OS Studios to put creators at heart of Ultimate Sevens coverage

OS Studios has won the contract to produce rugby union’s new Ultimate Sevens tournament – described as rugby union’s version of The Hundred.

Pitching itself as a “fan engagement agency and production company across gaming, sports and entertainment,” OS Studios has ambitious plans for Ultimate Sevens, to redefine how rugby sevens is experienced, distributed and consumed.

OS Studios will lead Ultimate Sevens’ live broadcast production, including creator integration and fan experience strategy, designed for a digital-first world.

Ultimate Sevens is built around equal men’s and women’s competition, academy player integration and an entertainment-focused format. Its focus is on building on rugby sevens’ existing fandom and reaching beyond traditional audiences.

Rather than treating broadcast, social content and live events as separate outputs, OS Studios says that, together with Ultimate Sevens, it’s building a unified entertainment ecosystem where athletes, creators, crowd and digital audience “all exist inside the same connected experience”.

OS Studios will also mirror Ultimate Sevens’ commitment to equal visibility for both men and women in the competition, with a focus on representation both on screen and behind the camera.

The announcement marks a continued expansion of OS Studios’ work across global sport, following its evolution from a gaming-first production company into a broader fan engagement agency operating across sports, entertainment and culture.

Broadcast Sport spoke to Sharon Fuller, SVP Sports at OS Studios, about her plans for Ultimate Sevens. She said: “We won Ultimate Sevens with quite a cheeky proposition – to grow the ‘fundom’ of the sport. This is everything from fan engagement in arenas, the quality of the production and bringing in people from the gaming industry as part of our team to really bring that fresh approach.

“An important part of this is the Ultimate Sevens Lounge we’re creating, which will function as a studio, an athlete hangout, a fan zone, and a content creator area. We’re also doing something we call decentralised distribution, which is to actively go out and give rights to the Ultimate Sevens to content creators to produce their own shows, alongside broadcast and digital distribution.”

Ultimate Sevens managing director, Barney Pascall adds: “Ultimate Sevens is designed to unlock the full potential of rugby sevens for modern fans. When selecting our broadcast partner, OS Studios really stood out to us with their deep understanding of how modern audiences engage with sport, culture and entertainment. Combining world-class production and bold storytelling, together, we are building a platform that continues to give equal prominence to the men’s and women’s game, creates new opportunities for emerging talent, and delivers a more connected, immersive experience for fans around the world.”

“Rugby sevens has incredible heritage, but many parts of the sport still operate through systems built for a very different era of media and fandom,” said John Higgins, CEO of OS Studios. “What excited us about Ultimate Sevens was the ambition to build something differently from day one. This is not about simply producing rugby coverage. It’s about creating a property where live experience, storytelling, creators, athletes and fans all work together as one entertainment ecosystem.

“Sevens is one of the most exciting formats in global sport. It’s fast, emotional, accessible and naturally suited to modern audiences. We believe there is a huge opportunity to build a global rugby property that feels culturally relevant to the next generation, not just existing rugby fans.