NowThis Sports partnered with Toyota and the International Paralympic Committee ("IPC") on a 10-part video series telling the incredible stories of six game-changing Paralympic athletes and the nuances of their sport.
NowThis Sports is a property of NowThis; it promotes an editorial mission of taking viewers beyond the highlights and scores of competition, and focuses on the stories behind the athletes.
Through its partnership with the IPC, the channel has taken a bold stance and pledged its commitment to elevate the Paralympic movement over the coming years.
As part of the partnership, IPC will provide NowThis Sports access to numerous Para-sporting events and competitions throughout 2018-2020, with the aim to tell the stories of the athletes and highlight the sports specific to the Paralympic community.
We traveled to Veysonnaz, Switzerland, and Tignes, France to spend time with these athletes during the world cup series.
We encountered beautiful landscapes and fascinating cultures, but nothing was more amazing than the stories of these athletes. They bared their souls to us in emotional interviews, and gave us unprecedented access to their lives during a crucial moment in their careers.
The partnership aligned perfectly with the editorial mission of NowThis Sports, to uncover and tell the inspirational and aspirational stories of athletes.
But our goal was not to simply profile the emotional stories of these athletes and their disabilities, but to also raise broader awareness of the athletes themselves and the impressive athletic feats they were accomplishing.
The stories ranged from a man paralysed at 13 - but who found a new life and glory in skiing, to another woman who accomplishes incredible feats of athleticism on the slopes with one leg. We also explained broader aspects of the Paralympics and their processes as part of our service journalism mission.
We could not have been more excited or honored to participate in this opportunity - or to highlight the importance of the work of the IPC and raise their profile among our young global community.
During our Paralympics coverage, NowThis produced a total of 25 videos, earning a combined 21 million views, with 8.6 million minutes of combined viewing time spent.
The end results of these pieces moved millions of people worldwide to watch and share, bringing unprecedented and important awareness to the Paralympic movement.
Additionally, this important video series initiated what would become a seminal partnership both for the IPC and NowThis. We became official digital partners with the IPC, signalling an intense commitment to tell these crucial stories and amplify them worldwide.
