How Hollywood stars and storytelling are moving into sport production

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s recent purchase of Wrexham AFC is just the latest sign of Hollywood’s growth in the sport sector Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s purchase of Wrexham AFC came as a shock to many, but for some in sport production it was just the latest sign of a growing trend in the […]

BBC Sport to host a week of content for International Women’s Day

The week of content will be published on the BBC Sport website and social media channels. BBC Sport is to offer a week’s worth of content dedicated to International Women’s Day. The content kicks off on 8 March (International Women’s Day) with Serena Williams in a video filmed by BBC Sport reciting a reimagined version […]

Duncan East appointed MD of Gary Neville’s production firm Buzz 16

He moves from Sky Sports where he was head of directors and creative. Former Sky Sports head of directors and creative Duncan East is joining Buzz 16 productions as managing director. East previously worked at Input Media, API TV and ITV Sport before joining Sky Sports in 2002 as assistant producer. In 2008 he became […]

Aurora to produce RCCO World eX Championship

Aurora Media Worldwide will produce the #RacingForTheClimate broadcast show Aurora Media Worldwide is partnering with the RCCO World eX Championship to create the #RacingForTheClimate broadcast show. Aurora has experience with sustainability-led competitions through its work with Formula E and Extreme E, and will produce the programme for OTT and broadcast channels worldwide – including RCCO […]

WATCH NOW: Breakfast Club sessions with Facebook and FA

Both speaker sessions from yesterday’s Broadcast Sport Breakfast Club are now available to watch on-demand. The second Broadcast Sport Virtual Breakfast Club took place yesterday (Wednesday 17 February) on event platform Hopin. The focus of the Breakfast Club was on sports on social media. Facebook’s Anna Chanduvi joined us for the first session to talk […]

LAST CHANCE: Registrations close today for Breakfast Club with Facebook and FA

Today is your last chance to register your place on the Broadcast Sport Breakfast Club on Wednesday 17 February. REGISTER NOW The second Broadcast Sport Virtual Breakfast Club takes place tomorrow live on the event platform Hopin. The focus of the Breakfast Club is sports on social media. Facebook’s Anna Chanduvi joins us for the […]

Ostmodern wins £2 million investment for Skylark Platform

Ostmodern has worked with the likes of Formula One, Arsenal, and Channel 4 in the past Puma Private Equity has completed a £2 million investment in design and creative technology business Ostmodern. The investment is directed towards helping Ostmodern develop its Skylark Platform with new hires and features. Skylark Platform is the company’s CMS, VMS, […]

Revealed: How the NFL created a digital Vince Lombardi for Superbowl LV

Viewers saw the hologram/digital human combo before the big match began The work that went into creating a digital version of former NFL coach and executive Vince Lombardi for Superbowl LV has been revealed. Ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ dismantling of the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, fans in the US viewing both at […]

Southampton FC reveals content strategy behind growing TikTok presence

The social media platform is growing in importance for sporting organisations Southampton FC has revealed the strategy behind its successful TikTok presence. The Premier League club has seen its follower count increase by 170,000, to 190,000 total, in the last year on the platform, which has growing popularity with younger age groups, allowing it to […]

Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin kicks off creative studio and production agency

Hifen will augment the footballer’s sport’s marketing agency, B-Engaged Arsenal footballer Hector Bellerin has opened his own creative studio and production agency, Hifen Studios. The 25-year-old already has his own sports marketing agency, B-Engaged. The new proposition will look to build on B-Engaged’s sports industry experience, which includes work with the likes of Puma, Adidas, […]

OneFootball appoints to newly-created global entertainment director role

Denise Parkinson joins the company after work at The Telegraph Media Group and Walt Disney TV OneFootball has appointed Denise Parkinson to the newly-created role of global entertainment director. Parkinson has over 25 years experience in the media and marketing industries, and has worked as global entertainment director at The Telegraph Media Group and as […]

OneFootball acquires Dugout to create huge digital football media business

Together, the companies provide OTT streaming, highlights, behind-the-scenes and archive video football content, news, scores and statistics.  Football media specialist OneFootball has acquired football content platform Dugout to form what it says is the world’s largest owned and operated digital football media business. Together the businesses offer live OTT streaming, highlights, behind-the-scenes and archive video […]

Copa90’s Barry Flanigan joins Aurora as chief strategy officer

Barry Flanigan was formerly chief product officer at Copa90. All3Media-backed Formula E producer Aurora Media has signed former Brave Bison vice president Barry Flanigan as chief strategy officer. Flanigan will join Aurora imminently in the newly-created role from Copa90, leading on work to pick up new business and produce more in the multiplatform content space […]

BT Sport to debut three films on boxing day, all created by NewVic students

The students learned how to produce the content during an eight-week course, and will see their films air on BT Sport 2. BT Sport is airing three short films created by students from Newham Sixth Form College, who have learned how to film and produce a TV programme during an eight-week course. The films will […]

BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist revealed

The shortlist was announced throughout the day during different TV and radio slots across the BBC. Six contenders have been announced as the shortlist for the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The nominees are cricketer Stuart Broad, jockey Hollie Doyle, boxer Tyson Fury, Formula 1’s Lewis Hamilton, footballer Jordan Henderson and snooker […]

RugbyPass reveals plans for rugby content platform, The XV

Rugby editorial site will host 600 articles a year about the sport, as well as podcasts and video content. RugbyPass has released some stats around engagement levels in its new online rugby magazine – The XV, which launched in September. The XV is a subscription-based platform that offers rugby fans a host of editorial content, […]

Anthony Joshua launches sports content company SBX Studios

The boxer has teamed up with PR company SoapBox London (which also represents Joshua) to create the production house. PICTURED (L-R): Freddie Cunningham, Andy Bell, Anthony Joshua, Rowan Wilkinson Anthony Joshua has teamed up with sports PR and content specialist SoapBox London to launch content studio and production house, SBX Studios. SBX Studios will develop […]

LaLiga to launch on Twitch with exclusive content for the platform

The league becomes the first in Europe to establish itself on the Amazon-owned live streaming platform. LaLiga is to create original programming and content exclusively for Twitch, through a new official LaLiga account. The Spanish league is planning a new weekly series of compilations, clips and special programmes featuring LaLiga players, LaLiga Ambassadors and LaLiga […]

INTERVIEW: Duane Jones, Renowned – Blending the old and new

Having started his career in music radio, Renowned Films’ Duane Jones is making a name for himself with a new take on the sports documentary. Interview by Jake Bickerton. You’d be hard pushed to find a production company boss with a CV quite as tantalising as Renowned Films co-founder and commercial director Duane Jones. His […]

Eurosport to run month-long digital series celebrating black athletes

The series will run throughout October, during Black History Month. Eurosport and Team GB are partnering to mark Black History Month during October with a month-long digital series to celebrate black athletes past and present. The series focuses on the Olympic games and includes 31 memorable moments from the Olympic Summer Games that acknowledge the […]

Sky unveils Premier League title sequence for 2020/21 season

The title sequence includes subtle references to Liverpool throughout. Sky Creative Agency has created this season’s Premier League title sequence for Sky Sports. It was made during lockdown, in collaboration with The Mill and features all 20 Premier League teams. Current champions Liverpool start and end the spot, which has subtle Liverpool-focused additions such as […]

Five sports categories added to the Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards 2020

The deadline for completed entries for the sports categories at the Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards is Friday 25 September. The Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards 2020 are back for a second year, celebrating the exceptional teams behind the most outstanding broadcast productions of the past year. The awards include five sports-related categories, which are listed below. […]

European Handball Federation refreshes on-screen graphics

The work on the graphics refresh began in April and spans a range of EHF tournaments. Design agency Jump has been commissioned by the European Handball Federation (EHF) to design and produce all the on-screen graphics for the EHF Champions League, EHF European League and the EHF European Handball Championships and qualifiers for both the […]

BT unveils ‘unlimited substitutions’ film to promote Premier League coverage

The platform enables football fans to access Premier League games from different providers and switch services whenever required. BT has launched a TV advert for its ‘unlimited substitutions’ campaign that enables BT TV customers to access all 220 Premier League games in one place (through ‘seamless switching’ between BT Sport, Now TV and Amazon Prime […]

Creative Spotlight: Tiger Woods: Back (Sky Sports)

Behind-the-scenes during the post-production on Sky Sports’ recent 120-minute Sky Original documentary, Tiger Woods: Back. Sky Production Services (SPS), Sky’s in-house production wing, was commissioned by Sky Sports to provide offline/online, grading, and audio mixing on Tiger Wood: Back, a 120-min Sky Original charting the rise, fall, and comeback of the golf icon for Sky’s […]

DAZN produces Mourinho spot for Apple TV+ sports comedy, Ted Lasso

The sports streamer aired the two-part long-form commercial series during half-time and at the end of the UEFA Champions League Final. Apple TV+ commissioned DAZN to make and distribute a two-part commercial featuring José Mourinho, which aired during the UEFA Champions League Final to promote Apple’s new sports comedy series, Ted Lasso. DAZN produced the […]

LTA launches tennis mini-series with British Olympian Aimee Fuller

The first episode in the six-part series is live now on IGTV, Facebook and YouTube. The National Governing Body of tennis for Great Britain (LTA) has launched a six-part digital mini-series called The Showdown, with British Olympian Aimee Fuller. Designed for social platforms, the series will run across LTA and influencer channels over the next […]

Manchester City players appear in water shortage environmental campaign film

The production was shot pre-pandemic and focuses on how water complacency impacts on society. Creative agency Brave have produced a film – The End of Football – featuring Manchester City players, for global water technology company Xylem, to drive awareness of escalating water challenges. The film, which was shot at Etihad Stadium, features numerous Manchester […]

Gran Turismo esports brings in Getty Images for in-game photography

Real-life photography expertise brought in for esports tournaments. Motorsport specialist photographers at Getty Images have been assigned official in-game photographers for Gran Turismo’s online and live World Tour events. The move to bring in Getty Images to capture images from the esports events is an attempt to bridge the gap between the virtual and real […]

F1 offers fans a chance to have their name on the chequered flag

The rest of the F1 season will feature chequered flags emblazoned with the names of fans, to raise money for the #WeRaceAsOne campaign. A charity initiative by the F1, fulfilled by memorabilia platform F1Authentics, provided F1 fans the chance to buy and have their names on the squares on the race-ending chequered flag for this […]

Santa Cruz bike ad gets creative during lockdown

A miniature model of Santa Cruz’ new mountain bike, in a back garden in Glasgow, replaces a planned road trip around Greece with Danny MacAskill and Josh Lewis. The advertising campaign for Santa Cruz Bicycles new mountain bike, the 5010, was originally planned to be a road trip through Greece starring Santa Cruz athletes Danny […]

Creative: Champions Hockey League unveils revamped title sequence

Design studio Jump has updated the opening title sequence for the Champions Hockey League 2020/2021 season. The updated titles were commissioned by sports marketing agency Infront and bring the style in line with the broadcast graphics package rolled out by the Champions Hockey League three years ago. These were also designed by Jump. Jump art […]

Sky Sports releases promo to celebrate the return of sport

60-second spot went live over the weekend. Sky has released a 60-second spot celebrating the return of live sport. It’s a continuation of its #IAmSport campaign, and was made by its in-house wing, Sky Creative Agency. The Comeback went live over the weekend and is a “rousing message from sport to its fans ahead of […]

Sky Sports unveils new brand promo, produced in lockdown

Ad campaign celebrates the power of sports and centres on content posted on the social accounts of sports stars. Sky’s in-house ad agency, Sky Creative Agency has created a new brand spot for Sky Sports, which focuses on the positive aspects of sport for both fans and sports stars. The spot, I Am Sport, sets […]

COMMENT: Hitting the right notes with music on sports productions

Charles Gadsdon, global director of growth EMEA, MassiveMusic on the importance of creating a sonic brand for TV sport. In football, music is arguably just as important as the club badges, colours and nicknames. Whether the chorus of fans in the Kop singing the moving You’ll Never Walk Alone to the playful I’m Forever Blowing […]

Industry responds to lockdown: watch virtual roundtable debate

You can stream the full BT Media & Broadcast sports industry discussion for free. BT Media & Broadcast has shared the full virtual roundtable webinar discussion it held last week to discuss the impact coronavirus is having on sports production and broadcast. The roundtable included representatives from BT Sport, Excel Esports, FACEIT and Noah Media […]

The tech that could breathe life into an unattended game

Rosh Singh, managing director at ‘innovation production studio’ Unit9 (pictured below) reveals the tech innovations that could breathe life and energy into the broadcast of an unattended game. VR is a terrible medium for watching sports. Even ignoring the fact that the distribution of headsets is too far too low for it to be meaningful, […]

Arsenal launches TikTok account with exclusive content and mini-series

The football club will use the platform to target a younger audience. Arsenal has launched an official account on social media platform TikTok. The club aims to use TikTok to target a new audience and younger demographic with “exclusive access to first-team stars, behind-the-scenes content, current trends, challenges and exclusive mini-series.” Arsenal has 70+ million […]

LaLiga unveils three new programme formats during lockdown

Spanish football league is rolling out new programming to its domestic and international audience. LaLiga is creating three new programmes to enable fans to get closer to LaLiga stars. The shows – LaLiga StayAtHome, LaLiga Clubs and LaLiga Nations – will air on LaLiga’s national and international broadcasters, including LaLigaTV. LaLiga StayAtHome is a 30-minute […]

Otro receives investment from Eleven Sports backer Aser Ventures

The investment comes as the sports content creator transitions away from a subscriptions model Aser Ventures has made an equity investment in the sports-focused content studio Otro. The investment company’s portfolio already includes a number of sports businesses such as Eleven Sports and Leeds United. The investment in Otro is a ‘strategic partnership’ between Aser […]

Rakuten TV unveils feature-length Sadio Mané doc Made in Senegal

The 72-minute documentary will be streamed free-to-air on Rakuten TV. Rakuten TV is debuting a 72-minute documentary about Liverpool FC’s Sadio Mané, called Made In Senegal. The film goes live tomorrow (8 April) as part of the OTT service’s free ad-supported Rakuten Stories doc strand. Made in Senegal documents Manés’ origins from humble beginnings in […]

Blast esports tournaments to move from stadiums to online

Esports tournament promises “an immersive live broadcast unlike anything done before”. Global esports network Blast is adapting its forthcoming Premier Spring Showdown and Spring Final events to be played remotely, in response to the coronavirus crisis. The events, which are both scheduled for June, were previously due to be held live in stadiums in front […]

Tech Talks podcast: Sunset+Vine launches Scottish Football Extra From Home

Sister site Broadcast Tech talks to Sunset+Vine executive producer Grant Philips about producing sports content during the coronavirus outbreak, in the second of its podcast series – Tech Talks Following the first Broadcast Tech Talk podcast with Coffee & TV CEO Derek Moore, the second in Broadcast Tech’s new podcast series is a conversation between […]

Sports Content Summit: How the FA integrated esports into its digital channels

FA senior content innovations manager, Damien Cullen, explained how the governing body has revolutionised its digital output, at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit The FA has seen its online output grow in popularity and quality in recent years, and this has been in part thanks to its tie in with esports competitions. Speaking at the […]

Sports Content Summit: Liverpool FC on how to design digital content as a club

The club has seen major growth online with through its social media channels Speaking at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit this month, Liverpool FC head of social media, Adam Hulme, and head of digital video, Mark Volante, revealed how the club thinks when designing content for fans. The club has seen major growth in followers […]

Sports Content Summit: How to create social content for 18-34 age group

Copa90 and Little Dot reveal top tips for targetting key 18-34 audience online Copa90 and Little Dot revealed their audience targeting strategies while talking at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit this month. The two companies largely work through YouTube, creating original and branded content for viewers. However, with so many people trying to gain a […]

Producers hail idea-first sports commissioning

Heather Fallon, of Broadcast Intelligence, reports on sports programme commissioning insights from the Broadcast Sport Content Summit Speaking at last week’s Broadcast Sport Content Summit, producers Dale Templar and Jordan Laird discussed how they got their sports programmes commissioned. Laird is series director of A View From The Terrace, which is produced by Studio Something […]

Sky Creative Agency releases F1 promo

The first grand prix will take place next weekend Sky Creative Agency has released its campaign for the new Formula One season. As part of the TV, radio, print, social and digital campaign, the company has delivered a promotional video starring drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for Sky Sports. Filmed across four continents in […]

Title sequence for Saudi Cup unveiled

Visually striking creative work was helmed by renowned sports director Daryl Goodrich HBA Media has revealed the title sequence and graphics for its coverage of the inaugural Saudi Cup, which takes place on 29 February in Riyadh. The 30-second creative for what’s being described as “the world’s richest race” was directed by award-winning sports film […]

Jump Design creates on-screen idents for biathlon

Jump Design has created an inspiring on-screen design package for the International Biathlon Union (IBU) and Eurovision Sport. Jump Design is behind a new opening and closing sequence, stings and wipe for the 2019/20 Biathlon season. The company were inspired by the cinematic title music, producing a visual style based on 3D models rendered with […]

SailGP set to unveil its first global marketing campaign

The fast-paced sailing championship has teamed up with GBH and Knucklehead SailGP is kicking off its first global marketing campaign later this month with a spot called It’s Not What You Think, which aims to highlight that “SailGP isn’t sailing in the traditional sense”. The campaign (pictured below), which launches a month in advance of SailGP’s […]

Peter Crouch turns comedy host for BBC1

Fulwell 73 nets 14-part studio show for next summer’s Euros Peter Crouch’s position as key BBC talent could be enhanced by a greenlight for a comedy entertainment show from Fulwell 73. The former England footballer and podcast host is fronting BBC1’s Crouch’s Euro Fest 2020 next summer. The BBC describes the 14 x 45-minute series as a “live post-match festival […]

Dazn enters the ring with Sylvester Stallone

Boxing series is first fruits of sports streamer’s partnership with Balboa Productions Sports streamer Dazn has inked a global creative partnership deal with Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions, kicking off with a feature doc series about boxing. One Night is a set of films looking back at indelible nights in recent boxing history, kicking off with analysis […]

Copa90 launches dedicated women’s football show

That’s The Tea looks to build on momentum of Women’s World Cup Football platform Copa90 is launching its first show devoted to the women’s game, That’s The Tea. Sports presenter Nicole Holliday presents the first episode of That’s The Tea (TTT), hosting guests: DJ and former Chelsea player Monki; West Ham midfielder Julia Simic; and […]

COPA90 reveals exclusive content for Women’s Super League

Matchday previews and social media ‘takeovers’ make up COPA90’s content this weekend COPA90 has created a mixture of content to mark the kick off of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League this weekend. COPA90 has produced a matchday preview for the Manchester City vs Manchester United game, featuring City’s captain Steph Houghton, which is now […]