Flywheel

Flywheel Sports contracted Broadcast Management Group to provide broadcast consulting services for the launch of their OTT network. Flywheel desired to expand beyond their brick and mortar business of spinning studios located all across the nation, already a highly successful business, and compete in the at-home marketplace by launching their own custom-made bike for at-home use and initiating a streaming service for the at-home audience to view classes live or on-demand.

Our broadcast consulting team was brought in to assist Flywheel with project management of the technical build-out of the studio and control room. We also provided creative services – assisting with the development of show formats and re-branding of the studio – production staffing, and creation of a production schedule based on staffing budgets.

In our initial meetings with Flywheel, our broadcast consulting team sought to understand the overall vision was for the project. We believe it is critical to spend the time to fully understand the project in order to focus our services. This listening session is where we are able to identify where there were gaps in the current plan and identify additional items, such as additional technology needs, along with production staffing and workflow challenges.

After further discussions with key team members and the system integrator, subtle changes were made to the technology workflow that would better fit the desired show execution parameters. This included identifying better ways to do post-production to recorded shows which needed adjustment. Our broadcast consulting team conducted camera tests to identify ideal placement and lens capabilities within a Flywheel studio. It was key to capture the essence of the studio ride experience for the home rider which required capturing key moments a certain way for the home rider to be fully immersed in the class. In our technical analysis we also helped connect the dots between the utilization of off the shelf broadcast technology and Flywheel proprietary custom applications designed for capturing rider data, displaying graphical data for the home rider, and tracking music cues. Combining these technologies was key in servicing the home rider with key performance data while engaging them in an inspiring ride. We supported the process of music selection with insight into legal and compliance issues associated with the use of commercial music.

As part of our broadcast consulting agreement, we also assisted Flywheel with the production staffing and training process for both talent and technical staff. For the technical staff, we developed job descriptions and our team participated in the interview process and made hiring recommendations. Our goal with the talent was to work with them to get them comfortable being on-camera and to understand the technology and how they looked to the home rider. The goal was to replicate the impact the talent had interacting with in-studio riders with the at-home-rider.

Finally, to better match the new company branding parameters, changes were needed to the original scenic and lighting plan. We assisted with various lighting tests and worked with Flywheel creative team to define scenic elements to add to the studio ambiance. Listening to the client and understanding what story they want to tell is key to a successful presentation and ultimately a successful project.

Overall Flywheel Sports has had great success adding the at-home marketplace to their portfolio of services. The broadcast consulting team was proud to be a part of such a fun and challenging project.