World Archery takes live production in-house, cuts costs in 18 months

World Archery used to rely entirely on outside production and distribution vendors — expensive setups that caused inconsistent quality, limited signal control, and occasional outages when bigger sports events took priority. That's changed. The federation has deployed Appear's X20 chassis with SRT, decoding, and multi-network management modules, shifting to a fully IP-based workflow anchored at its Lausanne headquarters.

The proof-of-concept kicked off in February 2025 and went live in under a month. SRT video now travels from venues worldwide directly to Lausanne, where streams are decoded and pushed out to 15-plus global distribution partners — regional broadcasters and streaming platforms included. Chris Wells, World Archery's Head of Communications, says the new setup carries a payback period of just 18 months.

And the ripple effects may go beyond archery. Appear says interest from other sport federations is already building, pitching this as a model for any mid-tier governing body that's been priced out of controlling its own broadcast pipeline.