On Tuesday ESPN announced that it has formed a partnership with Vice Media.
Vice began in 1994 and has become one of the largest digital content companies in the world. Vice’s partnership with ESPN will involve their new tv channel Viceland. Viceland is a joint venture between Vice and A+E Networks and was launched earlier this year. ESPN’s parent company Disney invested $400 million into Vice for about ten percent stake in Vice, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"Growing up watching ESPN I came to love the brand and their content. Maybe a little too much," Shane Smith, co-founder and CEO of Vice Media, said, "The amount of manly tears shed over various 30 for 30's throughout the years has been nothing short of embarrassing."
ESPN president John Skipper said, "Evoking manly tears from Shane Smith is no small task, and I take immense pride in that. Shane and the team at Vice do an extraordinary job presenting stories through their own, very unique lens—and working with them will help to bring a new perspective to our storytelling. I applaud Shane for understanding that television is the smartest path to worldwide leadership."
The partnership includes television and digital properties. Vice Sports will produce new series that will air on ESPN and select 30 for 30 films from ESPN will air on Viceland, while Vice Sports’ The Clubhouse and Viceland’s Vice World of Sports will air on ESPN, according to AdWeek. Vice and ESPN are also developing a short-form animated series.
It will be interesting to see if this partnership is successful or not.