MoQ Trial: SVT and Vindral revolutionise real-time streaming at the World Rally Championship
At the forefront of innovation in live broadcasting, Swedish public service broadcaster SVT is taking bold strides toward modernizing its live streaming workflows. As part of this transformation, SVT has partnered with Vindral, a company specializing in next-generation, ultra-low latency live streaming solutions. Their joint mission is to streamline hardware usage, enable remote production, and push the boundaries of real-time media delivery by leveraging the emerging and evolving transport protocol Media Over QUIC (MoQ).
This strategic collaboration was put to the test during one of Sweden’s most high-profile sporting events: the 2025 World Rally Championship. The fast-paced nature of the rally, combined with the challenge of capturing content from a multitude of sources, including cars, drones, and helicopters, made it the perfect proving ground for SVT’s new production model.
From hardware-heavy to software-driven
Traditional on-premise live event production has relied heavily on a complex web of hardware and cables and extensive on-site crew. These setups, while effective, often come with high OpEx costs and limited flexibility. SVT is now moving away from this model by adopting a software-driven approach that consolidates key functions into a single, scalable system, making production setups faster, leaner, and more adaptable.
Vindral CTO Per Mafrost explains that SVT aimed to address three specific challenges they faced with their previous on-premise workflows:
- Environmental impact: One of the key goals of SVTs new workflow was to reduce the environmental footprint by at least 50%.
- Operational efficiency: SVT sought to optimize production processes and reduce costs by transitioning to a software-based approach using commercial off-the-shelf hardware.
- Scalability: By adopting software-defined tools, SVT aimed to reallocate resources to expand their content creation capacity.=
“Vindral helped by making viewing of streams available in regular browsers,” Mafrost adds, while still having latencies of around 150ms.”
Vindral CTO Per Mafrost
Migrating to remote production
A core goal of SVT’s transition to a new workflow is to embrace remote production—and Vindral plays a key role here, too. By integrating seamlessly with SVT’s internal network, Vindral’s system allows staff to access live feeds from anywhere, whether on-site or miles away. This flexibility not only enhances operational agility but also supports sustainability goals by reducing the need for travel and large equipment deployments.
“This shift [to remote production] allows our technical teams to focus more on content creation while simplifying setup and operation,” says SVT Technical Producer Christoffer Ainek. “The result is a more cost-effective and adaptable production process that can be deployed across various live events.”
Powered by Media over QUIC
One of the most groundbreaking aspects of this partnership is the use of Media over QUIC (MoQ), a new protocol for real-time media transmission online. Vindral, which had previously relied on proprietary transport technology for latency control, adopted MoQ to deliver ultra-low-latency streams with high reliability and scalability. This upgrade has been essential in supporting SVT’s high standards, especially for fast-moving events like the World Rally Championship.
Key benefits of leveraging MoQ in Vindral’s implementation include the following:
- Glass-to-glass latency as low as 150ms, offering near-instantaneous transmission.
- Highly reliable delivery, minimizing buffering and stream interruptions.
- Scalable infrastructure, capable of supporting larger audiences effortlessly.
Vindral CEO Daniel Alinder comments on the state of ultra-low latency on the market. “The approaches that exist on the market are a bit weak. Some of them offer extremely low latency, but they sacrifice quality. Others do not provide a way of having latency control, which means that you can actually set the exact latency that you want,” Alinder says. “That’s what many clients come to us for.”
Vindral CEO Daniel Alinder
The tunable or “deterministic” latency feature that maximizes synchronization throughout a large-scale stream’s audience is critical to Vindral’s offering and a key reason that Vindral Live worked so effectively for SVT’s WRC broadcasts. “Any client using Vindral Live can set their own latency, and no viewers will drift more than 100ms from that,” says Mafrost. “In this particular case, SVT chose to go as low as 150ms in order to have their production team as close to real-time as possible while maintaining high quality. If synchronization wasn’t guaranteed the solution would never have been considered.”
With MoQ, SVT can ensure that even the most dynamic events are streamed smoothly, enhancing both the viewer experience and production confidence. “While challenges are to be expected when implementing a new—and unfinished—standard,” Mafrost adds, “we are in the fortunate position to have been working on a very similar system since 2015.”
Precision through latency control
Live sports demand synchronization across multiple platforms, and Vindral’s customizable latency control is a game-changer. Whether it’s for in-house monitors, web viewers, or television audiences, SVT can fine-tune stream delays to match the needs of each outlet. This ensures consistent viewer experiences, with less than 100 milliseconds of drift between viewers.
“Anyone involved in solving video for sports, where the viewers want the content to be delivered at the same time regardless of their device or platform,” understands the importance of latency control, Alinder says. In sports like horse racing that involve significant amounts of betting, “you need latency control for fairness sake,” he adds. “If it’s auctions, it’s also highly relevant. So there are many verticals where this technology could actually mean that the vertical itself moves forward.”
A proven success at the World Rally Championship
When the 2025 World Rally Championship rolled into Sweden, SVT seized the opportunity to put their new production model to the test. With 10+ feeds coming in from mobile and aerial cameras, they were able to deliver an event of national significance using fewer resources and lower operational costs—without compromising quality.
Remote workflows make assigning production crews more flexible, Mafrost says. “Adding parts to the team regardless of location is much easier than having to install hardware for each viewer.”
This successful deployment proved that modern live sports coverage doesn’t have to be hardware-heavy or logistically cumbersome. Instead, it can be agile, remote, and sustainable.
The future of SVT's live streaming operations
SVT's streaming and VOD platform, SVT Play, has long been known for its stability and quality. By integrating Vindral Live into the production workflow, the broadcaster is not only adapting to the industry's evolution and the innovative ways large-scale live events are delivered; it's helping to shape live sport streaming.
2025 World Rally Championship on SVT Play
“The lessons learned from our experience with the World Rally Championship will guide our future innovations,” says SVT Head of Live Production Dennis Buhr. “Looking ahead, we plan to further refine our workflows, explore emerging technologies, and expand the use of remote production across all types of content—from cultural broadcasts to major live events.”
“We are proud to be part of SVT’s production workflow,” Alinder adds. “The ambition of the SVT team shows they’re building a future-oriented media landscape—and we’re thrilled to support that vision.”
SVT’s partnership with Vindral is more than just a technical upgrade—it’s a strategic leap into the future of live event broadcasting. By reducing hardware complexity, enabling remote workflows, and embracing the latest in streaming standards, SVT is delivering a more sustainable, cost-effective, and immersive viewing experience.
Building on the WRC stream’s success, SVT continues to deploy the Vindral Live and the remote workflow the broadcaster has built around it for other high-profile, large-scale events, including The World Table Tennis Championship, The Great Moose Migration, and other upcoming productions.
The success of SVT’s remote, streamlined, Vindral and MoQ-powered approach at the World Rally Championship demonstrates the power of streaming for live sports events at scale and the value of tunable latency and synchronization for delivering seamless user experiences.
This article was sponsored by Vindral.
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