On 26 July, as the Olympic flame was lit on the Seine, the world entered Paris Olympic time. For the first time, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games utilised cloud computing as the main method of broadcasting, surpassing satellite technology. Aliyun, also known as Alibaba Cloud, the sole global cloud service provider for the Olympic Games, facilitated the transmission of more than two-thirds of the live Olympic signals from Paris to over 200 countries and regions worldwide through the OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) Cloud supported by Aliyun. On Weibo, the hashtag #Aliyun, the Chinese technology behind the Olympics#, garnered 640 million views.
To showcase the technological advancements in Olympic broadcasting and the improvements in the viewing experience, Aliyun produced a short film. The film starts at the birthplace of the Olympic Games in Greece, depicting a time when spectators could only watch the games from a distance, often missing details due to their remoteness. It then transitions to the era of early radio technology, highlighting how intermittent signals caused viewers to miss key moments. Now, with Aliyun’s cloud broadcasting, events are expected to be streamed for 11,000 hours in a more stable and faster manner, with the live feed distributed globally through Aliyun.
According to Alibaba’s official introduction, since joining The Olympic Partner sponsorship programme in 2017, Alibaba has been the official partner for cloud services and e-commerce platform services. By the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Aliyun enabled the first global cloud broadcast, which proved to be cheaper and more flexible compared to traditional satellite broadcasts. This technology eliminated the need for broadcasting agencies to deploy transmission equipment and server rooms in the host country in advance, allowing the media to broadcast and edit content remotely. This significantly reduced the size of the broadcast centre and the number of staff required on-site.
Alibaba’s AI technology also had its ‘Olympic highlights’. Many AI technologies were applied to event commentary, 360-degree live broadcasting, visual search, and other areas. Among its innovations, Aliyun’s AI-enhanced new broadcast technology – a multi-camera playback system – was deployed in 14 venues. This system can generate highly flexible playback footage from live signals spanning over ten hours, providing a ‘bullet time’ experience similar to the visual effects seen in The Matrix films. This allows viewers to see athletes from multiple perspectives with enhanced slow-motion and time-stationary effects.
On 28 July, Alibaba and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially released the Olympic-themed film “To the Greatness of HER”. This film, utilising AI technology to restore and colourise old photos and video footage of historical Olympic figures, presented the 100-year history of the Olympic Games and celebrated the remarkable achievements and struggles of female athletes. This film also paid tribute to the feminist sculptures featured in the Olympics opening ceremony.
Another trending topic on Weibo, #Aliyun AI cloud computing to support the Olympics#, received 240 million views. IOC President Thomas Bach stated that the 2024 Paris Olympics showcases the future of Olympic broadcasting, with Alibaba’s widely used AI technology elevating the Paris Olympic broadcasting to new heights.
