The Importance of Reliability in Critical Broadcast Operations  

Consumers today expect broadcast content to be available whenever, and wherever they want. Broadcasters are under increasing pressure to create and disseminate content in real-time and on-demand across an ever-growing number of platforms and formats. If they don’t, their competitors will. 

In this environment, downtime is not an option, and reliable broadcast operations are a must. This article will explore the impact of broadcast outages and the resulting downtime and explain what to look for in a technology partner to prevent it.  

Key challenges facing media companies today

The broadcast industry faces a litany of challenges today that impact both business viability and production quality. Mounting consumer expectations and an increasingly complex broadcasting landscape continuously put pressure on broadcasters to be everywhere, all the time.  

Some factors at play include:  

Increased audience demand for instantaneous and continuous coverage 

Consumer habits have shifted dramatically over the past three decades thanks to the rise in handheld mobile devices, streaming platforms, and near-universal access to WiFi or network connections. In this landscape, consumers expect instant access to live and on-demand content across multiple platforms.  

This expectation for real-time and packaged content amplifies the pressures on media companies to maintain flawless operations and uptime, while also producing high-quality and engaging content for a growing list of platforms and devices.  

Increasingly complex production demands  

Because of this evolving—and accelerating—consumer landscape, production workflows have also become more complex. Production techniques have had to evolve to keep pace with what consumers expect from certain platforms, meaning the technology that’s used to create that content also needs to evolve.  

To create more engaging and dynamic content, broadcasters may expand their production stack to include more dynamic camera shots and moves, AR graphics, and other interactive visual elements. Production workflows may also pivot from on-premise to cloud or hybrid environments. As this complexity ramps up, more possible points of failure emerge. 

Steep competition and budget constraints 

This increased demand comes against a backdrop of steeper competition and budget constraints in the broadcasting industry—particularly in news production.  

In this environment, organizations have to make the most out of the revenue they have. They must be intelligent to boost the quality of their content, the efficiency of their workflows, and their ability to disseminate across multiple channels in real-time and on-demand. This is on top of the need to work remotely in an increasingly dispersed talent environment.  

Downtime is not an option. It’s a high-pressure, high-paced world with significant consumer demands and an ever-deepening competitive market that includes content creators from outside of traditional broadcasting channels.  

The consequences of operational failure in broadcasting 

The impact of technology downtime is felt in virtually every business, in every sector. Society has become deeply dependent on our technology infrastructure, making even the smallest outage a major inconvenience.  

Broadcasters, however, face even heavier pressures to remain operational at all times. When other platforms go down, broadcasters are expected to be the source of real-time information. If they’re down, too, the impact on the company’s reputation can be severe. 

Here are four consequences of significant operational failures in broadcasting.  

1. Loss of audience trust and engagement. When downtime or technical failures occur, audiences lose confidence in the broadcaster’s ability to deliver consistent, high-quality content. In a crowded media landscape, viewers are quick to switch to competitors, leading to a loss in both immediate and future viewership. This can mean a reduction in live viewership and decreased loyalty over time, weakening the broadcaster’s position in the market.  

2. Financial and contractual ramifications. Live broadcasts, especially high-profile events, are tied directly to advertising revenue. For instance, the cost of a 30-second ad during the NFL’s Sunday Night Football in the 2023/2024 season was around $882,000. A single broadcast failure during such a high-stakes event can lead to massive financial losses, and even expose the broadcaster to legal complications and strained relationships with current and future advertisers.  

3. Missed opportunities for exclusive coverage. When broadcasters experience downtime during live events or breaking news, they miss out on delivering exclusive, real-time coverage. This can result in lost opportunities for major scoops or key moments that attract high viewership, especially for news organizations. Competitors with more reliable systems may capitalize on these moments, gaining a reputation and audience advantage, leaving the original broadcaster with diminished viewership and industry relevance. 

4. Increased operational costs. Frequent technical issues lead to downtime and raise the overall cost of operations. Emergency repairs, replacement of faulty equipment, and constant troubleshooting demand additional financial resources, which exponentially raise the cost of downtime. Moreover, downtime increases the need for overtime work or hiring additional technical staff to manage crises, further inflating operational budgets.  

The above is a list of worst-case scenarios. Operational failure, however, can come in much smaller packages, like accidentally putting up the wrong camera shot or consistent lag time in a specific production workflow. These minor operational failures can add to significant time loss and headaches for engineering and production teams. While less dramatic, they’re still costly in the long run.  

Downtime is seriously costly on a variety of different fronts. Over time, these costs accumulate, making it harder for companies to maintain profitability while still investing in future technological innovations. Unfortunately, while the cost of downtime is severe, there is no shortage of factors that might cause it.  

Internal and external factors threatening media operations 

Broadcasters face a variety of internal and external factors that increase complexity and introduce new points of potential failure. These factors—and potential failure points—must be identified and actively controlled to avoid costly downtime.  

Internal factors include:  

• Managing broadcast gear and IT systems in the cloud or on-premise. Balancing on-premise and cloud systems can lead to inefficiencies and disruptions if not managed properly. This is an example of how accelerating consumer demands can lead to a rapid, and potentially uncontrolled, adoption of complex broadcasting infrastructure that can introduce complexity and failure points.  

• Maintaining performance with leaner teams. At the same time as this growing technological complexity, broadcasters are facing budget constraints that often require them to shrink and decentralize their production teams. Smaller, remote teams face increased pressure to produce content faster, and on increasingly complex infrastructures. Without streamlined tools and proper training, companies risk broadcast delays, diminished performance and content quality, and errors that may lead to downtime. 

• Skills gaps when adopting new technologies. As media production increasingly relies on advanced technologies, a lack of skilled personnel can lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities. 

At the same time, companies face a variety of external factors, including:  

• Technological disruptions and cybersecurity threats. Events like the July 2024 CrowdStrike outage, which impacted thousands of businesses globally and caused mass downtime for dozens of broadcasters, demonstrate the severe risks of unplanned system failures. The incident caused a global ripple effect, with financial damages estimated to exceed $10 billion​. Without proper security and redundancy measures in place to mitigate against future events, media companies face similar risks of financial and reputational harm due to system outages or cyber-attacks. 

• Competitor pressure to innovate. Consumer demand and platform variety fuel innovations in content delivery, with major broadcasters leading the charge. Major, widely adopted innovations create a new standard in content consumption, which ramps up expectations for smaller broadcasters to follow suit. Failing to keep up with technological advancements can result in losing market share and relevance, making it harder to attract and retain audiences. 

• Supply chain and equipment shortages. Delays in sourcing critical equipment can stall production and lead to missed deadlines, especially in live events where timing is essential. This was made especially apparent during the pandemic when major supply chain issues crippled the global economy. In this environment, cloud and hybrid deployments became a necessity, forcing many companies—and broadcasters—to rapidly pivot their tech stacks.  

While companies can, and do, take steps to mitigate the challenges listed above, the reality is that growing complexity and diversified threats to infrastructure stability introduce a variety of potential failure points. The best way to prevent them is to partner with a trustworthy broadcast technology partner that understands the importance of uptime, and has built their products and services around the promise of reliability.  

What to look for in a trustworthy broadcast technology partner 

To ensure reliability in critical broadcast operations, you need a partner with a proven track record of delivering consistent performance under pressure.  

Systems must be designed for uptime with rigorous failover strategies that keep broadcasts running smoothly even when issues arise. The ability to handle live, high-stakes events without failure is non-negotiable. 

Your technology partner must provide reliable systems and adapt to the constantly changing broadcasting landscape. Innovation is key, but it must be balanced with stability.  

Partners who embrace cutting-edge advancements like cloud integration and IP workflows without sacrificing reliability are the ones who will help you future-proof your operations. The ability to evolve while maintaining performance is critical in an industry where staying ahead is essential for survival. 

To help you find that perfect broadcast technology partner, look for:  

• A history of reliable performance. Choose partners with a proven track record of consistent uptime, backed by case studies and testimonials from similar broadcasters. This provides confidence that they can handle demanding conditions without downtime. 

• Round-the-clock support. Ensure your partner offers 24/7 customer service with dedicated teams ready to troubleshoot. Quick response times prevent small issues from escalating into costly failures. 

• Industry-specific knowledge. A strong technology partner should understand the unique challenges of broadcasting and offer customized solutions tailored to your specific workflows, whether for live news or sports. 

• Robustness and redundancy. Broadcast systems must be built with robust and rugged systems to withstand demanding broadcast environments and resource usage. Integrated workflows and automation also help minimize human error. 

• Active security protection. Modern broadcast technology is vulnerable to a broad range of security threats that can compromise systems and data. Look for providers that prioritize hardware and network security as part of their offering, and actively push out updates to their products to ensure ongoing protection.  

• Training and support. A trustworthy partner prioritizes training to ensure teams are prepared to handle unexpected issues in real time, helping keep broadcasts seamless even in high-pressure situations. Training and support experts don’t just know the products, but also deeply understand the industry and the challenges that engineers and operators face. This allows them to support both technical issues, and offer guidance on how to solve wider workflow problems.  

Trust is built on reliability. In the world of broadcasting, you need partners who are as dependable as the systems they provide. Choosing a partner with proven reliability, comprehensive support, and the ability to adapt to your needs ensures that your broadcasts remain smooth, high-quality, and on the air, no matter the stakes. 

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Technology upgrade guide

Outdated technology — it slows production, diminishes content quality, and adds creeping maintenance costs that quietly drain productivity and threaten your competitive edge. But how do you upgrade technology without disrupting workflows? Or worse, causing downtime?

Download our Technology Upgrade Guide for a practical approach to modernizing live production technology so you can devise a strategy that ensures smooth operations during a transition and well into the future.