Live from Sportel Monaco: Olympic Channel takes sports documentary making to new level with social stars Sustaining viewer interest in athletes beyond Olympics is key factor for IOC operated service By Heather McLean, Editor
Monday, October 21, 2019 - 16:24
Print This Story
The Olympic Channel's Mark Parkman, general manager
Here in Monaco, the Olympic Channel is premiering the first linear episode of its new near-live documentary covering the next big stars of gymnastics, All Around.
The show, hitting the red carpet on Monday 21 October in Monte Carlo, is using an innovative combination of monthly episodes and social media push from the stars of the show themselves to gain the attention of viewers.
The digital and linear follow me' style series produced by Noah Media Group is covering the stories of three rising stars in gymnastics on their way to Japan 2020, from Russia, China and the US.
Each of the monthly digital episodes are being filmed and edited on an ongoing basis, following the young female athletes in their personal and sporting life as they attempt to overcome emotional and physical hardships in their bids to medal next year.
Speaking to SVG Europe, Mark Parkman, general manager at the Olympic Channel, said: We're embedded with these three different gymnasts, not live but close to, and are releasing one episode per month on the lead up to Tokyo. It's pretty aggressive, what we're doing.
Referring to the two-pronged attack on film promotion that the Olympic Channel is taking with this documentary series, he added: The gymnasts themselves are pushing [the programme] over social, mostly on their Instagram and Twitter accounts, and that's what we wanted them to do. It's unusual.
The reason for the Olympic Channel's push into more immersive content is to sustain the viewer's attention beyond each Olympic Games, explained Parkman. Our challenge is primarily trying to keep people interested in the people within the games. People's interest has always been very cyclical [centred around each Olympic Games]. We want to, through our storytelling, keep people interested in the athletes; they don't go away, but we only see them in mass quantities every four years.
We want to level that out so people will feel that these are truly world class athletes, and so people will engage with them on a more regular basis, added Parkman.
The series includes 12 digital episodes each around 15 minutes long released one per month up to Tokyo 2020, and four linear episodes which are 24 to 26 minutes long. The linear episodes are created by taking content from the digital side and extending it out into longer stories. Both digital and linear episodes are available as they are produced on the Olympic Channel, and from broadcasters and federations.
Noted Parkman: The first episode has performed very well. It was our best performing episode ever released so far, so we are now looking at what we can do [in a similar vein] for Beijing 2022.
Concluded Parkman: I don't think there is a media company that has a more extensive programming slate about sports than us. We have done 70 original series since the channel was launched, equalling over 1,000 episodes, with 25 different production companies form 25 different countries to provide different perspectives.
The Olympic Chanel's series, All Around, follows world-class gymnasts Morgan Hurd, Chen Yile and Angelina Melnikova as they set out on a year-long journey towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
North America Stories
14/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
14/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
14/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
NHL Situation Room 2.0: How Sony Hawk-Eye Powers Centralized Officiating, Player...
13/01/2026
NBC Sports Ices the Audio for the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championship...
13/01/2026
DMF and MXL in practice: Which vendors are adopting it, and how fast is the ecos...
13/01/2026
CES 2026: Five Important Sports-Tech BuzzwordsThe terms highlight innovations for sports production at the showBy Daniel Frankel, SVG Contributor
Tuesday, Jan...
13/01/2026
For TGL Season 2, Unity 6 Boosts Virtual-Graphic Quality; COSM 360 Cameras Impro...
13/01/2026
Resetting Expectations? The State of the Sports Industry with Devoncroft's J...
13/01/2026
Top Row L-R: Ana Katz, Natalia Almada, Bao Nguyen, Tatiana Maslany, A.V. Rockwell, Dr. Heather Berlin
Second Row L-R: Sophie Barthes, Azazel Jacobs, Janicza Br...
13/01/2026
DoW to invest $1B in planned independently traded Missile Solutions business...
13/01/2026
L3Harris Chairman and CEO Christopher Kubasik and Under Secretary of War for Acq...
13/01/2026
Singapore - January 13, 2026 - Nielsen today announced the appointment of Matty Lin to its Commercial Organization as APAC regional sales leader.
Based in Sing...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Nine-week performance series brings music, dance, theatre, and storytelling to downtown Durham, January - March 2026 (Durham, NC) The Chamber Orchestra of the T...
13/01/2026
Berklee Launches AIMS, an Artist-Centered Summit on Music and AI Hosted by the Berklee Emerging Artistic Technology Lab (BEATL), the event will focus on the i...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
NVIDIA and Lilly are putting together a blueprint for what is possible in the f...
13/01/2026
viztrick AiDi, Provided by Nippon TV and FOR-A, Powers Automatic 9:16 Cropping with Auto-Tracking and Intuitive Operation for Dynamic Streaming Content
Targ...
12/01/2026
Sports and Music Unite: A Look Back at the Operationally Ambitious FIFA Club Wor...
12/01/2026
Nielsen Panel Discussion Highlights World Cup Impact for FOX, Telemundo, MetLife...
12/01/2026
FIFA President Infantino Highlights How AI Will Impact 2026 FIFA World Cup and B...
12/01/2026
Baltimore Ravens' Jack Dana on Telling a Better Story With Media Management ...
12/01/2026
FOX Sports' Brad Cheney on Spectrum Debate's Impact on the Sports-Produc...
12/01/2026
Australia and New Zealand VP Alan Clements shares L3Harris' leadership insig...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
Berklee International Folk Festival Celebrates 40 Years Featuring Grammy-winning alumna Arooj Aftab, the milestone concert and weeklong festival marks four de...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
Back to All News
Kento Nakajima To Star in Netflix Manga Adaptation S&X', ...
12/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Celebrates Partnership and Progress at Fort Monmouth Closing Ceremony
Governor Phil Murphy, Netflix co-CEO, and Governor-elect Mikie ...
12/01/2026
Back to All News
WWE By the Numbers: Celebrating One Year on Netflix
From left to right: Rey Mysterio, Intercontinental Champion John Cena and Sheamus celebr...
10/01/2026
By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festi...
10/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
10/01/2026
Back to All News
Connection and Youth Defined: The Ramparts of Ice Brings a Hea...
09/01/2026
Rock-It Sports' Deron Brown & Laura Rowlands on Launching a New Brand, Suppl...
09/01/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery's Chris Brown on the Broadcaster's First French O...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: CBS Sports Travels to Jacksonville With Packed Arsenal of Pro...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: NBC Sports Is Set To Roll Out New Scorebar, Insert Graphics T...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: Prime Video Production Team Caps Historic Season With Iconic ...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: FOX Sports Kicks Off Postseason Slate With Two-Game Wild Card...
09/01/2026
NFL Playoffs 2026: ESPN's Run Brings Monday Night Football' Flagship Op...
Live from Sportel Monaco: Olympic Channel takes sports documentary making to new level with social stars Sustaining viewer interest in athletes beyond Olympics is key factor for IOC operated service By Heather McLean, Editor 
