LiveU Enables Cloud Production Workflow for ITVX’s First Ever Live Stream – Love Island: The Morning After
As part of its expanding digital-first strategy, ITV turned to LiveU to support a cost-effective workflow, enticing younger demographics with engaging content to enhance linear output.
Last summer, ITV celebrated the tenth anniversary of its popular reality dating show, Love Island. To ramp up the excitement of series 12 (launched in the UK on 9th June) and to engage younger demographics the broadcaster, supported by LiveU, expanded Love Island’s highly successful digital-first strategy. For the first time, ITV live streamed the official podcast, Love Island: The Morning After on ITVX and YouTube to give fans the added benefit of a live ‘watch-along’, which aired at the same time as the main launch show on ITV2. Love Island is produced by Lifted Entertainment, part of ITV Studios, and GroupM Motion Entertainment.
For the live stream to ITVX the production team needed to build a flexible, agile cloud workflow that could handle precise live on/off-air timings and real-time communication with its playout provider. To achieve this, ITV turned to the LiveU Studio cloud video platform, which streamlined the workflow between Majorca, where the main show is filmed, and London, home of the podcast.
With linear viewing in decline, broadcasters are reconsidering how to connect with audiences across demographics and experimenting with creative formats. Love Island is an example of how a strong digital and social ecosystem can extend a show’s impact beyond the main broadcast. Leon Langdale, Technical Producer, ITV Studios explained, “Reaching younger audiences means meeting them where they are, and that increasingly means digital and social platforms. Since the show’s relaunch in 2015, viewing habits have undergone a dramatic shift. LiveU enables us to respond quickly and cost-effectively, supporting new formats that engage viewers on their terms.”
For The Morning After podcast this meant a seamless connection between Majorca and London. A LiveU Video Return server in Majorca delivered a low-latency stream of the main show to a LiveU LU800 unit in the London studio. There, The Morning After presenters Amy Hart and Indiyah Polack, viewed the main show on a monitor via an HDMI output. The London LU800 then sent the podcast feed to LiveU Studio, while another LU800 in Majorca sent the main programme feed to the same platform. In LiveU Studio, a picture-in-picture output was created so viewers could watch the live podcast alongside the main programme in the corner of the screen. With minimal assets and a live feed ITV created the feeling of a fully Love Island branded show.
LiveU’s technical partnership with ITV dates back more than a decade and the company’s portable mobile encoders, including the multi-cam LU800, are deployed nationwide for daily newsgathering. The LU800 also remains an integral part of the network’s disaster recovery strategy.
“Typically, the podcast is recorded after the main show and edited overnight for distribution,” explained Langdale. “Going live required additional resilience, orchestration and technical coordination. Voxpod, our podcast production partner, were excellent, and LiveU Studio was central in managing the cloud workflow and ensuring delivery remained efficient and robust.”
For the final episode, which aired on Monday 4th August, an exclusive 30-minute live teaser show, fronted by Amy and Indiyah, was streamed immediately before the main show. Langdale added, “They roamed the villa, capturing last-minute interviews, gossip and the build-up atmosphere. Produced by our Lifted Digital team, the workflow again used LiveU Studio to orchestrate multiple concurrent streams – TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube – ensuring the pre-final buzz reached fans across platforms.”
He concluded, “LiveU Studio has given us a flexible entry point into cloud-based production, and we’re keen to expand its use. While we still rely on traditional kit for much of the workflow, there’s no reason we can’t evolve into cutting cameras, handling LRT feeds, and adding live graphics directly in the cloud. It’s an exciting direction of travel.” Matthew Stringer, UK Sales Director, LiveU concluded, “Digital-first is no longer just a viewer trend, it’s an expectation. As networks face increased pressure to produce more content with tighter budgets, the LiveU EcoSystem enables broadcasters like ITV to leverage our agile and cost-effective cloud-based production workflows, keeping pace with the industry’s rapidly evolving demands without sacrificing quality. LiveU Studio empowers broadcasters with flexible options to produce live content that complements main coverage and captivates younger viewers who consume across multiple platforms and mobile devices.”