Daily Mail: Sky Sports 'want to rival Netflix for Drive to Survive-style PL doc'

Story from Daily Mail:

Sky Sports are aiming to rival Netflix to make a Drive to Survive-style documentary for the Premier League, according to reports.

The Premier League and the company behind the hugely successful Formula One doc are said to be set for talks in the coming days about a brand new behind-the-scenes project.

And as reported by the Telegraph, if the idea goes ahead, US-owned Sky - the English top-flight's biggest broadcast partner - want to be in contention to produce it.

Box-to-box - the production company for an Amazon documentary on Steven Gerrard titled Make us Dream - are thought to have contacted all 20 clubs in the division individually over the potential project.

Any project, though, would hinge on each and every one of the 20 clubs coming to an agreement and deciding on the extent of access they are prepared to allow filming crews.

Sky, owned by US company Comcast, have a three-year rights package with the Premier League worth £3.6billion.

Perhaps strangely, Sky has insisted smash hit Drive to Survive was itself the main reason for the recent explosion of F1, despite viewing figures for the sport increasing by 40 per cent since the show's launch.

Instead, they claim their coverage has been a key factor in that surge in popularity.

So far, documentaries about Premier League sides have stuck to just one club, with Manchester City, Tottenham and most recently Arsenal made by Amazon Prime in the 'All or Nothing' series.

That series has also included Brazil's national team, New Zealand's All Blacks rugby union side.

Given that the Premier League has become one of the world's leading sporting brands, with 3.2billion viewers tuning in in 2019-20 alone, it is hard to believe that the purpose of a series would be to ensnare a new generation of fans.

But with the success of sporting documentaries in the USA, the potential to harness potential new markets would likely bring financial incentives to the 20 sides involved.

A documentary series, backed by the broadcasting power of Netflix could also serve to drive up the Premier League's international broadcast rights value, which is thought to be the path of greatest growth potential for the division.

And with Netflix announcing a 200,000 decline in subscribers earlier this year, a project could serve to benefit both parties, as well as bring fans an unrivalled look at the inner workings of the league.

Brandon Riegg, Netflix's head of unscripted programming and documentaries, told Bloomberg earlier this year that tennis, golf and F1 series helped the streaming giant 'recruit folks who'd never watched sports or never watched Formula One'.

Riegg also mentioned successful highlights programmes for American football and basketball that have been running in the US for decades, saying: 'How long has Inside the NFL been going on? Or Inside the NBA? We're trying to build that same virtuous cycle.'