TV Globo, Brazil’s leading television channel, is renowned for its high-quality programming and commitment to innovation. To elevate its production capabilities, the network made a bold move to implement a robust virtual production ecosystem.
Serving millions of viewers daily, TV Globo required a solution that could perform seamlessly across multiple studio environments and program formats - from hard news to entertainment -while ensuring the reliability essential for live national broadcasts.
TV Globo unveils new XR studio powered by Pixotope. Photo credit: TV Globo
The Challenge
TV Globo faced two key challenges: integrating Augmented Reality (AR) and Extended Reality (XR) into live news broadcasts, and doing so in conjunction with their new 15-meter (50-foot) transparent LED wall installation.
An equally critical requirement was enabling presenters to trigger and interact with virtual graphics in real time - all without burdening them with complex tracking hardware or body-mounted devices.
The Pixotope Solution
In partnership with integration specialist Tektrade, TV Globo deployed Pixotope’s virtual production ecosystem. The rollout first began with the late-night news show Jornal da Globo and, within days, expanded to flagship programs including Hora 1 and Jornal Hoje.
The game-changing element was Pixotope’s Body Pose Estimation technology - an AI-powered skeletal tracking system that requires no body-mounted devices.
Presenters can move naturally as the system tracks their movements in real time, dynamically linking virtual graphics to specific body parts. Whether anchoring visuals to a presenter’s left hand, right hand, or head, the system responds instantly and with high precision.
But the innovation didn’t stop at tracking. The system also enables direct, collision-based interactions with virtual objects, allowing presenters to “touch,” “move,” and “interact” with AR elements as naturally as they would with physical props. This delivers a new level of realism and audience engagement, transforming how stories are told on Brazilian television.
Integrating the transparent LED wall brought its own technical challenges - challenges that Pixotope’s XR workflow handled seamlessly. It maintained perfect synchronization between the physical LED display and virtual set extensions, while preserving the see-through aesthetic that defines TV Globo’s new studio design.
The Outcome
What began as a news studio upgrade evolved into a network-wide transformation. TV Globo expanded Pixotope's implementation beyond news programming and brought AR and XR capabilities to their entertainment shows including Encontro and Globo Rural. The addition of virtual studios capabilities provided even greater creative flexibility for live productions.
The sports broadcasting division took innovation even further by implementing Pixotope Fly - an AI-driven Through-the-Lens (TTL) tracking solution designed specifically for drone-based live broadcasting. This software-only solution extracts camera tracking data directly from the video feed, enabling real-time AR graphics integration for aerial shots without additional hardware. The result: seamless AR graphics that stay perfectly locked to the real world, whether the camera is in the studio or flying over a stadium.
Key achievements include:
- Operational Excellence: Virtual production elements are now embedded into daily live broadcasts without disrupting existing workflows or increasing production overhead.
- Cross-Format Scalability: A single platform powers news, entertainment, and sports content— each with format-specific optimizations.
- Hardware-Free Innovation: Body Pose Estimation entirely eliminated need for physical tracking markers or body-mounted devices while achieving broadcast-grade precision
- Creative Expansion: Production teams continuously discover new storytelling techniques enabled by interactive AR
- Technical Reliability: The system delivers uncompromising stability for live national broadcasts across multiple simultaneous productions.
Studio for Paris 2024 Olympic Games coverage. Photo credit: TV Globo
Conclusion
TV Globo has firmly positioned itself as a pioneer in Latin American broadcasting, proving that traditional broadcasters can adopt cutting-edge technology without compromising operational efficiency. By making virtual production a core component of its storytelling - not just a visual enhancement - TV Globo has elevated viewer engagement across news, entertainment, and sports programming.
This implementation sets a new benchmark for real-time, hardware-free innovation that is not only creatively transformative but also operationally scalable. The ability to deploy a single platform across multiple formats and studios (with minimal disruption) demonstrates how virtual production can meet the demands of high-volume, live broadcasting at scale.
With this foundation, TV Globo is building a flexible, future-ready production model for the years ahead.