World Rugby picks Sunset+Vine for Sevens Series

World Rugby has selected sports producer Sunset+Vine as its host broadcast partner for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

Following a competitive tender, Sunset+Vine secured a four year deal to 2023 to deliver all host production services, non-live content and highlights packaging for the twelve tournaments per year.

Sunset+Vine has a strong rugby pedigree, having produced the English Premiership and European competitions for BT Sport since 2013 and the Pro 14 for Premier Sports since 2018.

Sunset+Vine’s team will be led by executive producer Helena Sykes, with Mark Dennis as director of technical operations and Adeline Lee as production executive.

Jeff Foulser, chairman of Sunset+Vine, commented: “We will use our rugby expertise to take the live coverage to a new level by standardising the production approach across the whole series and by bringing an ‘entertainment’ philosophy to the ‘short-form’ format of the sport. We want to offer broadcasters scheduling flexibility without compromising story-telling, so that viewers can quickly get up to speed with the status of the competition whenever a broadcaster joins the transmission.”

Marissa Pace, chief marketing officer of World Rugby, added: “Our vision is to make the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series one of the most entertaining sports series for fans. With Sunset+Vine’s excellent reputation for innovation in sports coverage, we are excited to take advantage of their new ideas and technology offering to help us attract new audiences and further engage our existing fans across multiple digital and social platforms.”