The Broadcast Sport Podcast

Sports TV - Turning Challenges into Opportunities as sports broadcasting evolves

This episode is a recording of the 'Turn Challenges into Opportunities as Sports Broadcasting Evolves' panel discussion at the Broadcast Sport Summit held at The Emirates, London, in November.
Streaming, social media and the proliferation of mobile devices have turned sports broadcasting on its head.
Sports producers and broadcasters now output across a huge range of platforms – linear TV; OTT services; a plethora of social media platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Snap, Facebook, Instagram and more; D2C platforms; in-stadia screens – and each requires bespoke content and delivery formats.
It's daunting and ever evolving, but each new way to reach fans on the platforms they use the most is an opportunity to grow your audience and returns.
These opportunities are discussed in detail during this session.
Speakers:
James Clement, SVP Tech and Operations, IMG
Dominique Cutts, Chief Content Officer, Aurora
Ben Gallop, head of digital and commissioning, BBC Sport
Kahlen Macaulay, senior manager, international sports partnerships, Snapchat
Chair: Jake Bickerton, editorial director, Broadcast Sport

Former NFL player Jason Bell Jason Bell talks about his career as a TV presenter

Jason Bell talks to fellow TV presenter Rachel Stringer at the recent Broadcast Sport Summit, which was held at The Emirates, London on 13 November 2024.
Bell reveals in entertaining detail how he moved from a career as a successful NFL player to quickly becoming the face of the NFL in the UK.
The hugely popular presenter brings a great energy and knowledge to his TV coverage of the sport.
Bell is also well known to the UK audience through his appearance on Strictly Come Dancing, which he also talks about here.
He also discusses how he believes the NFL will continue to grow in popularity in the UK during 2025.

What's the score with the podcast industry? ft. Stak COO Luke Moore

Senior reporter Max Miller speaks to Stak COO, and co-host of the Football Ramble and The Luke & Pete Show, Luke Moore, about the current state of the podcast industry and where it could go next.
Moore also gives his advice on how to create successful podcasts, how Stak approaches the market, and what the BBC's move to commercialise its audio content could mean for independent companies.

England Netball – Growing an audience through free-to-air, D2C and social content

England Netball chief commercial officer Mark Foster talks to Broadcast Sport editorial director Jake Bickerton about the federations new broadcast rights deal with Sky Sports and the BBC, which sees one live match a week across the regular season of the Netball Super League (NSL) streamed on BBC iPlayer and on the BBC Sport website and app.
Another live match will be broadcast on Sky Sports’s YouTube channel. The season opener, semi-finals and grand final will all be shown both on linear TV through Sky Sports.
Matches will also be made available on the global netball OTT platform, Netball Pass. This consolidates games from the three major domestic netball leagues around the world in one platform.
As well as its recent rights deals, which focused on the value of a mixed rights portfolio including pay-TV, free-to-air and an OTT D2C platform, Foster talks about the role of athlete-led social content in helping attract a new audience to netball, and the value of the data and insights in driving and growing audience engagement.
He also explains what highlights packages are most appealing to fans of the game, and how these are distributed to fans.

How the Paris 2024 Olympics will be broadcast, with OBS' Yiannis Exarchos

This episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast sees Broadcast Sport senior reporter Max Miller speak to Olympic Broadcasting Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos about the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Exarchos reveals how the host broadcaster will be promoting women’s sport, as well as women within sport broadcasting, in an effort to reflect the gender parity on the field for 2024. Broadcast Sport also spoke to Mary Byrne, editor-in-chief of Olympics.com and the Olympics Channel about how the IOC’s content will be aim to do the same last month. ​
Among OBS’ initiatives is boosting the number of women in its technical hubs, and a scheme for young people to take paid roles in the broadcast of the Games.
In addition, Exarchos speaks about some of the technical innovations that will be in use for the Games, which include a virtualised OB van, broadcasting through the cloud, and more. He spoke about the AI technologies that will be used at the IOC’s AI Agenda event this month, which you can read about here.

How to produce electric racing series - Formula E, Extreme E and E1 Series

Lawrence Duffy, founder and CEO of Aurora Media Worldworld, talks to Broadcast Sport editorial director Jake Bickerton about the production of electric racing events. Aurora produces Formula E, Extreme E and now also the E1 electric boat racing series. We talk about the different approaches to covering electric racing, the need to make production sustainable and the future of electric motor sports.

How The Hundred Draft was turned into a digital first production

For this edition of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, senior reporter Max Miller spoke with ECB head of digital and content for The Hundred, Rob Johnson, ​Little Dot strategy director for sport and brand, Fiona Wood, and Dizplai commercial director Peter Cassidy. 
The trio all played key roles in turning The Hundred’s 2024 digital draft into a digital first production. The draft took place at The Shard on 20 March, streaming live to YouTube and TikTok and drawing over 100,000 viewers.
The ECB and Little Dot reveal the strategy and production that went into the move to digital, in which graphics provided by Dizplai played a key part. The trio speak about how the broadcast was planned and executed, with tips on how to appeal to online audiences and tailor streams to younger audiences.

Lorton CEO Julian Bird on financing sport documentaries

This edition of the Broadcast Sport Podcast sees senior reporter Max Miller speak to Lorton Entertainment CEO and founder Julian Bird about upcoming boxing docuseries Stable and the wider sport documentary industry.
Stable will launch on BBC1 and iPlayer from Saturday 30 March, and follows the McGuigan family boxing gym, where Shane McGuigan, son of International Boxing Hall of Famer Barry McGuigan, trains the fighters alongside assistant coach Josh Pritchard, and Shane’s brother, Jake McGuigan, manages the majority of the eight boxers.​
In addition, Bird speaks about how Lorton approaches financing its documentaries, having come from a banking background before moving into media and entertainment. He also gives insight into the future of sport documentaries, what he sees as the future for Lorton, which he founded in 2014, and where the company’s priorities lie.

The EBU on its new D2C streaming service

EBU executive director of sport, Glen Killane, speaks to the Broadcast Sport Podcast about its new D2C streaming service, Eurovision Sport. He discusses how plans for service were created, its aims for viewership and other areas, and strategy to achieve these. He also outlines how the platform hopes to put gender equality at its core, with bringing audiences to women’s sport a major aim for the organisation, and how the EBU and service will work alongside the organisation’s member broadcasters. 
The EBU launched a D2C streaming service earlier this month, Eurovision Sport. The platform aims to complement coverage from EBU members, and is free-to-air. Its focus will be on Olympic sports such as athletics, gymnastics, skiing, swimming, and more, streaming World to European Championships, multi-sport events and national championships outside of the Olympics itself.

The present & future of behind-the-scenes docuseries

Broadcast Sport senior reporter Max Miller speaks to Box To Box head of sport and factual Warren Smith about how to create behind-the-scenes docuseries, and the future of the format.
Box To Box is the company behind some of the most well known series of this type, including F1: Drive To Survive, golf's Full Swing, tennis' Break Point, and many more across various streaming services.