Automation · Playlists
The hour either side of the match
Most of a broadcast is not the match. It is the twenty minutes before kickoff and the ten after the whistle, and those are the parts a small production leaves as a static holding card. A playlist is the ordered sequence that fills them without anyone sitting there.
The shape
Three sections, one game plan
Pre-game
Runs before kickoff: lineups, previews, countdowns and sponsor content, looping until the match starts.
Live gameplay
Active during play, responding to goals, cards and substitutions as well as timed intervals.
Post-game
Fires when the match is marked finished: final score, summary statistics, closing sponsor graphics.
Assign a game plan to a competition and every match in it follows the same presentation rules. Each item in a playlist carries a start offset in minutes and seconds, a duration, and the graphic or advertisement to show, laid out on a timeline you can drag.
Before kickoff
A loop that fills an unknown gap
You never know exactly how long the pre-match window is. The stream comes up on a schedule, the match starts when the referee decides. So a pre-game playlist loops: lineups, then sponsor content, then round again, until kickoff takes over.
The lineup graphic pulls its data from the match configuration rather than being typed, which matters when the team sheet changes twenty minutes before kickoff. Sponsor rotation order and interval are set here too, which is where most of the pre-match inventory actually gets delivered.
At full time
It plays once. Order accordingly
A post-game playlist runs through once and stops. It does not loop, which makes sequencing a real decision rather than a preference: the final score goes first, then the summary, then the player of the match, then the closing sponsor.
Anything at the end of a post-game sequence is content you are choosing to risk nobody seeing.
Two outputs, one match
A full package, and a clean scoreboard
The full-graphics output
Scoreboard, lower thirds, player statistics, animations and advertising. The version an audience watches on the primary stream.
The scoreboard-only output
The scoreboard and nothing else, with its own control variables for stoppage time, cards, substitutions and period. What a distribution partner takes when they add their own graphics.
Both read the same match data, so score, clock and events move in lockstep across them. That is the difference between serving a partner properly and maintaining a second production: one match, one set of facts, two presentations of it.
More than two are possible. A third with a different style for social is the obvious one.
Common questions
Answered, from the product
What is the difference between a game plan and a playlist?
A game plan is the whole configuration for a broadcast. A playlist is one ordered sequence inside it, belonging to the pre-game, live gameplay or post-game section.
How does a pre-game sequence know when to stop?
It loops until the match starts, then the live gameplay section takes over. You are filling a window whose length nobody knows in advance.
Does the post-game sequence repeat?
No. It plays through once and stops, so the most important items go first.
Do lineups have to be typed in?
No. The lineup graphic pulls from the match configuration, so a late team-sheet change carries through.
Can a distribution partner get a version without our graphics?
Yes. A scoreboard-only output carries the scoreboard alone, with its own control variables, while the full-graphics output runs in parallel on the same match data.
How do we check the timings before a match?
Preview the game plan. It simulates match events and time progression so you can see gaps, overlaps and the handover from pre-game into live play.
Go deeper
More on automation
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