Spilling the T with Jack Eatherley

With a summer of the Euros, Olympics and Paralympics well underway, what social impact can Live Sports TV have on our world?

With a background in charity and sport, Jack Eatherley, the Founder and Consultant of Do/Social, former Head of Community Investment at Sky and Trustee of Together TV has plenty to say on the social impact of media, especially when related to sports.

Francesca Aita, Head of Marketing at Together TV, joins Jack for a cuppa to discuss the social effects in media and sports and how Do/Social helps individuals and organisations improve their impact.

Francesca Aita , Head of Marketing at Together TV : Would you like to share your professional path and the roles you have had over the years?

Jack Eatherley , Founder and Consultant of Do/Social: After I finished an arts degree at Goldsmiths, I got an opportunity to join a charity named Street League. Street League was set up by a doctor to help at risk young adults by providing regular sports. I was given the opportunity to grow it and develop it from scratch. I spent four amazing years there and then I went to Brazil to do similar work, using sports and arts as a tool supporting homeless adults.

When I returned back to England, and got an opportunity to join Sky, I was asked to develop and grow a sports initiative that worked in schools. Sky was very ahead of its time with social purpose. There was a real focus on social initiatives and how a media company could play its part in solving those challenges.

During my time at Sky, I focused on an array of community investment initiatives, sports participation programmes and strategies to improve diversity and inclusion. I saw first-hand how partnerships between the private and charitable sector could maximise social impact with each bringing valuable skills and expertise.

Francesca: Is there an initiative you feel most proud of?

Jack: I think there are two. The first one was Sky Sports Living for Sport, which is the school's initiative I mentioned before. We worked with a brilliant team at the Youth Sport Trust to eventually reach a third of all secondary schools. We had over 120 athletes mentoring children in schools, and over half a million children took part. It was something I was really proud of, and I’ll always look back on it as a successful initiative.

Recently, there was an initiative which I led on a much smaller scale, to improve off-field diversity in football. We worked with Kick It Out and the 英国利物浦大学 , to fund and set up an MBA scholarship, taking some of the best talent from underrepresented communities in the UK and giving them an opportunity to fast track their careers. Looking back now, since I left Sky, the team there continues to do that brilliant work. I think that's the interesting part about the work, you don’t see always the results immediately, sometimes it’s years later you can see the impact of work.

Francesca: Was there a challenging moment that you learned a lot from?

Jack: I think one of the challenges with the field that I'm in like many others is that it needs resources and cash investment and when there are challenges around it needs to stand up and prove its worth in the short term. Unfortunately, with long term social impact and reputational work this can sometimes be a challenge. If leadership changes, priorities might change. Where that clashes with a social impact initiative is that you often need to be doing these for multiple years to create the impact and understandably there sometimes isn't the patience for that.

I have had experience of having to stop things, which was very difficult. Social impact initiatives need to align with what the company is doing and what it's about. It goes back to understanding how that company is unique, successful and, for?the most part,?profitable. If you can understand that clearly, it’s going to help you create and ultimately protect the sustainability of your social impact strategies.

Francesca: You have started a new consultancy called Do/Social. Why did you feel the need to create Do/Social and why do you think it’s important for the industry?

Jack: I set up Do/Social to help both individuals and organisations design and develop social impact initiatives. As long as I can remember I have always loved setting up social projects and after being taught by so many inspiring people in my career it felt like the right time to share the process and practice of what I have learnt.

Depending on the brief, the work that we're doing can run across a number of things like designing strategy, developing initiatives, reviewing and understanding what they're already doing, and why they're doing it. It’s so fun! Every company, leadership group and challenge is different. I’m a creative at heart and I love understanding what’s really important. One thing that links it all is the people.

Francesca: In January 2024, NBC hosted the first-ever exclusive live stream of NFL and the Wild Card Playoff became the most streamed programme in history. You’ve worked on leveraging sport to make social impact programmes in a TV environment. What are your thoughts on the centrality of sport on social impact?

Jack: Sport isn’t going anywhere, it's more popular than it's ever been! In itself it’s about creating a social impact bringing fans together, to watch it, play it, fall in love with it and follow it. It's always been a fabric of the community in the UK and across the world. Television is more accessible now than ever before. There’s more choice and ways to watch. That fuels the passion and the love of sport, but also the money and investment in sport. It's only going in one direction in terms of growth.

From a media company perspective...Read Jack's full answer and the rest of the interview on Together TV's website >>