The rapidly expanding, industry defying UK production company that’s ambitiously beyond genre
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The winning of a BAFTA for the 2022 Women’s EURO confirmed Whisper’s meteoric rise as a leading producer of international sports content. It’s now one of the fastest-growing businesses in the sector, attracting financial backing from Channel 4 and Sony Pictures Entertainment, and is making waves by delivering across multiple genres. But it doesn’t like to define itself by those genres…
Whisper has a mission: to transform the way the production industry approaches making TV.
Both BAFTA-winning and Emmy nominated, Whisper’s mission has propelled it to become a leading force in the world of international entertainment production, even during these increasingly difficult times, when growth in the industry is stalling. Over the past eight years, company revenue rose from £1 million (2016) to £80 million.
Whisper’s secret? It doesn’t define anything by genre and instead believes all productions perform better if they’re free from restrictions. It’s something Whisper’s co-founder and CEO Sunil Patel has termed “beyond genre”, and it’s been applied to all Whisper shows since it began working with F1 and NFL in 2016.
Initially making an impact in sport, Whisper approached sport as Entertainment. Working with the likes of the BBC, Amazon and Channel 4, many of its original production members were sourced from big entertainment productions, such as Dancing with the Stars (USA), Big Brother (UK) and The Great British Bake Off (UK).
Entertainment presenter Steve Jones was cast to head up Whisper’s F1 show, while Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora were signed for Whisper’s multi-award-winning BBC NFL Show. Huge Hollywood stars, such as Orlando Bloom, Natalie Portman, Tom Cruise and Ryan Reynolds have featured across many of Whisper’s scripted sports features.
Not that it’s all play. Serious analysis and reflection are part of Whisper’s productions when they need to be. But the company’s productions are still fueled by the “entertainment is everything” ethos. This is applied across its work with UEFA, FIFA, Wimbledon, the All Blacks, the NFL, the Six Nations, WSL, Formula One and a host of British broadcasters.
“Sport is fun; it’s escapism; it makes people react and want to laugh, cry, scream or love and it’s now the most relevant live viewing experience,” says Patel. “We’ve celebrated that at every opportunity.”
The proof that it’s worked? Whisper has won Best Sports Entertainment Show for the past three years at the Sport Broadcast Awards, for three separate shows: its coverage of the Paralympics, F1 and NFL. It also won a BAFTA for its acclaimed coverage of the 2022 Women’s EURO. And it has more exciting plans for this year, including delivering Wimbledon, the 2024 Paris Paralympics and UEFA Euro 2024.
But this is only one part of the Whisper growth story. After transforming UK sports production, it is now establishing itself as a credible player across the wider entertainment landscape, moving into other areas of production such as unscripted, documentary, esports and live events.
Applying it’s successful beyond genre approach, Whisper has already had three Game Shows broadcast on ITV this year. This includes two daytime quiz shows in Riddiculous (a format it created and owns) and Jeopardy!, the UK version of the American juggernaut, hosted by Stephen Fry. It also delivered the Saturday night hit gameshow Wheel of Fortune with Graham Norton.
Whisper has also developed premium documentaries such as Ben Stokes: Phoenix From the Ashes with Sir Sam Mendes for Amazon Prime, and The British Airways Killer, a true crime two-part smash for ITV. It has three more big titles coming this year, one of which is ’Sven’, due to stream on Amazon this Summer.
In esports, meanwhile, Whisper is delivering game-changing productions for clients such as EA Sports, as well as live events, having recently produced the FIFA Best Awards. It also has a thriving branded department, delivering global TVCs and campaigns for clients such as Peloton and NEOM, as well as producing content for several Formula One teams.
“We’re ambitiously multi-genre”, says Patel. “We love sport and always will – the passion for it across our team is off the scales. But it doesn’t define us. We don’t ringfence our team and like to keep things fluid. As a result, we have sports producers feeding into live events, entertainment producers enhancing documentaries and graphic designers advising on global TVC commercials.
“We have offices in London, Cardiff, Manchester, Riyadh and Auckland – and are planning to open an office in America this year, as we deliver across many areas of the industry.
“The approach keeps us fresh. It challenges traditional thinking and ensures we continue to develop. It also helps us to retain team members and protects us in a moving market. It’s beneficial to be able to offer staff the opportunity to work in new areas.”
And team members seem happy. This year the team was awarded the Broadcast Best Places to Work accolade for an unprecedented seventh time, which is partly due to the focus the team places on culture and diversity. A British Asian who grew up in a predominantly white area, CEO Sunil feels strongly that the company should reflect the world his team sees as they travel into work.
As a result, diversity has been prioritized off camera, as well on-screen via representation and in the content of Whisper’s slate.
So what’s next for Whisper?
“Future growth, supported by a strong business model,” says Patel. “We have exciting tech plans for our Cardiff office, a big summer of sport planned, strong documentaries that are soon to be released and some new gameshow pilots in production.
“There’s a lot of breadth, but substance behind it. It’s thanks to our brilliant team that we are where we are. With them beside me, delivering premium content, I’m excited about where we can take the business next.”
To discover more, please visit www.whisper.tv