entertainment platforms.

At Gravity Media, we’ve been active in eSports since Day 1, having been the first production company ever to bring a game into a TV workflow, including overcoming the challenge of region-specific encoding. Ever since, we’ve been an integral part of this incredible success story, working with all the key players at some of the biggest live gaming events on the planet.

Find out more about our offerings in the eSports market here and to see how we can help you with your next production, email enquiries@gravitymedia.com

Following the huge success earlier on in the year where Virgin Australia Supercars Championship teamed up with Gravity Media to produce the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries during COVID–19 lockdowns.   

Fast forward to December 2020, it was time to level up as the Supercars Pro Eseries Final commenced! The Eseries took place from Wednesday 28 October on the iRacing computer simulation platform, running over six weekly rounds and was broadcast live on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports, Supercars Facebook, Twitch and Youtube pages.  

The Repco Supercars Pro Eseries saw some of the best SIM racers from all over Australia and New Zealand compete from their respective homes, with Dayne Warren being crowned champion as he claimed his first Repco Supercars Pro Eseries title.  

Drivers at home had access to their own gaming PC’s connected to their internet which was gated through the centralised PC. Viewers were able to see driver’s live action and reaction shots as the drivers also have an alternate camera set up at home so they can funnel this through the Zoom app.   

As the Supercars technology provider, Gravity Media’s Australian operation provided all of the studio and facilities solutions.   

The host and talent was based at the FOX Sports Studio in Melbourne and were connected to the Gravity Media control room at The Production Centre in Sydney with all cameras, audio and video feeds  transmitted between the two sites, via hi-speed connectivity channels on dedicated private circuits to maintain security and integrity.   

Gravity Media supplied the control room at The Production Centre in Sydney with supportive engineering, audio, MCR crews, and  also created the full plan of networking distribution for all incoming and outgoing sources including the Fox Sports Studio in Melbourne, driver’s computers and zoom cameras. 

Following the huge success earlier on in the year where Virgin Australia Supercars Championship teamed up with Gravity Media to produce the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries during COVID-19 lockdowns.  

The BP Supercars All Stars Eseries took place via the iRacing computer simulation platform, running over ten rounds from 8 April 2020. Supercars drivers went head to head in the races at infamous tracks all over the globe from their respective homes, with Van Gisbergen being awarded champion at the end of the series with 14 wins and 18 podium finishes across the season. 

Now, it is time to level up as the Supercars Pro Eseries is underway! The Eseries takes place again on the iRacing platform, running over six weekly rounds until Tuesday 1 December 2020 and is broadcast live on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports, Supercars Facebook, Twitch and Youtube pages. 

Some of the best SIM racers from all over Australia and New Zealand are competing in the series from their respective homes, with a champion to be awarded at the end of the series. 

Drivers at home have their own gaming PC’s connected to their internet which is gated through the centralised PC. Viewers are able to see driver’s live action and reaction shots as the drivers also have an alternate camera set up at home so they can funnel this through the Zoom app.  

As the Supercars technology provider, Gravity Media’s Australian operation is providing all of the studio and facilities solutions.  

The host and talent is currently based at the FOX Sports Studio in Melbourne and is connected to the Gravity Media control room at The Production Centre in Sydney with all cameras, audio and video feeds being transmitted between the two sites, via hi speed connectivity channels on dedicated private circuits to maintain security and integrity.  

Gravity Media is supplying the control room at The Production Centre in Sydney with supportive engineering, audio, MCR crews, and has also created the full plan of networking distribution for all incoming and outgoing sources including the Fox Sports Studio in Melbourne, driver’s computers and zoom cameras.  

Since the global coronavirus pandemic hit earlier in the year and country lockdowns were established taking place it meant all live sports were put on hold. But fast forward to now and live sports are now happening – just differently.  

Here at Gravity Media, we caught up with Marty Meyer our Strategic Account Manager, Post-Production & Production Rentals in the USA to discuss her thoughts. Marty recently joined us in August and it’s great to have her onboard! Marty is a veteran of the LA production community and prior to joining Gravity Media, she worked with broadcast production rental companies. You can read the full press release here.

Marty stated how cardboard cut-outs have replaced the pretty people in sports stadiums, and virtual crowds are filling the stands and pre-recorded audio is providing the ambience you’d expect to hear in a space filled with fans. Gravity Media was on hand with this whilst working on the Ultimate Tennis Showdown series in France.  

Gravity Media provided a full range of equipment, including 19 cameras with a mixture of broadcast cameras and PTZ, to capture the event. The sound design was at its maximum, with the addition of external sound in the mix (such as audience applause) to create a specific atmosphere. And all of this took place successfully whilst following strict social distancing guidelines. 

Marty also mentioned how she has noticed numerous virtual adverts popping up in an attempt to regain some of the lost revenue that broadcasters have endured, and videogame engine Unreal has become the technology of choice for organisations, such as Fox Sports, for real time visuals rendering.  

The melding of esports and live sports (both esports and sports can be live ) is providing an enhanced viewer experience as viewing habits are changing and migrating. Marty specified how the NFL Network and NFL RedZone are now available on YouTube’s base package. Gravity Media is proud to have teamed up with Virgin Australia Supercars to produce their BP Supercars All Stars Eseries consisting of ten rounds. 

Marty also spoke about how many people are also missing out on live music concerts and how they are making a return too – kind of. Socially distanced, live concerts have become a stay in your car, drive in event such as which we saw in the UK with the ‘Live from the Drive In’. We discussed how thousands are impressed with how the new sound system has improved immensely since the days where a tiny speaker hung on the car door. Parking lots house state-of-the-art sound systems that feed into the FM radio along with event lighting and LED screens that provide a 360-degree performance view. (As well as) Another welcome upgrade has been, replacing the greasy hot dogs of the 1960s with the 60’s is the availability of on-site concession stands and delivery from local eateries. Party on! 

It is great to see with more live sports happening this month from the US Open, Formula 1 to Supercars Championships and Gravity Media is on hand to bring these productions to screens internationally! It was also fantastic to catch up with Marty and gain her thoughts.  

Keep your eyes peeled for the next blog in our series with Marty. To find out how Gravity Media can help you with your next production, email enquiries@gravitymedia.com 

Last week saw the penultimate round of the BP Supercars Eseries take place where drivers took on the iconic Road Atlanta and Road America. You can now also go behind the scenes in the recent video case study of the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries broadcast. We delve into the effort of bringing remote racing to virtual life!

With the final round to go, Supercars data analytical partner Futures says the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries has reached half a million viewers who had never been exposed to the sport before. Find out more in the Supercars article here.

Throughout the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries Gravity Media has provided unique methods of integrating up to 30 drivers from all over the world, commentators in Melbourne and Supercars judiciary in Gold Coast, as well as the control room and studio elements at The Production Centre in Sydney for the action to be streamed live across multiple platforms.

You can watch the highlights from Round 9 in the Supercars video here and make sure you tune in on Wednesday evening for the final round where drivers will take on the Oran Park and Mount Panorama circuits.

You can watch the event live from 7pm – 9pm AEST on:

Each live event can also be viewed online via:

*Kayo and 10 Play will also have the full races available on demand via their streaming services after each event. 

Last week saw Round 8 of the BP Supercars Eseries take place where drivers took on the iconic Imola and Interlagos circuits. We also took you behind the scenes with a video case study of the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries broadcast. We delve into the effort of bringing remote racing to virtual life!

With two more rounds to go, Gravity Media continues to provide unique methods of integrating up to 30 drivers from all over the world, commentators in Melbourne and Supercars judiciary in Gold Coast, as well as the control room and studio elements at The Production Centre in Sydney for the action to be streamed live across multiple platforms.

In Round 8, four wildcards joined with one of them being one of Australia’s best up-and-coming online racers, Fawzan El-Nabi. You can find out more and watch the top five moments from Round 8 in the Supercars video here. 

Make sure you tune in on Wednesday evening for Round 9 where drivers will take on the Road Atlanta and Road America circuits. You can watch the event live from 7pm – 9pm AEST on:

Each live event can also be viewed online via:

*Kayo and 10 Play will also have the full races available on demand via their streaming services after each event. 

Last week saw the full revised 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship calendar unveiled here, a special BP Supercars Eseries Celebrity Race and Round 7 of the BP Supercars Eseries take place where drivers took on the iconic Daytona Speedway and Talladega SuperSpeedway.

Sydney will now host the first event back from the COVID-19 break next month on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June. Until then, the action still unfolds as the full cast of Supercars stars continue to race for three more rounds in the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries. The BP Supercars All Stars Eseries, featuring Championship drivers, is a great opportunity for fans to still connect with drivers and teams, whilst still following the social distancing measures that have been put in place to keep us all safe.

Gravity Media provides unique methods to integrate up to 30 drivers from all over the world, commentators in Melbourne and Supercars judiciary in Gold Coast, as well as the control room and studio elements at The Production Centre in Sydney for the action to be streamed live across multiple platforms.

F1 star Lando Norris returned in Round 7 for his third crack at the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries on the back of his maiden win in Round 6 and Jamie Whincup has now flagged the possibility that he may need to hand over the keys to his virtual #88 Red Bull Holden for the coming rounds. You can find out more and watch the highlights from Round 7 in the Supercars article here.  

Make sure you tune in on Wednesday evening for Round 8 where drivers will take on the Imola and Interlagos circuits. You can watch the event live from 7pm – 9pm AEST on:

Each live event can also be viewed online via:

*Kayo and 10 Play will also have the full races available on demand via their streaming services after each event. 

The Full revised 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship calendar has now been unveiled here and Sydney will host the first event back from the COVID-19 break next month on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June.

Until then, the action still unfolds as the full cast of Supercars stars continue to race for four more rounds in the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries. The BP Supercars All Stars Eseries, featuring Championship drivers, is a great opportunity for fans to still connect with drivers and teams, whilst still following the social distancing measures that have been put in place to keep us all safe.

Gravity Media provides unique methods to integrate up to 30 drivers from all over the world, commentators in Melbourne and Supercars judiciary in Gold Coast, as well as the control room and studio elements at The Production Centre in Sydney for the action to be streamed live across multiple platforms.

You can now watch the top five moments from Round 6 here where we saw drivers take on the iconic Circuits of the Americas and Sebring.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow evening for Round 7 where drivers will take on Daytona Speedway and Talladega SuperSpeedway. You can watch the event live from 7pm – 9pm AEST on:

Each live event can also be viewed online via:

*Kayo and 10 Play will also have the full races available on demand via their streaming services after each event. 

The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (formally Australian Touring Car Championship) is the premier motorsport category in Australasia and one of Australia’s biggest sports. From 1960 to 1968 the Australian Touring Car Championship was decided by a single race, but since 1969 it has been determined by a series, consisting of 16 events across the country – and included a visit to New Zealand in 2018.

Its title changed from the traditional ‘Australia Touring Car Championship’ to the ‘Shell Championship Series’ in 1999, then the ‘V8 Supercars Championship Series’ in 2003. A simplified ‘V8 Supercars Championship’ adopted in 2011 was followed by the ‘Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’ with 2016’s naming-rights partnership with Virgin Australia.

From 1995 to 2012 it was solely the domain of the legendary Holden vs Ford battle. A milestone 2013 was the first year of the Car of the Future (COTF) platform. These cars are lighter, more economical, have increased agility and are more competitive than their predecessors, and create better racing.

In March 2020 Supercars announced that it had decided to postpone its next three events in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, filling the gap with a new Eseries competition, featuring real-life Supercars drivers. Using the iRacing platform featured in last year’s Supercars Eseries, teams will race their own virtual Supercars in their team colours, online from home, on a weekly basis. Supercars aims to run the Tasmania, Auckland and Perth rounds later in the season, as well as a replacement event for the Melbourne 400.

On 31 March 2020, Supercars announced that official fuel supplier BP had signed on as the title sponsor of the All Stars Eseries, with the 10-round championship renamed the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries. All 25 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship drivers agreed to take part via the iRacing platform, driving virtual Ford Mustangs and Holden ZB Commodores with their own individual livery and race number.  There have also been a number of guest driver appearances including Max Verstappen from Formula 1 in Round 2, Will Power from IndyCar in Round 3 and Joey Logano from NASCAR in Round 4. The Supercars drivers have also been guests in other series, including Scott McLaughlin from Team Penske in the Indycar iRacing Challenge.

The BP Supercars All Stars Eseries features a wide range of internationally renowned circuits. A total of 18 different tracks are planned to be used across the season’s 10 rounds, with Bathurst’s Mount Panorama the only destination set for two visits.

The BP Supercars All Stars Eseries is broadcast on Fox Sports, Kayo, TEN Play and Sky Sports New Zealand, as well as streamed on Supercars’ Facebook and Twitch channels. Other streams Gravity Media is feeding include Fox Asia, motorsport.com and Red Bull TV in territories as far flung as Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Africa.

The first round on 8 April featured iconic race tracks Phillip Island in southern Victoria and Monza in northern Italy. Over 158,000 people tuned in to watch some or all of the live broadcast on Fox Sports 506. An average audience of 70,000 people watched the newly launched series, peaking at 103,000 people over the course of the two hour live show, making it the fifth-most watched show on Subscription TV and the only Fox Sports product in the top-20 shows. The live broadcast numbers were bolstered by online platforms, where 210,736 viewers tuned in to the live free online broadcast from around the world. From there, the Eseries headed the UK’s historic Silverstone and Spain’s Barcelona F1 circuits for round two on 15 April.

Round three of the Eseries on 22 April was on more familiar ground at Bathurst’s Mount Panorama circuit. An average of 76,000 viewers tuned in to the live coverage on Fox Sports 506, peaking at 108,000 over the course of the two-hour event. This was bolstered by online platforms, with Supercars teams and drivers hosting their own streams to fans around the world, and around 100,000 people watching the live stream through the Supercars Facebook page. The 10 Bold replay each Saturday has attracted around 130,000 viewers after Rounds 1 and 2.

Overall, the 10-round virtual championship will head to four continents and nine countries and will include venues used by Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and more in what shapes as an intriguing challenge for drivers. Also included will be American speedway circuits at Daytona and Alabama, with historic Formula 1 layouts Imola and Interlagos joining the likes of Silverstone, Montreal, Spa and the Nürburgring from earlier on the calendar. Legendary Australian circuits are not forgotten about, with Oran Park and Mount Panorama to form a spectacular finale. Oran Park will bring back memories for fans who adored the NSW circuit until its final Supercars event in 2008, when it made way for residential development.

All this has been made possible through a close working partnership between Supercars and Gravity Media’s Australian operation. These have been very successful and technically challenging events, which Supercars and their TV production team lead by Nathan Prendergast have thrown all their effort at since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Gravity Media is the Outside Broadcast Technology partner to Supercars, swapping out the production trucks for its broadcast studio facility at The Production Centre in Sydney with host set as well as a full control room for the production. Commentary is shared between Gravity Media’s Production Centres in both Sydney and Melbourne, with race control and adjudication on the Gold Coast. All 25-driver webcams around Australia were available via Zoom conference, and two scan converted outputs with driver audio available on Discord channels. A great remote production and technical turn-key solution.

Gravity Media provides unique methods to integrate up to 30 drivers from all over the world, commentators in Melbourne and Supercars judiciary in Gold Coast, as well as the control room and studio elements at The Production Centre in Sydney for the action to be streamed live across multiple platforms.

This Eseries, featuring Championship drivers, is a great opportunity for Supercars fans to still connect with drivers and teams, whilst still following the social distancing measures that have been put in place to keep us all safe.

The Eseries is broadcast across a two-hour weekly window from 19:00hrs Sydney time on Wednesday nights.

In support of the Eseries, Gravity Media’s Production Centre in Sydney utilizes on site studio hosting, cameras, EVS replay, multiple iRacing observer PC’s, commentary, as well as all talent green rooms and control room. The Production Centre in Sydney also integrates cameras and communications with each of the 30 drivers in locations as far-flung as The Netherlands and the USA.

Additional commentary, including camera and on-air audio is hosted from Gravity Media’s Production Centre in Melbourne, with broadcast facilities connected into its Production Centre in Sydney.  Return vision and separate talkback circuits are delivered from Sydney to Melbourne for commentators. The Supercars eSeries Driving Standards Advisor is hosted from the Gold Coast with camera, on-air audio and separate communications link integrated at The Production Centre in Sydney.

NB: The Gravity Media’s Production Centre in Sydney and other sites practices the appropriate COVID-19 safe work precautions with hand sanitiser and glove stations, temperature testing as well as safe-distancing in all work spaces including control rooms and studios.

Fans will also have the chance to test themselves against Supercars’ elite brigade of drivers as a bonus element to the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries. Fixed set-ups will be implemented throughout the online championship, with Dunlop Super2 Series leader and simulator racing expert Brodie Kostecki tasked with locking in settings for all cars to run at each designated track. The idea behind that is to ensure close racing, preventing drivers with more simulator experience to get a jumpstart on their less familiar rivals.

The spin-off effect is that Supercars will make the set-ups – catered to each circuit – available to all fans to try. While trying to outpace drivers in real-life is stunted by factors including time and cost, fans can have unlimited attempts with the exact same car set-up to see if they can match the stars of the sport in the online sphere.

Fans are encouraged to record their attempts and upload them to the relevant posts on Supercars’ Facebook page.

Whilst there will be no Supercars Championship action in Australia until June, the full cast of Supercars stars will still be racing. Following on from our first Supercars Eseries blog, international fans tuned in last week to watch the action unfold in Round 3 of the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries.

Gravity Media provides unique methods to integrate up to 30 drivers from all over the world, commentators in Melbourne and Supercars judiciary in Gold Coast, as well as the control room and studio elements at The Production Centre in Sydney for the action to be streamed live across multiple platforms.

You can now watch the highlights from Round 3 here where we saw McLaughlin finish on top with 759 points; 86 points ahead of Waters, with van Gisbergen rounding out the top three on 659 points.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow evening for round 4 where drivers will take on the iconic Montreal and Watkins Glen circuits. You can watch the event live from 7pm – 9pm AEST on:

Each live event can also be viewed online via:

* Kayo and 10 Play will also have the full races available on demand via their streaming services after each event.