Innovation, sustainability and inclusivity have become its watchwords
They say the best champions are consistent – and Sky Sports Main Event has proved just that by landing the Non PSB Group title for the second year in a row. Its not hard to see why, with on-site and remote productions resulting in 9,200 hours of live coverage and delivering record-breaking levels of viewing.
Innovation, sustainability and inclusivity have become its watchwords, and the channel went beyond its traditional remit to commission 10 pieces of diverse content from creators who are part of its New Focus Fund initiative.
The kind of progressive thinking is also evidenced in content such as the shortlisted Sky Sports Scenes, featuring some of the UK’s biggest online influencers, but doesn’t come at the expense of serving its traditional audience of mainstream sports fans via the thrilling and thought-provoking shows such as Monday Night Football, or Luke Littler’s World Darts Championship fairytale.
NFL, boxing, golf, and Formula 1 were covered from Sky’s ‘super studio’ for the first-time, which makes use vast numbers of LED panels, a VR processing platform, immersive AR graphics, 15 real time engines, and plenty more besides.
But to focus too much on technical innovation is to overlook Sky Sports Main Event’s editorial expertise. Its outstanding cricket coverage included emotional scenes that celebrated the achievements and retirement of James Anderson and poignantly marked the death by suicide of Graham Thorpe, while its F1 coverage featured on-board cameras and, importantly, never-before-heard team audio. The effect of both is to build proximity to star talent, and to push storytelling to an award-winning level.
SHORTLISTED
TNT Sports
There has been plenty of innovation at TNT Sports, not least the hugely impressive Goals Show Xtra, which provides real-time highlights and reaction across Champions League gameweeks, including week eight which saw every team in action, across 18 simultaneous games. Anchor Matt Smith plus Ally McCoist, Karen Carney and James Horncastle delivered wave after wave of reaction as 64 goals were scored. Its Autumn Nations Series rugby won Best Sports or Live Event Coverage.
U&Drama
Turning the narrative of linear decline on its head, U&Drama is finding great success with a powerful combination of high-quality acquisitions such as Whitstable Pearl, The Chelsea Detective and Sister Boniface Mysteries and a burgeoning slate of original commissions. The Marlow Murder Club is a huge returning hit and the resurrection of Bergerac has helped grow the channel brand’s reputation significantly.
U&W
U&W’s biggest achievement during the qualifying period was probably the traction it has gained with one of the hardest to reach demographics. It delivered a 15% increase in share amongst 16–34-year-olds, thanks in no small part, to Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake, which has been named Best Popular Factual Programme. Elsewhere, Katherine Ryan has joined a talent-heavy stable alongside the likes of Emma Willis and Stacey Dooley.
U&Yesterday
Seven out of U&Yesterday’s 10 highest-rating shows are original commissions and many are hugely successful returning projects – with Bangers & Cash at the forefront. The megabrand – which has spawned a live spin-off event that was attended by 15,000 people – returned for series nine and ten, and at its peak can deliver close to 900k viewers.
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