Microsoft Teams lays the foundation for Globo content management and production

Globo reaches around 200 million people daily with its production in the areas of journalism, sports, and entertainment based in-country and abroad.

The broadcaster already had technology as an important pillar for its internal communication, as well as for its entertainment and journalism programs—with the participation of remote guests, for example—which was accomplished using Skype. However, traditional audiences filled with people watching on-site programs had to be stopped during the pandemic, creating the need for a new dynamic, and technology was the ally to keep the audience present in the programs, in addition to assisting in other processes.

Microsoft Teams empowering entertainment for millions of Brazilians

In April 2020, Globo replaced Skype with Microsoft Teams, which met more than one demand from the group, supporting the participation of one or two one-time guests in certain programs, as well as the virtual audience. In addition, it provided Globo with homogeneous internal communication. "We tested Teams and came up with some internal actions. We have been working on the evolution of a solution that has become more robust," says Bruno Esteves, leader of the UC (Video Collaboration among other services) team at Globo.

In 2020, the first program that was supported by Microsoft Teams was the "Caldeirão," where Microsoft Teams Customized Background was used with a simpler mosaic. Then, the "Domingão," which had a specific layout needed to reflect its identity, was also reimagined with a solution owned by the Globo Group.

In 2021, Globo had the confidence to hold the "Criança Esperança" event virtually, with the participation of several artists and presenters—an extensive program with a very diverse program. "We used the entire Teams framework to create scripting, set schedules, and everything. We were able to call the participants, do the pre-registration, we saw if the person was logged in, and then we took the recordings from the tables. We did interviews remotely, and we played to local newscasts," explains Bruno.

The solution ended up working for the entire entertainment area of the group, which was looking for a tool capable of supporting selective stages of reality shows. "We've been looking for some time to collaborate in preproduction, production, and post-production. Today, there is no selection without Teams. We use several features because we have several dynamics: 'one to one,' in groups, doing certain exercises. We had financial gains in displacement, proactivity, scope, and in activities carried out," he adds.

On October 12, 2021, with the demand for an activity of the São Paulo Globo Sports for Children's Day, Globo made its first use of a new feature, Together Mode (Custom Scenes). This feature provides an immersive and engaging meeting environment with the ability to bring people together and encourage them to activate their video, digitally combine participants into a single virtual scene, and place participant video streams in predetermined seats designed and corrected by the scene creator.

Due to the number of participants, the technology team saw that the tool would take care of it and was well-accepted throughout the program. Currently, 100% of the group's entertainment programs make use of Microsoft Teams.

Journalism also reaping the fruits of the partnership

The Journalism group also joined Teams. In 2020, the meetings and conferences of virtual debate by the broadcaster had the use of the Network Device Interface (NDI) feature, which allows the streaming of audio and video exclusive to a Teams meeting to your local network in its own production—a tool used in entertainment, sports, and journalism.

Some of the group's journalism programs use Microsoft Teams. "The trend is to expand. The barrier we face is sometimes cultural. So, in synergy with the Security team, we are gaining space," says Bruno.

Live as an important tool in this process

"Corporate communication is no longer done without Microsoft Teams. Whether for a team or for the company as a whole, with Live, we reached peaks of 8,000 people watching simultaneously," adds Bruno.

In addition to its use for programming, Microsoft Teams has also been used in the back office of events, conferences, and even promoting hybrid events. "When we present a product, a campaign, we use Teams not only for audio and video issues but also for corporate communication."

In terms of communication, Globo moved from an index of approximately 30,000 users in Skype interaction to 150,000 in Microsoft Teams. When it comes to video conferencing, they went from 7,000 to 30,000. And when it comes to live broadcasts, the company tripled its volume with the move from Skype Broadcast to Microsoft Teams.

"This clearly showed the company's survival in communication during the pandemic, a way of working, and as we created a hybrid model, this channel remains," says Bruno. The tool assisted Globo with remote work and then the transition to the hybrid model—with Microsoft Teams and Together Mode supporting meetings and communication in general, also including the intense use of the live events feature.

It is also worth emphasizing the importance of Microsoft Unified in offering support services to implementation and operation, such as training, customization, and advisory on the solution, as well as an entire incident resolution structure in an agile manner—important elements for Globo's evolution journey.

Bruno assesses that today, there is a working and communication language that goes through Teams, which has become a communication hub and can contribute even more given the integration with the intranet and Company Communicator. "We have a demand to standardize Teams as collaboration, and we are about to deliver Teams in a live production environment—a cloud solution," he concludes.