Dual Industry Awards Put AI Auto-Tracking in the Spotlight
At the NAB Show, viztrick AiDi’s GoVertical! AiDi feature emerged as a standout innovation, securing NAB’s Product of the Year in the Streaming category and Future Publishing’s TV Tech Best of Show award. These accolades highlight how rapidly AI auto-tracking live streaming is moving from experimental to essential. NAB’s Product of the Year honors technologies judged by industry peers as genuinely forward-looking, while Future’s Best of Show is evaluated by engineers on innovation, feature set, and real-world value. The recognition underscores a consensus that real-time video tracking and automated vertical video cropping are no longer niche capabilities but core components of modern live production automation. For vendors and broadcasters alike, the dual win is a clear signal: AI-powered, on-device tools that simplify multi-platform delivery are becoming a strategic priority in live streaming workflows.
How Real-Time Video Tracking Changes Live Streaming Dynamics
viztrick AiDi delivers real-time auto tracking designed specifically for live productions, operating at true broadcast speed with on-device AI. Powered by high-performance NVIDIA GPUs, the system can track players, faces, and objects as events unfold, while also enabling 2.5D telestration, auto-score graphics, and motion data analytics. This approach eliminates the latency and connectivity uncertainty associated with cloud-based systems, which often introduce delays of several seconds. Tim Canary, Senior Vice President of Engineering at NBC Sports, noted that AiDi’s output is delivered in under one second, a crucial threshold in sports where every frame matters. Because the processing happens locally, broadcasters can rely on consistent performance in outside broadcast trucks or remote production setups. The result is more responsive AI auto-tracking live streaming that keeps pace with the action instead of lagging behind it.
9:16 Autocropping and the Race for Vertical Streaming Audiences
A defining feature of GoVertical! AiDi is its AI-aided 9:16 autocropping, which automatically frames vertical shots derived from traditional horizontal feeds. As viewing habits tilt toward mobile platforms and social video, vertical video cropping has become an operational headache for live teams who must produce multiple aspect ratios at once. AiDi addresses this by using real-time video tracking to keep key subjects centered in a 9:16 frame, enabling instant vertical outputs for mobile streaming without extra operators or complex cloud pipelines. Because it operates on-device with virtually no delay and no mandatory internet connection, broadcasters can serve mobile viewers with true live responsiveness instead of delayed repurposed feeds. This capability is tailored not only to sports but also red-carpet events, scripted and unscripted shows, trailers, conferences, and news—anywhere audiences expect native, vertical live content.
From Internal Tool to Catalyst for Live Production Automation
viztrick AiDi originated as an internal initiative to solve real-world production challenges one by one, eventually evolving into a unified product ready for global deployment. Developed collaboratively by Nippon TV and FOR-A, it reflects a broader shift toward live production automation, where AI handles repetitive, time-sensitive camera and framing decisions. FOR-A America President and COO Satoshi Kanemura emphasizes that the system significantly reduces operational workload and instantly unlocks new revenue streams with mobile phone viewers by making multi-format live output practical. Associate Managing Director Takayuki Shinoda describes the awards at NAB as a new starting line rather than a finish, signaling ongoing investment in AI-driven creative tools. As the industry transitions to AI-powered production workflows, solutions like AiDi—on-device, low-latency, and platform-conscious—are likely to become foundational infrastructure for next-generation live streaming operations.