Channel 5 aims for Super Bowl Touch Down in Britain
Last summer, the NFL signed a groundbreaking free-to-air deal with British broadcaster Channel 5 (a subsidiary of Skydance-owned Paramount) with the aim of increasing interest in the sport across the pond.
The first season, hosted by Dermot O’Leary, Sam Quek and Osi Umenyiora and produced by Hungry Bear Media, featured a typical NFL game interspersed with pundits, quizzes and crowd games to appeal to both families and long-time fans. While reactions have been mixed (“the initial reaction from hardcore NFL fans was very mixed,” admits Hungry Bear executive producer Luke Shiach), viewers have warmed up as the season has progressed, spurred in part by the realization that the format needs to be family-friendly to attract British audiences – something Taylor Swift has also helped with, by the way.
Ahead of Channel 5’s “NFL: Big Game Night,” which will broadcast Super Bowl LX live from San Fancisco from 10:30 PM UK time on Sunday, February 8, Shiach spoke to Variety to talk about what it’s been like bringing the NFL to Britain, what the team has planned for Sunday and of course the Swift Effect.
What has been the reaction from British viewers so far?
The big problem for the NFL gaining traction in Britain is that it is very stop-starty, with ad breaks built into the actual game mechanics for the US TV market. So for a game I think it’s about 28 or 30 ad breaks. We don’t have that many requirements for ad breaks on British TV – in fact, we’re not allowed to have them – so instead of filling those ad breaks with mainstream experts, [we thought] What if you entertained the audience with a studio game show entertainment format? We tested it, it went well. [The NFL] I loved the craziness of it, the weirdness… and that’s what we did all season. The initial reaction from hardcore NFL fans was very divided between “Brilliant, we have free games to watch” but they hated the [studio] games – they felt patronized – while we got very good feedback from families and parents very, very quickly. Fathers who used to secretly watch it suddenly discovered that their children would watch it. But slowly, the NFL chat rooms and Reddit groups became a little more positive. And as we got closer to the business end of the season, we toned down the games, the craziness, and the competitions a bit.
Given that the piece can stop at any time, what is that like from a production perspective?
During the season it was incredible. We never know when a break will come because it is determined by the match. We’re sitting in the gallery listening to the American gallery, because we’re using the American feed. This is often chaos. Sometimes they argue about whether to take a break or stay on the field. We follow them. We have Dermot on the floor and ask, “Are we coming to the studio, or are we going to see the expert, or are we going to take a break? What are we doing?” And sometimes we don’t notice, and we literally say, “Dermot is coming to you in ten seconds and you have a minute to fill,” or “We have a highlight or a repeat, let’s talk about that.” And then he has to go through the stats and bring in guests and then we have to wrap it up and get back to the piece before we miss a moment, because we were told that if you missed the beginning of a piece, people would get furious. So it’s been an incredible process.
What do you have planned for Super Bowl Sunday?
If everything goes according to plan, it will be great. We are currently in San Fran shooting VTs. We had Sam Quek with us, we had access to the Pro Bowl. The [gameshow] game we played in every episode is called “NFL or…?” NFL players have incredible names. Americans have incredible names. And we found out that you can play a game called “NFL or…?” something. So the first one we did was “NFL [player] or rapper?” But what we found was that it was even better if you did ‘NFL player or British’ [gas] station?” or “NFL player or Shakespeare character?” or “NFL player or paint color?” So that’s become our kind of signature game. And so we played it with these absolute superstars like Dak Prescott and Cameron Dicker and Brandon Aubrey. We have “NFL or Great Britain?” So Gretna Green, is he an NFL player or a place in Britain?
The Super Bowl is such a huge cultural moment in the US. Do you think you can make something similar for Britain?
Listen, I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the American level, because it took a hundred years or whatever, but the ambition is definitely to evolve it from a niche cultural event that’s really interesting to something where people put it on their calendars and go. [to a] Super Bowl viewing party.
In terms of trying to increase British interest, we got a very useful calling card this year in that the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator is a Brit, Adam Durde. We had a sit-down interview with him on Monday with Sam, so that will be covered in our lead-up. He’s such a nice guy.
Another thing that I think is really good for a British audience is seeing themselves on air. So we have the official NFL viewing party in Walthamstow […] and we’ll try to introduce that so that during a break in play Dermot will say, “What a touchdown! Let’s see how it was celebrated in London.” So we’ll hopefully get a shot of people throwing their beer in the air.
How helpful has Taylor Swift been in expanding the NFL audience in Britain?
It’s such a process of trying to introduce a new culture into an existing culture and we have so many great sports in Britain. Anecdotally, Taylor Swift certainly helped plant the seeds of the NFL. We tried to emphasize the Taylor Swift effect. We had a Kansas City Chiefs game, so we booked a Taylor Swift lookalike, and we planted her in a special section of the crowd. At the end of the show we had a little allusion to her. We never gave her a name. We just subtly said, “Ooh, a big Travis Kelsey fan.” We were hoping some Swifties would join us – I don’t know if it worked!
This interview has been edited and condensed for space and clarity.
