British & Irish Lions create Lions Productions
April 18, 2024
The British & Irish Lions have partnered with entertainment production company Whisper to create Lions Productions ahead of the 2025 Tour to Australia.
The partnership will see Lions Productions produce the documentary for the 2025 Tour as well as all in-house content production and exclusive behind-the-scenes content including for the newly formed Lions Women’s Team.
The formation of Lions Productions formalises a partnership which for the 2021 Tour delivered the Emmy-nominated all-access documentary Two Sides. This built on a heritage of iconic British & Irish Lions Tour documentaries and also told the story from within the South African camp for the first time.
This longer-term agreement will mean that as in 2021 Whisper will film all in-camp content incorporating broadcast, highlight packages and official digital content.
As well as being the exclusive provider of Lions content, Lions Productions will also act as the in-Tour production company for The British & Irish Lions partners, who together with the Lions and Whisper are focused on leveraging the reach and appeal of the Tour through creative storytelling.
Whisper has been a multi-year production partner for World Rugby and produced the Front Row Daily Show for the All Blacks’ streaming platform NZR+ during the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Whisper Cymru produced the Rugby World Cup for S4C, and it is production partner for the Welsh Rugby Union as well as producing the Women’s Six Nations for the BBC.
Ben Calveley, CEO, British & Irish Lions, commented: “We are delighted to announce the formation of Lions Productions with Whisper which presents a milestone moment for The British & Irish Lions. For the first time the Lions now has an exclusive, in-house content offering which will allow us to bring fans premium and engaging content throughout our Tour cycle. We know how important connecting with our fans is and Lions Productions will allow us to do so like never before as well as providing greater value for our partners.”
Carys Owens, Managing Director at Whisper Cymru, added: “Delivering sport as entertainment and telling great stories is what we do at Whisper, so to join forces with a formidable sporting brand like The British & Irish Lions and its partners, who are bursting with stories waiting to be told, is beyond exciting. Our last partnership brought great success and we will once again draw on the expertise of our documentary, digital, entertainment and broadcast teams to produce exciting content for this groundbreaking agreement.”