The Broadcast Sport Podcast: Recent Episodes

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The Broadcast Sport team discusses the key themes and issues impacting on sports production and broadcast

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In this episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, senior reporter Max Miller speaks to Matchroom’s Boxing CEO Frank Smith and Multi Sport CEO Emily Frazer.

Recorded shortly after the release of Box To Box-produced Netflix documentary The Greatest Showmen on the business and its leaders Barry and Eddie Hearn, the pair discuss the show’s impact, Matchroom’s content strategy across its various sporting properties, and what it will be looking at in the future.

They also give insight into the future of pay-per-view in boxing, how running your own D2C platform can lead to benefits outside of direct subscriptions, and more.

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In this episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, co-founder of creative agency Formidable Pete Gibbons assess the recent FIFA Club World Cup from a content perspective.

Gibbons, who has a long history working in production across the US and UK, looks at the impact of empty seats in stadiums, the growing football fandom in across the Atlantic and more on what was the largest men’s tournament of the summer.

Encompassing both broadcast and branded content, he looks at where the tournament succeeded and failed, teasing out lessons to be learned for next year’s World Cup hosted across the US, Canada and Mexico, and for creating content that appeals to US audiences.

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Ellipse and Racecourse Media Group partnered to bring more data and analysis to horse racing broadcasts back in 2023, and 18 months on the pair are changing the face of the sport on the likes of ITV and Racing TV.

The Broadcast Sport Podcast speaks to Ellipse’s lead editorial analyst, Page Fuller, about how this has been accomplished, and what could be next for data analytics in horse racing coverage. Fuller, who was a professional jockey herself before joining Ellipse after retirement, ​explains how the company has aimed to add depth to horse racing on TV, and educate fans further on the sport.

She also discusses which types of data have been most successful in making the jump to TV on ITV and Racing TV, and how Ellipse will be aiming to develop the area going forwards.

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In this episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, senior reporter Max Miller speaks to LadBible Group lead producer Connor Suckling about how it approaches making content for YouTube and other platforms that brings in viewers as well as brand support.

Suckling works across LadBible brand SportBible’s various shows, and has key insight into how it approaches creating new formats, sourcing talent, the various social video platforms, and more.

Among the productions that Suckling mentions in the episode are its Snack Wars series in partnership with Uber Eats that debuted around the men’s Euros in 2024, as well as its Find The Fake Fan series that launched in the same year.

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We talk to After Party Studios managing director Josh Barnett about working with content creators. The company was founded by content creators and its slogan is "Founded by a creator. Think like a creator." It's an ethos the company applies to everything it produces, which ranges the full gamut from branded content to live production (including most recently the Sidemen charity match at Wembley), taking in commercials, pop promos and a range of originals formats too. The unifying factor across their output is it's content that online audiences will want to share. In this podcast, Barnett provides some great hints and tips for working with content creators/influencers and the kind of content that’s ‘authentic’ for them to get involved in. We also talk about the setting up of After Party Studios and how the running of the company differs from a conventional production agency, the key productions it's created and why they worked so well, and whether traditional TV has anything to offer the content creator community.

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For this episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, senior reporter Max Miller speaks to the managing director of the relaunched Netball Super League, Claire Nelson.

Nelson reveals how the league is aiming to turn a high participation sport into a high viewership one, with a complete restructure and expanded Sky Sports rights deal aiming to bring new fans to the sport.

She discusses what was behind the major changes to the competition, how Sky approached them to show more matches, and how the Netball Super League hopes to grow the followings of its athletes.

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In this episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, we speak traveled to Premiership Rugby’s offices to speak to CEO Simon Massie-Taylor and chief growth officer Rob Calder about how the competition has grown its audience through the last few years.

Coming from hard times during the pandemic, including some clubs going out of business, the league has built back to acheive record viewing figures over the Christmas period, and ​30% growth in viewership year-on-year.

Massie-Taylor and Calder spoke to Broadcast Sport senior reporter Max Miller about how a mix of distribution tweaks, a focus on approaching the season as a whole, and more have led to this improvement.

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This week's Broadcast Sport podcast is the complete recording of the 'How to Benefit from the Growing Influence of Women's Sport' panel discussion at the Broadcast Sport Summit 2024, held at The Emirates Stadium in November 2024.

Speakers:

  • Victoria Cotton, Executive Producer, Live Streaming - BBC Sport
  • Sarah Massey, Managing Director - Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025
  • Jo Osborne, Head of Women’s Sport - Sky Sports
  • Helen Ward, Head of Women's Football - Watford FC

Chair: Tammy Parlour MBE, Co-founder & CEO - Women's Sport Trust

Women's sport has continued to grow over the past 12 months, but how can this growth be sustained? What can broadcasters and rights holders do to help women's sport build on the success of the past few years in terms of its presentation and drawing larger audiences? Find out all this and more in this insightful live discussion.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Sue Anstiss has been a pioneer in women’s sport for over 30 years. She’s an author, podcast host and entrepreneur, who was a founding trustee of the Women’s Sport Trust and co-founder of the Women’s Sport Collective.

Sue is now CEO of Fearless Women, which drives positive change for women’s sport, having received an MBE for her services to women’s sport in 2018.

This episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast is a recording of the keynote speech at the Broadcast Sport Summit 2023, and focuses on Sue’s role in helping to grow women’s sport and, specifically, her influential and well-received book and Netflix documentary, Game On : The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport.

Anstiss explains how and why she made Game On, how she got it distributed, and the impact of both the book and documentary in helping shape a better future for women’s sport.

She also talks about her award-winning Game Changers podcast and addresses what now needs to be done to capitalise on the substantial increase in the fanbase and interest in women’s sport over recent years.

Speaker: Sue Anstiss MBE, Director and Producer of the Netflix documentary Game On & CEO - Fearless Women

Chair: Rachel Stringer, Sports Broadcaster and Producer

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In this episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, senior reporter Max Miller speaks to IMG's senior vice president and managing director of digital, Lewis Wiltshire, about its recently released Digital Trends Report 2024. Among the predictions for the next 12 months is the rise of women's sport, the growth of personalised content, AI's impact on digital content, and plenty more.

This is the sixth iteration of the digital trends report, which features insights and analysis from IMG’s global team of digital experts (formerly known as Seven League). This time round it also ranks the 10 most important third-party media platforms for the global sports industry, for the first time, with TikTok coming out on top, followed by YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

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Building up a fan base for a new sport means navigating a complex maze of options to successfully distribute both live sports and on-demand insights and documentary content around the sport.

In each global territory, the content mix includes going D2C, utilising dedicated streaming sports platforms, free-to-air TV, pay-TV, social media platforms, YouTube, Twitch, fan-created content, and so on.

There's no right or wrong way to do this, but certain combinations of rights deals bring proven results. This is demonstrated in this podcast episode, which features content specialists at new sports federations explaining how they have utilised different distribution channels to find and grow their audience.

The podcast includes Abner Aceves, Global Content Director at SailGP; Ria Walia, Marketing Manager at E1 World Championship; Laura Watts, Executive Producer at Aurora; and Ali Russell, Managing Director at Extreme E. It is moderated by Jake Bickerton, Editorial Director at Broadcast Sport.

The podcast is a recording of one of the well-received speaker sessions from the Broadcast Sport Summit held at Lord's cricket ground on 1 November 2023.

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This ​week’s edition of the Broadcast Sport Podcast sees Made Of Steel: Wheelchair Rugby’s Fiercest Rivalry’s co-directors Nick Mattingly and Emma Everitt speak to senior reporter Max Miller about how they made the BBC Storyville documentary.

Available on BBC iPlayer now, the film examines the rivalry between the England and France teams at the recent Wheelchair Rugby World Cup, and delves into debates around the sport and society. It was produced by Noah Media Group.

Mattingly and Everitt explain how the film was created, and navigating production around two sides that were in fierce competition. The pair also discuss wider subjects such as the importance of continuing to make documentaries about lesser-known subjects, how to ensure competing views both get a fair airing, and working with teams in competition.

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An in-depth interview with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports head Scott Young, by sports presenter Rachel Stringer, recorded at the sold-out Broadcast Sport Summit, held on 1 November 2023 at Lord's cricket ground.

The Global Sport Leaders sessions are a series of one-to-one fireside chats with European broadcast sports leaders.

In each session we drill down on business issues, rights deals, how they are responding to the changing market, innovations in fan engagement, the biggest success stories of the last year and the key challenges and opportunities of the year ahead.

In this insightful interview, Scott Young talks about Warner Bros. Discovery's acquisition of BT Sport under a joint venture to roll out TNT Sports in the UK, with a string of high-profile sports rights.

Young reveals the future plans for the wide range of brands in the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio, including TNT Sports, Discovery+, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, Eurosport and HBO Max.

He also talks about how the organisation has increasingly brought production in-house or has changed production partners for key sports, as well as its plans for future sports rights acquisitions.

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Director Max Mannix and producer Nick Wood speak to Broadcast Sport's Max Miller about how they made The Brighton Miracle, a film about Japan's famous victory over South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Conversation topics include getting talent on board, the use of dramatisations, and how to appeal to audiences outside of sport.

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Broadcast Sport speaks to broadcaster and writer Nat Coombs, who has worked extensively on the NFL and is currently host of NFL show The Nat Coombs Podcast. Coombs delves into how the game has grown in the UK, how best to approach growing a sport outside of its domestic market, and what could be done to continue the NFL's success.

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Kahlen Macaulay, senior manager, international sports partnerships at Snapchat joins the Broadcast Sport podcast to provide invaluable insight into sports content opportunities on Snapchat. The visual messaging social media app is now 12 years old and focuses on bringing people together, providing "intimate connections with real friends". It reaches a user base of 400m people every day, the majority being Gen Z and Millennial audiences, with 90% of 13-24 year olds reached in 20+ countries. Snapchat's sports partnerships therefore serve the next generation of sports fans, through "communication, camera and content". It's a very closed network – there are no followers, likes or public comments. The sports content is varied, so for the Women's World Cup, for example, Snapchatters could virtually try on team kits, watch match highlights, follow athlete content creators, and catch up with the latest news and views on the 'Offside Special' twice-weekly series. In this podcast, Macaulay talks to Broadcast Sport editorial director Jake Bickerton about what's different about Snapchat; how the company works with sports partners, athletes, clubs, federations and sports content makers; how to monetise content on Snapchat; and how to make the best content for the users of the app.

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Bubble Agency MD Louise Wells speaks to Atlas Film director/produder Samuel Davies, Cut Media CCO Scott Marshall, and LadBible Group senior creative producer for sport originals Connor Suckling about how to make a YouTube hit.

The group cover how to work with athletes and brands, creating new formats, how to get viewers to your videos, and more.

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This summer sees both men's and women's Ashes taking place over June and July, with The Hundred still to come in August. Sky Sports' head of cricket and NFL, Bryan Henderson, spoke to the Broadcast Sport Podcast about its plans for the competitions.

The broadcaster is bringing a number of tech innovations to its broadcasts, as well as producing both Ashes series with net zero carbon emissions and a focus on promoting women in sports broadcast. In addition, Henderson speaks about the current situation with The Hundred, amid reports that the ECB is considering the short-form competition's future.

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Recorded at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit 2023 at dock10 Studios, this episode features BBC Radio Five Live commissioning editor Richard Maddock, Crowd Network creative director Tom Fordyce, IMG Productions head of audio Steve Tebb, and Voiceworks Sport managing director Sophie Hind speaking to Broadcast Sport senior reporter Max Miller about how to plan and produce a great sport podcast.

The conversation covers the podmaking process from start to finish, including creating a format, reaching your audience, building on a successful product, and more.

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The International Hockey Federation and Lawn Tennis Association have had a successful 12 months across their social media channels, growing followers, views, and the former even substantially growing subscribers to its direct-to-consumer streaming platform, Watch.Hockey.

Speaking at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit, held at dock10, Salford on 23 March, Paddy Sloane, director at Curveball Digital, and Katie Matthews, partnerships director at Little Dot Studios, explain to Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton how they approached their campaigns with the FIH and LTA respectively.

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AFTV and DR Sports co-founder Robbie Lyle speaks to Broadcast Sport about social content, how broadcasters could better reach fans, and the latest technology he is looking to bring in with his Global Fan Network company.

Hear about how Lyle began with AFTV, how he's grown GFN beyond football, and what broadcasters could learn from fan-created content. He also reveals what he thinks will be next for online content, with innovations such as the metaverse and near-live highlights among his tips for the future.

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Recorded at the Broadcast Sport Leaders Forum 2022, which took place on 1 November at BFI Southbank, Little Dot Studios director of sport Robbie Spargo and Chelsea head of publishing Simon Meehan speak to presenter Alison Bender about how they approach social media.

Topics include the strategies for different platforms, working within a budget, the types of content that work for sport organisations and clubs, and more.

Chelsea boasts millions of followers across its social channels, and Little Dot works with the likes of West Ham, the ECB, the LTA, and many more on social content. ​

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Social Bull co-founders Scott Lavell and Jack Beetlestone speak to Broadcast Sport reporter Max Miller about how to create a YouTube channel from the ground up, and their experience doing so for snooker legend Stephen Hendry.

Social Bull has overseen the successful launch of Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips, which sees the snooker legend giving advice on playing the game, interviewing fellow snooker stars, and performing various challenges related to the sport. As well as Hendry, the likes of Steven Davis, Mark Williams, Judd Trump and other major snooker players have taken part in content.

After just three months, the channel has attracted over 80,000 subscribers, driven by organic reach through Hendry, his interviewees, and the snooker community, as well as regularly drawing hundred of thousands of views to its videos.

Lavell and Beetlestone take listeners through the process of launching the channel - from first pitching the idea to Hendry to their ideas for where to go now they have built a regular audience.

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A session from the Broadcast Sport Leaders Forum, which took place at the BFI Southbank on 1 November 2022. Aurora managing director Lawrence Duffy and Whisper managing director Mark Cole speak to Base head of marketing Emily Pryor about how they approach producing large live sport events such as the Women's Euros, Formula E, and more.

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A session from the Broadcast Sport Leaders Forum, which took place at the BFI Southbank on 1 November 2022. Channel 4 head of sport Pete Andrews, Sky Sports commercial director Yath Gangakumaran, and BBC Sport head of radio and digital Ben Gallop discuss the most significant issues impacting sports broadcasting in 2022 and beyond. The landscape is changing, with traditional broadcasters facing increased competition from streaming platforms who could battle it out to secure the biggest, most popular sports rights. Meanwhile, the forthcoming joint venture between Discovery and BT Sport creates a huge new sports broadcaster with existing rights across a plethora of different sports, including significant top-tier Premier League and Champions League football rights.

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Gary Lineker spoke to Broadcast Sport editorial director Jake Bickerton about his new Audible Original podcast series, How To Win A World Cup. The 14-part podcast sees Gary Lineker and Cesc Fàbregas explore what it takes to win the biggest prize in the game. The podcast including entertaining chat between Lineker (who has never won a World Cup) and Fàbregas (who has!) about the importance of having a football genius in your side, a top manager, the best striker, the ultimate game plan, even just a huge slice of luck or some other elusive, magic ingredient. In this podcast, Lineker explains how the podcast was planned and recorded, how presenting a podcast differs from presenting TV shows, why he created his own podcast production company, Goalhanger Podcasts, and who he thinks will win the 2022 World Cup.

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Broadcast Sport reporter Max Miller talks to Sophie Hind, managing director of audio production house, Voiceworks Sport about how to maximise the potential of podcasts for sports rights holders.

Voiceworks Sport works with rights holders, brands, athletes, and more on podcasts, and Hind reveals how podcasts can assist smaller and larger rights holders both with fan engagement and creating a new revenue stream. The benefits of audio for an overall digital strategy are also outlined. 

Listen to find out Hinds recommendations, including authenticity, behind-the-scenes access, and differentiation from other formats, with differing strategies necessary depending on what a rights holder wants to gain from its audio offering. She also reveals real world examples from Voiceworks Sport's work across the sporting landscape.

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Claire McArdle, co-CEO of Collective Media Group talks to Broadcast Sport reporter Max Miller about the company's newly-launched sports production wing, Collective Media Sport.

The division is behind the highlights programming for golf's The Legends Tour and forthcoming feature doc, Brazil 2002: The Real Story, which tells the story of the team who were victorious at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Collective Media Group launched last year, having been set up by two former execs from ViacomCBS - McArdle and Rebecca Knight. It focuses factual and entertainment content, with its premium sport content produced through Collective Media Sport, which launched in February.

In the podcast, McArdle explains how it works with rights holders, clubs, federations and brands to help develop and distribute content around their own IP. The aim is to help clients broaden their appeal and gain a new audience, especially a younger audience.

She talks about the growth of sports docs and how women's sports is under-represented in sports documentaries and how content can be created around this untapped market.

McArdle also explains about how Collective Media Group has recruited a diverse workforce, the staff shortage in the industry, and where growth opportunities lie for the company.

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TV and radio presenter Jason Mohammed (Match of the Day, Final Score) and TV presenter and ex-footballer Nathan Blake talk to Broadcast Sport reported Max Miller about their new production company Jams and Mr B.  The company produces sports-focused podcasts (including the Cardiff City podcast A Bit of Swazz), TV and radio productions, and has big ambitions to become a major player in the market. Fundamental to the company's ethos is to create lasting opportunities for underrepresented talent to build a career in sports production. As part of this, Jams and Mr B is setting up a bursary with S4C, Rondo and Cardiff Metropolitan University, to provide funding for talent from underrepresented communities to gain the skills and knowledge that will equip them for a career in the industry. Mohammed and Blake explain their thinking behind doing this and what they are doing to ensure they will create proper, long-lasting opportunities rather than hollow promises that ultimately come to nothing.

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Sampson Collins, the director of the two-hour documentary GAZZA, talks to Broadcast Sport reporter Max Miller about the creative process involved in making the film.

GAZZA has been made entirely from archive and home video footage. The film uses this extensively researched and sequenced archive material to meticulously examine Paul Gascoigne's life and career in the context of UK society during the 1990s and, in particular, the role of the Tabloid press's obsession with celebrity culture and its ability to make or break careers.

In this podcast, Collins discusses what his aims were for the film, how he planned the documentary and found the archive footage and how it was assembled to tell Gascoigne's story alongside the broader look at the role of the Tabloid press and its influence on society in the 1990s and beyond.

GAZZA is available as a 2x60-minute series on BBC iPlayer and has just been released in a feature film format on DVD and Blu-Ray.

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Globally renowned filmmakers and photographers Stuart and Andrew Douglas talk to Broadcast Sport's Max Miller about how they made feature-length documentary, Ronaldinho: The Happiest Man in the World. The film is one of the key pieces of content on FIFA's recently launched streaming platform, FIFA+, and tells the highs and lows of one of the world's greatest players. The documentary looks at Ronaldinho's childhood in Brazil, his breakthrough to professional football and his journey to Europe including his ground-breaking years with Barcelona. It includes invaluable insights from his family, teammates. In the podcast, The Douglas Brothers explain their approach to documentary making, and how they set out to create a powerful, emotional film that was far more than "just a collection of his best goals."

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This is a 'fireside chat' with Sunil Patel, co-founder of Whisper, and Whisper’s director of production, Bethan Evans. They talk about the history of the company, its place in the sports production market, its ownership and earlier funding from the Channel 4 Growth Fund before receiving investment from Sony. The company is only 11 years old but is already the trusted production outfit behind flagship sporting events including The Paralympics, the F1 (for Channel 4), and cricket coverage for the BBC. It also has excelled at appointing women to key positions within the company and ensuring diversity in its workforce. Evans and Patel talk about their roles at Whisper, and what the key focus and key projects are for the company in 2022. The conversation was chaired by Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton and recorded at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit, held at Dock10 Studios, Salford in March 2022.

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Little Dot Studios and Team Whistle provide insight into how they work with leading athletes, sports clubs and federations to create and manage YouTube channels that maximise fan engagement and the reach of content made for the platform. What content works best on YouTube, how do you create a YouTube strategy, and what is best practice for growing your sports brand on YouTube? Little Dot Studios runs a wealth of sports-related YouTube channels for clients, and Team Whistle manages the Premier League’s YouTube account.

Speakers Jeff Nathensen, MD - Team Whistle International Robbie Spargo, Director of Sport - Little Dot Studios

Chairperson Charlotte Wheeler, Director - Broadcast Tech & Sport Group

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A fireside chat with Sunset+Vine's David Tippett, who provides an overview of what’s being done by the host broadcaster as it gears up for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games later in the year. Sunset+Vine won the contract last year and will capture 2,000 hours of TV coverage across 19 sports during the 11 days of the competition (28 July-8 August), for an expected global audience in excess of 1.5 billion. At least 15% of the 1,600 technical and production workforce for the games will come from Birmingham and the West Midlands, having been trained through a Host Broadcast Training Initiative that Sunset+Vine is launching in the area. The initiative is specifically designed to address the lack of diversity in the creative sector, and will offer a year’s training to 200 young people from the region, with half recruited from underrepresented groups.

The podcast was recorded at The Broadcast Sport Content Summit, held at Dock10 Studios on 16 March 2022.

Speaker

David Tippett, Managing Director - Sunset + Vine

Chairperson

Gavin Ramjaun, Presenter & Senior Journalist - BBC

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The Buzz16 team behind its award-winning documentary explain their approach to the production and how they created such a powerful, hard-hitting film.

In the Sky Sports documentary, the former England and Premier League footballer Micah Richards explores the true scale of the racism problem in British football, and what can be done about it.

The production team behind it are young and diverse, including many alumni of the MAMA Youth Project, which aims to get young people from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds employed in the broadcast and media industries.

This podcast is a recording of a panel discussion at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit, held at Dock10 Studios on 16 March 2022. For more details about Broadcast Sport's series of events, visit https://www.broadcastsportevents.co.uk 

Speakers Nad Ali, Senior Editor - Buzz16 Nick Mattingly, Director - Buzz16 Rio Clarke, Assistant Producer - Buzz16

Chairperson Carrie Wootten, Managing Director - Rise

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This IWD 2022 podcast is with Gemma Knight, sports director at BT Sport and Bethan Evans, head of broadcast operations at Whisper. They talk about their background and how they got to where they are today, as well as how to encourage better gender representation and diversity in sports production and sports broadcast, to mark International Women’s Day 2022. Knight and Evans also offer advice to young women who might want to pursue a career in sports production and broadcast.

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Matt Stagg, director of mobile strategy at BT Sport talks to Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton about sports in the metaverse. Stagg explains what the metaverse is and what it can offer sports fans, through innovative use of VR, AR and XR. BT Sport is currently undergoing R&D projects to see what could be possible utilising cloud computing and 5G, to stream immersive ‘metaverse’ experiences live and with ultra low latency to fans. These include enabling MotoGP fans to build a room of virtual screens around them to show the broadcast feed supplemented by an interactive, holographic track showing where each of the drivers is currently located. Stagg also talks about how the metaverse will be able to bring fans at home into the stadium, in enjoy live matches with their friends from the best virtual corporate box in the stadium. Boxing fans will also be able to immerse themselves in fights, watching volumetric versions of the boxers they are able to view from any angle. Stagg reveals what he believes to be realistic timetables for these concepts to potentially come to market, and what the future of sports broadcasts might looks like in the world of the metaverse.

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BAFTA-winning film-maker Matt Smith talks to Broadcast Sport reporter Max Miller about his Prime Video documentary ROONEY.

Smith directed the film after gaining the trust of Wayne and Colleen Rooney to tell the inside story of the Rooney’s rise to fame at a young age, and how they handled the intense media interest in themselves and their relationship.

In the podcast, Smith explains how he managed to get Wayne and Colleen to open up so candidly about their lives and careers and what it takes to create a compelling sports documentary. As he explains in the podcast, the last thing he wanted to make was a ‘puff piece’.

The documentary features candid testimonials from both Wayne and Colleen as well as Rooney's father and close family members. ROONEY also includes contributions from David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Thierry Henry, and Rooney's former managers David Moyes and Sven Goran Eriksson.

The film provides unprecedented access to Rooney as he recounts the most important moments in his life and career.

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The BBC’s lead director for the Winter Olympics, Sally Richardson, talks to Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton about how and why the broadcaster created its eye-catching Winter Olympics virtual studio, turning a small green screen space in Salford into a vast ski lodge with seven presenting positions. The BBC handled the design and creation of the studio in-house and is using the space to host around 300 hours of Winter Olympics coverage over the course of the games. Richardson also talks about the remote production of the Games and the non-live content the BBC is creating around the Winter Olympics.

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Some great insight into sports fans' willingness (or otherwise) to pay for sport content, from Jack Genovese, senior analyst at Ampere, recorded at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit at Dock10 Studios in September. The podcast also features Steve Boulton, CEO, Golden Egg Innovation, talking about televising the Gran Turismo esports tournament from an innovative virtual studio environment. The session was chaired by Sadie Groom, MD, Bubble Agency.

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The third speaker session at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit, held at Dock10 Studios, MediaCityUK. Sara Butler at Shoot the Company and Steve Smith at Sky Sports talk about what broadcasters, production companies and sports organisations are doing to help facilitate cultural change and raise awareness of key issues such as gender and racial inequality and social media bullying.

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Alexandra Willis, communications and marketing director at AELTC and Gavin Johnson, group media director at City Football Group join Broadcast Sport editor Jake Bickerton on stage at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit, held at Dock10 Studios on 30 September 2021, to talk about fan engagement for rights holders.

They discuss Wimbledon’s Wimbledon Channel and Manchester City's self-made documentary, Together.

The podcast was recorded live at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit.

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BBC director of sport Barbara Slater talks to BBC sports presenter Gavin Ramjaun about the sports that work well on the BBC; why free-to-air is important for key sports and 'crown jewel' sporting events; and how free-to-air services partner with pay-TV and D2C platforms to maximise the reach and profile of different sporting events. Recorded at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit at Dock10 on 30 September 2021.