Livestream Agility World Championship 2023: «The kind of guys you just love having a beer with!»

There were big discussions before the 2023 Agility World Championships after working-dog.com was announced as the livestream provider – again. This is due to previous broadcasts that were not entirely problem-free and the price of almost 50 euros for the whole event. The fact that the criticism is not entirely justified has already been shown at previous events. Among others, the 2022 World Championships and the 2023 European Open. And for the 2023 World Championships, the streaming leader in the Agility scene deserves great praise. Both in technical terms and for the moderation duo, rather the moderation trio around Eric Laumann, Uwe Bormann and Neil Ellis as expert.

The idea of presenting Agility with different cameras and commentators is not new. Crufts for example, has been doing this for years. Albeit very traditional and with rather strenuous camera work. And this in and of itself is nothing new for World Championships either. Both the World Championships in Sweden and Finland were broadcast very professionally. With commentators from the Agility scene, good camera work and even replays. So probably even a bit more professional than what we’ve seen from working-dog so far. However, you have to take into account that there were companies at work that produce sports broadcasts practically every week and have a completely different background. Not to mention the equipment.

I actually don’t want to make any comparisons between different providers here. Rather, I would like to thank the working-dog crew for five full days of pure Agility and lots of fun and unforgettable moments. «Es war einfach nur geil!» – to say it in the language of the producer. Depending on the device, the stream may not be completely convincing from a technical point of view, but it is not an easy task in terms of budget. For me, who watched most of the runs on my home computer, it went perfectly smooth. Contrary to all fears on social media before the event. working-dog has done its homework and also brought in new, fresh ideas.

The ideas can also be traced back to Eric Laumann and Uwe Bormann. Which brings us to the next topic. You just have to like them both. They’re exactly the kind of guys you just love having a beer with. They led us with a lot of humor and charm through the five-days of the tournament. More than 40 hours of on-air time and (almost) all of it in English as a foreign language is no easy task. I hope the non German speaking people forgive the interviews conducted in the mentioned language. Because in the end it was precisely such spontaneous moments and emotions that made the broadcast special. Far away from the professional sports broadcasts on linear television, where there are hardly any situations that have not been questioned and planned twice.

Whether intentional or not, it made me feel as a viewer even closer to the action. Also thanks for the interviews. There could have been more – just to make a small criticism. Eric Laumann, who together with Neil Ellis conducted most of the interviews on the sacred green carpet, was also able to convince in this role. About Neil Ellis, I think we don’t need to speak. He was, so to speak, born on the stage. It’s not always easy, after all, every guest reacts differently, knowing that several thousand people are watching behind the camera. But perhaps it was Eric’s empathetic nature that prevented this thought from even arising in the interviews. The broadcast was rounded off with the sports studio. A reference to the sports programs on public German television. Appropriate analyzes from Neil Ellis and repetitions of the day’s highlights rounded off the long day’s program. There’s a lot of work involved there too. Just cutting runs together, etc. takes already a lot of time. In any case, it was a successful end to the day with Uwe Bormann hosting the show.

Of course, there are many things that could be improved. The overlays didn’t always work perfectly. However, this was limited and is partly due to the technical conditions on organizers site. Speaking of the overlay. The brown of the fade-in seemed a bit outdated. But as we all know, this is a matter of taste and is complaining at a high level. In terms of price, you can argue about it. If you break down the 49.90 euros over the five days, that’s a little less than 10 euros per day. In addition, those responsible at working-dog also promised after the event, that they would like to take the issue of the high price into account a little more at future events.

In any case, I look forward to future broadcasts. Be it through working-dog or an alternative provider. Every new idea and improvement motivates others to do even better. In the end, we viewers benefit from it. At this point I would like to say thank you again for the broadcast of the Agility World Championships 2023. It was a pleasure or simply: «Es war einfach nur geil!».