Sky Rivals Netflix For Premier League Docuseries

British subscription sports channel Sky Sports is set to compete with US streaming giant Netflix for the rights to produce a ‘behind-the-scenes’ docuseries covering the Premier League, according to reports.

UK-based Box To Box Films, the production company behind Netflix’s Formula 1 docuseries Drive To Survive and Steven Gerrard documentary Make us Dream, is thought to have already contacted the Premier League’s 20 clubs individually over the potential project. 

The series, which will be produced in a similar style to Drive To Survive, will look to build on the success of other football-focused fly-on-the-wall documentaries that have taken off in recent months. Amazon Prime’s All Or Nothing: Arsenal and Disney’s Welcome To Wrexham both highlight the growing thirst for ‘off the pitch’ content.

According to The Telegraph, if the idea goes ahead the English top-flight’s biggest broadcast partner, Sky, wants to be in contention to produce it. The broadcaster, owned by US company Comcast, already holds a three-year £3.6bn rights package with the league for its regular schedule of matches.

Netflix appears to be the other significant interested party and would hope to replicate the global success of Drive To Survive, the project it worked on with Box To Box. Formula 1 saw a 40% increase in its US television viewership between 2021 and 2022, while seven of the 10 most-watched races in American history came during 2021, with many attributing the growing figures to Netflix’s docuseries.

The US streaming giant also announced a 200,000 decline in subscribers earlier this year, meaning a Premier League project could be the perfect opportunity to recover by utilising English football’s substantial audience.

Before Box To Box can secure a broadcaster, details will need to be confirmed over the scope of the series, with matters such as behind the scenes access and rights to highlights yet to be discussed with the teams involved. The 20 Premier League clubs will then need to make a decision.

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