Swimming : let there be light !

Interview by Alexandre Bailleul for SportBuzzBusiness

Arnaud Simon discusses the International Swimming League content & dessimination strategy

A few months ago, a new competitive swimming event was introduced to the sporting world with the launch of the International Swimming pro League (ISL).

As former Eurosport France CEO and Senior Vice-President in charge of Sports Content across Europe for Discovery, Arnaud Simon got involved with the ISL through his company, In&Out Stories. We took the opportunity to ask him a few questions.

SportBuzzBusiness : What part did you play in the launch of the International Swimming League towards the end of last year?

Arnaud Simon: This was one of the craziest and most extraordinary projects I’ve ever been involved in! Get this: when the International Swimming League (a new global pro League) sought me out in April 2019, they asked me to set up a live production team in the US and Europe, with unparalleled visuals and narration, all in under five months. At the same time, they needed us to determine a digital strategy and negotiate broadcasting all over the world.

Right now what I love about my company, In & Out Stories, is being in the thick of the action, supporting and helping national and international sports organizations invent the business model of the future for sports, storytelling and dissemination. I think that's why the ISL came to me. It's a very disruptive model no matter how you look at it, but it's what swimming needed to win back fans and regenerate business value.

“Breaking all the rules to establish a new storyline and surprise people is an amazing experience.” 

SBB: Tell us how you put the ISL in the spotlight prior to the event.

AS: The main challenge was figuring out how to present this new format, and this international league bringing together the best swimmers in the world.

Konstantin Grigorishin came up with the format. The ISL is first and foremost a team-based competition. It’s very different from traditional swimming competitions. Like basketball, soccer and team sports in general, coaches play a major role in the ISL. They can change the players depending on their strategy, choosing to go with Florent Manaudou for a race rather than someone else.

My role was to figure out how to draw spectators, and how to tell every aspect of the event on-screen. We readily drew inspiration from team sports. Konstantin Grigorishin often says that the International Swimming League is more than just a new swimming competition—it's a new sport for swimmers. Forget the podiums and the medals. Every race is the finals. Every match takes place over a weekend, with a very intense two-hour session held each day. There's no time to catch your breath. We play around a lot with split screens, for example, to tell different stories at the same time. Team boxes are installed along the sides of the pool like the NHL for a unique visual signature and a greater sense of team spirit. Our job was making sure that not one image resembled a traditional swimming competition. Athletes arrive in pairs on a stage covered in LEDs, one team at a time, just like the WWE! Breaking all the rules to establish a new storyline and surprise people is an amazing experience.

SBB: A number of spectators have brought up the innovative visual esthetic, often saying it reminds them of eSports. Was that part of the initial plan?

AS: Yes, we tried to innovate from scratch, right down to the camera shots—our 3D graphics are synchronized with the spidercam to provide information but make you feel like you're really there, completely immersed. You can always feel the atmosphere in the room. Breaking all the rules to establish a new storyline and surprise people is an amazing experience.

The pools were designed by specialized companies. The marketing brief described it as a cross between eSports and Marvel. The way the swimmers are presented, the lighting, the backgrounds—it's League of Legends meets Games of Thrones. The athletes themselves couldn't believe it!

SBB: How was distribution decided for the ISL?

AS: The goal was to reach all three destination types: social media, live streaming and linear TV. I thought it was important to use all three and not take too radical a stance by going fully digital. The experience, expertise and legitimacy that major broadcasters lend are extremely important when establishing a competition like the ISL. I wanted to associate the competition with well-known pay-TV brands like Eurosport and ESPN as well as pure and new players such as DAZN.

“The ISL brand and its content have reached 50 million people worldwide.” 

SBB: How many countries broadcast the competition?

AS: It's first season was broadcast in over 80 countries around the world. That's unheard of ! In addition to Eurosport and ESPN, broadcasters included CBC in Canada, Channel 7 in Australia, TV Globo in Brazil, DAZN in Japan, and the prestigious BBC in the UK.

ESPN offered all seven full matches live on its OTT platform, available to over 80 million Americans. By the third match the engagement rate reached 50% and ESPN decided to do a 52-minute recap Sunday night on ESPN2. Huge success for a new league.

There's great symbolism in the fact that these major groups are partners of the International Swimming League. The ISL wouldn't be affiliated with these major networks if it had only been available online during its first year.

SBB: Tell us the key figures regarding global audience and reach.

AS: The ISL brand and its content have reached 50 million people worldwide. This is highly unusual for a launch. Plus, it had only existed for four months at that point.

SBB: What approach did you take on social media?

AS: We wanted the freedom to do whatever we wanted digitally, and especially to post race clips across the ISL's accounts right after they happened. It's important for us to incorporate social media in addition to TV broadcasting and live streaming.

For the second season, apart from broadcasting, we’re also developing an OTT platform called ISL TV which will offer additional content. That way the ISL can offer the matches live in markets our partners don't cover.

SBB: Which is consistent with the direct-to-fan approach you advocate.

AS: Yes, the idea of the platform is to offer fans an entire swimming ecosystem with the understanding that the major challenge to know and serve them better is data. The ISL isn't just a new elite swimming competition—it's a showcase for the new home of swimming.

“The ISL isn't just a new elite swimming competition—it's a showcase for the new home of swimming.”

SBB: Is the ISL here to stay?

AS: I was immediately convinced by Konstantin Grigorishin's vision to create a eco-system with a much better financial redistribution for swimmers. It's fairer. I also really believe in this new format because it was instantly accepted as a real competition. The proof is in the world records and the utter dedication of the athletes.

The ISL is off to a fierce start. It achieved its ‘wow’ effect with the new competition format. The message it sends by having mixed teams and the fact that they demonstrate total equality between men and women—these are one-of-a-kind attributes. At the same time, we’ll have to shift into high gear for this competition to carve out a permanent place for itself. The second season will run from September 2020 to April 2021, with 27 matches on three continents and two new teams – one franchise in Tokyo, Japan and the other in Toronto, Canada – making 10 teams total. The ISL’s challenge to succeed goes beyond swimming. Olympic sports should be rooting for the ISL’s success because this is what fans and athletes have been waiting for to make this phenomenal sport year-round.

SBB: Let's talk about your company, In & Out Stories. What's next?

AS: This first year has been dedicated to supporting innovative projects upstream. I’m lucky to be surrounded by so many truly talented people. For the past several months we’ve been working with the French Tennis Federation, for one, which will be launching its OTT platform on April 2nd to encourage practice with exclusive and live content. We are also working on an equally exciting project for the women's basketball league with a clear objective of disrupting the place. In&OutStories is also involved in esport and social leadership strategy. Our order book is filling up and it's a real pleasure to witness. Helping sports organizations turn this revolution regarding how we consume and distribute sports content into real opportunities is the whole point of In&Out Stories