NBC Sports recently announced a pretty significant update and overhaul of their website that centered around a digital evolution and rebranding. One of the new endeavors that NBC is now diving into is the short-film storytelling world, launching NBC Sports Digital Shorts.
ESPN has seen a lot of success in this realm with Grantland and the 30 for 30 shorts specifically. NBC is going to try their hand at it as well, beginning with a six episode series about former NFL head coach Mike Sherman now coaching high school football in Cape Cod.
Via NBC Sports:
NBC Sports Digital announced today the launch of NBC Sports Digital Shorts, an initiative focused on producing short-form original digital content for NBCSports.com and other NBC Sports Digital platforms. NBC Sports Digital Shorts content will include digital-exclusive short-form original franchises, scenes and interviews from NBC Sports Group’s broad array of linear and digital video production teams, specially packaged highlights and clips from NBC Sports Group’s properties, and more.
The first project of NBC Sports Digital Shorts is Sherman’s Warriors, an original digital series starring former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman, debuting this Sunday, October 18, immediately following NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Sherman’s Warriors can be found on NBCSports.com and other NBC Sports Digital platforms for desktops, tablets, mobile devices and connected TVs. Additional digital-exclusive original programming franchises will be announced in the coming months.
Sherman’s Warriors, a six-episode series, follows Sherman as he takes on a new and different challenge, coaching a high school football team in Cape Cod, Mass. – the Nauset Warriors.
“In furthering NBC Sports Group’s commitment to storytelling and NBCSports.com’s focus on video, NBC Sports Digital Shorts will help us provide users with more compelling, digital-focused content than ever before,” said Brian Gilmore, Senior Director, Video, NBCSports.com. “Our debut project, Sherman’s Warriors, is a reminder of what is most important in youth sports, with a focus on fun, teamwork and leadership as Coach Sherman looks to revitalize a football program.”
The series debuts on Sunday Night Football this weekend. Here’s a trailer:
It’s not just sports, the media world is going digital. Take a look at what ESPN has done with all of their video and streaming content online. FS1 is using digital views instead of traditional television ratings as the barometer for Katie Nolan’s show. Even Bleacher Report has been a leader in the space in featuring tons of video content. Now NBC is joining the party and given what they’ve produced in the storytelling world at the Olympics and through documentary efforts, it should lead to compelling content. It’s not just cliche to say online video and digital content is the wave of the future, it’s really the wave of the present too.
