In the heart of South Milan (also known as North Sydney) lie hundreds of Winter Olympics enthusiasts working overtime to beam Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games into Aussie lounge rooms. And nobody is riding all the highs and lows of the Games quite like the fanatics at Nine. B&T received an exclusive behind the scenes look at how Nine’s North Sydney studio and the cutting-edge technology it is using to beam the games across the nation.
From a makeshift curling rink to the celebratory group viewing sessions, the late nights and early mornings have been made easier from watching the Aussies claim a national record haul of five medals and counting.
Nine’s genuine passion and love for the Winters transpires into the quality of the host broadcast across Channel 9, 9Now and Stan.
Nine is having a lot of fun in what it is calling the ‘South of Milan’, however, for the lucky few, there are a handful of employees that are based in the thick of the action in the alpine village of Livigno. This includes the presenters, James Bracey and Ali Langdon, who are holding the fort down in the onsite studio.
Sylvia Jeffreys and Dylan Alcott are based in Nine’s Sydney studio, using a “game changing” augmented reality studio that appears to be located in the alps of Italy—thanks to some mountain range visuals that reflect the environment.
‘Game-Changing’ Studio
Leveraging global experts in designing hybrid physical and virtual worlds, Nine called upon Jago Design to come up with the initial concepts. After finding the designs the broadcaster liked it, took it and super sized it with a Nine design team.
A similar studio was first deployed overlooking the Eiffel Tower for the Paris Olympics. But Nine took this idea to the next level, taking the 7×7 squared metre box, and expanding it into a three dimensional mega world, with different floors and levels.
Nine will be hoping to also magnify the 2024 results which saw the past broadcast partners of its Olympic coverage gain a 70 per cent uplift in brand quality perception, and a 47 per cent increase in enquiries after Paris 2024.
The augmented reality studio located on Dennis Street, appears to the naked eye as a singular level workspace. But when the technology takes over, viewers are transported to a three story building that includes an Olympic museum, an ice rink and 360 degree upstairs area that even has a roof.
“We’re able through augmented reality, to take this space and enhance it to create a mega world. The idea and the concept behind this was so that we could be in the Italian alps. But the beauty of the technology is that the same space can be turned into a Brisbane skyscraper, which is a city scene for a Broncos game. Or if you want to be at Formula One race, you can be a Formula One racer, etc. It gives you absolute flexibility, so that you can change your studios to suit your production or your needs at a click of a button,” Alex Rolls, head of creative and innovation at Wide World of Sports told B&T.
The technology that’s powering it is called Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine is the same mechanism that drives the game Fortnight, and it gives you photo realistic imagery, so that it looks like you are actually where you’re meant to be. As the cameras move, the visuals need to stay stagnent. This is achieved through putting what is called STYP on the cameras. Essentially want STYP does is it reads white dots on the ceiling as reference points, so no matter where it moves, it never gets lost. This gives the room a three dimensional feel, as the camera can show various angles of the augmented set.
Whilst B&T was getting the inside scoop of all the technology, we couldn’t help to think that all this must be super expensive. But this isn’t the case, as Rolls explained, “It’s working out about the same [as the alternative of building multiple studios]. But in time, as each year moves on it will get cheaper because you’re not having to build out a new studio.
Rolls concluded the studio tour by stating that none of this would be possible without AE Live. “They’re the people that we have partnered with, and we believe they’re the global experts in the execution of delivering this technology.
‘Only The Beginning For Us’
This seamless split production model not only adds to the overall viewer experience, but creates new opportunities for brands to be involved.
“We can bring brands into whatever environment and studio we’re doing. Moving forward, when we have a studio based environment like this, we can ensure that the viewer stays within the broadcast and their eyeballs are within what we’re producing, so their viewer engagement will be far higher, and it makes them truly an integrated part of the broadcast,” Sarah Stewart, director of content partnerships and client experience at Nine told B&T.
Stewart said this is “only the beginning for us”. So what does the beginning look like?
NRMA Insurance has extended its ‘Help Company’ philosophy into the heart of the Winter Olympics coverage by leveraging the ‘Sport Explainers’. NRMA Insurance provides genuine value to Australian audiences, demystifying niche winter disciplines that only take the global stage once every four years. This places them at the centre of the viewer’s journey.
Furthermore, by expanding their long-standing weather association with Nine into the Olympic environment, NRMA ensures a seamless, multi-platform presence that reinforces their commitment to being the ‘Help’ company.
Harvey Norman are aligning to the biggest moments of the games, bringing the audience a daily update in the form of a ‘Go Harvey Go’ moments. For the first time, Nine has utilised the lower levels of the AR studio to embed the ‘Go Harvey Go’ daily moments directly into the broadcast environment.
By placing the brand in the natural focal point of the set, Nine is ensuring Harvey Norman stays at the centre of the action. It’s a powerful example of how AR can transform a major sponsorship into a seamless, high-impact viewer experience.
GWM is leveraging the versatility of the AR studio to execute a dual-model strategy, precision-targeting specific Olympic demographics. By aligning the H6 with high-velocity ‘Speed Sports’ and the Canon Alpha with ‘Extreme Sports,’ GWM creates a logical, high-impact connection between vehicle performance and athletic discipline. Nine has used the AR studio to integrate their brand and cars into the set and the bumper, as shown below.
Bupa has deepened its commitment to inclusive storytelling through a bespoke content featuring Paralympic ambassador Ben Tudhope. By moving beyond traditional sponsorship, Bupa leverages its Paralympic Australia partnership to deliver authentic, high-resonance narratives that align with the brand’s core values.
This contextually integrated content allows Bupa to foster a meaningful connection with the audience, utilising the Winter Paralympics as a platform for powerful, athlete-led storytelling that champions the spirit of the Games. This can be used as a promotion of the Paralympics during the Winter Games and is also running a long form version across the network in programme airtime between shows.
Chemist Warehouse are aligned within the AR executed studio’s ‘Ice Wall’ via an integrated roadmap of the Games and what is ‘Coming Up’. This high-frequency asset ensures viewers never miss a gold medal moment, and are kept informed of their athletes and events to look out for, featured within the AR set to keep the branding and information within the natural line of sight.
Rolls gave an insight into the possibilities this new tech will open up for brands in the foreseeable future.
“The IOC are really prescriptive about what we can do for advertisers. But it means now that if we want to have a Kia car drive through the studio, we build a model of the gear car, and you can, if you want to have the glass floor turn into a Chemist Warehouse underneath or a McDonald’s restaurant, we can build that,” he explained to B&T.
Stewart doubled down on this excitement, “The sky’s the limit. We can build whatever we need within these spaces, granted sporting bodies allow it.”
She hinted to brand integrations going to the next level in the upcoming NRL season, 2027 Australian Open and the Rugby Union World Cup.
