Yahoo Ryot Studios 3D/Virtual Sets 2020–21
The Ask: In the heaviest days of the COVID-19, Yahoo’s sports, news, and finance broadcast productions all pivoted to remote productions like the rest of the world. There was serious concern around several of the sports tentpoles especially, as online betting partnerships around the NCAA basketball tournament and fantasy football were major revenue drivers for the brand. Yahoo Ryot Studios, the company’s innovation team, was tasked with upgrading the presentation of these shows beyond 2D comps and home set ups of disparate quality and degrees of operator error.
The NCAA tournament having been cancelled in 2020, we had plenty of time to get ahead on designing a virtual set with Unreal Engine for Count Down to Kickoff, the sports desk’s weekly fantasy football tentpole. We built and expansive, two-tiered stage with plenty of modular displays, monitors, and camera vantages to frame clips and talent, showcased in the dynamic animated open for the show.
Role: Creative direction, 2D design, storyboarding
We also fully rebranded the show, developed a full 2D live and edit graphics package, and designed options for 2D and fully 3D sponsorship integrations. The entire project was then collected in a comprehensive style guide to assist with brand cohesion and ad sales outreach.
The Outcome: Fantasy Football Live/Count Down To Kickoff was an absolute success across all channels, from ad sales, to audience engagement, to brand innovation. This is made all the more remarkable as the team was navigating the earliest days of remote work, to say nothing of the greater uncharted waters of the pandemic at large.
• Sponsorship revenue for the 2020 Season climbed above $10M, then a brand record, including securing 7 new advertisers.
• Viewership also increased significantly, with total streamers up 59%, unique streamers up %17, average watch time +16% and overall watch time +36%, all YoY.
• Initial internal buzz around the project while it was still in early stages was strong enough to lead to a partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation to create a virtual set for their 2020 awards ceremony.
• We also partnered with inter-company partner Engadget to create a virtual environment for their 2021 CES presentation, and then again with Yahoo Sports for their Tourney Bracket Now! coverage of the 2021 NCAA Basketball Tournament.
Credits
Ted McGrath: Creative direction, 2D design, storyboard
Michelle Kratchman: Creative direction
Martin Goetz: Technical art direction
Radek Michalik: 3D design & animation
Kyle McCauley: 2D & 3D animation
Caitlin Murray: 2D design
Joe Riccobono: 2D animation & additional design