Since its January 2014 launch, Whistle Sports has built up a network of sports videos with the help of some national leagues. The company’s strategy has revolved in part around deals with mid-level organizations in sports like lacrosse and ultimate frisbee, but its latest league partner is the biggest North American sports league of them all: The National Football League. Whistle Sports and the NFL have announced a content partnership that will extend across multiple social media platforms.
A press release announcing the deal didn’t give too many specific details about the sort of programming Whistle Sports and the NFL will produce together, but the general plan involves “short-form comedic takes, impersonations, fan subculture documentaries, workout and training videos, skill competitions, alternate histories, trick shots, and eSports face-offs,” among other video formats.
Already, we’ve seen a few Whistle Sports videos that incorporate the NFL’s logos into a few of its videos. Earlier in September, comedian Scooter Magruder starred in a video that riffed on each fanbase’s emotional state after the first week of the NFL season.
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“This evolution of our partnership is a major stride as brands have been actively seeking ways to leverage social content and creators focused on the NFL on the channels where millennials are following sports 24/7,” said Whistle Sports President Jeff Urban in the release. “Our audience has always devoured NFL content and we now have the ability to bring brands into the conversation. From a brand perspective the agreement enables advertisers to activate around NFL-themed content to reach their audiences via means that have been proven highly effective and have not been previously available – through native upload to some of the biggest and most engaged social channels.”
The pact with Whistle Sports is part of the NFL’s newly-expanded strategy in the online video space. After spending years with a very limited digital presence, the top American football league has recently become much more liberal with the distribution of its video content. Each Sunday during the season, for example, the NFL’s YouTube channel fills up with a plethora of new clips, highlight reels, and other gameday features.
