Biodiversity loss is taking place globally at staggering rates – depleting the abundance of wildlife, degrading natural ecosystems, and threatening the health and safety of humans worldwide.
The future of all life on this planet depends on halting, and potentially reversing, these losses.
If given the chance, nature is incredibly resilient and will bounce back. And since biodiversity occurs locally, recovery can be achieved through local action. There is no need—and no time—to wait for global accords. But local conservation success stories are often unreported in the mainstream media, and most people are unaware of their own ability to make change where they live.
There’s still time to secure the future of life, but we must change the narrative. Enter WILD HOPE.
WILD HOPE is a new documentary series that reveals how local action can spark powerful change and highlights intrepid changemakers – farmers, fishers, students, teachers, citizen volunteers, and scientists – working to restore and protect biodiversity. Each 30 minute episode flips the environmental doom and gloom narrative on its head with stories from around the world of bold interventions, unexpected alliances, and nature’s resilience.
WILD HOPE was created and launched globally to:
The people and stories in WILD HOPE reveal how saving biodiversity begins in our own backyards.
To bring this message of hope and self-efficacy to the widest possible audience, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios partnered with PBS Nature and American Public Television to develop a strategic distribution plan to remove typical accessibility barriers, like platform paywalls and geography-based streaming limitations. As a result, all eight episodes of WILD HOPE season 1 are available to watch globally for free through public television, social media channels, and community events. Through the WILD HOPE website, viewers are also connected with free additional content, educational resources and meaningful opportunities to get involved in local conservation efforts.
PUBLIC TELEVISION: WILD HOPE launched in the U.S. on June 1, 2023 with a wide broadcast roll-out, covering 89.21% of total markets through 7,268 channel airings. On June 12, the series also began free streaming on PBS.org and the PBS app.
SOCIAL MEDIA: The global launch of WILD HOPE kicked off on July 31, 2023, with weekly episode releases on PBS Nature’s YouTube channel to their 745K+ subscribers. Working in tandem with Nature and series partners, each episode is amplified through coordinated social media posts, newsletter emails, and curated website content.
WILD HOPE video clips published on Instagram already have 128K+ total views. The WILD HOPE Instagram community has quickly grown to 4.2K+ total followers, with paid and organic posts reaching 166K+ accounts.
Partnerships with both large and local conservation organizations were developed to build awareness of the WILD HOPE release and reach audiences with interests in episode topics. Thanks in part to this broad approach, 40+ organizations have shared WILD HOPE content online through collaborative social media and newsletter mentions.
COMMUNITY EVENTS: To foster relationships with local leaders that can authentically bring the series to diverse communities, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios organized nearly 30 WILD HOPE screenings with environmental film festivals and science education conferences from September 2022 to August 2023.
Highlights include:
An additional 25+ events are upcoming in fall 2023-spring 2024, including a screening at Climate Week NYC and community event series hosted by nine PBS stations. Two episodes are also being released with Spanish dubbing to make them more accessible to international audiences.
WEBSITE: Developed as a hub for viewing, learning, and engaging, the WILD HOPE website offers a robust suite of informative articles and opportunities to get involved in community-led conservation efforts. This month the WILD HOPE classroom materials for educators, created by HHMI BioInteractive, will also be released on the website.
By leveraging the accessibility of public television, WILD HOPE is bringing conservation success stories into millions of U.S. households through broadcasts and streaming.
The first six episodes have 62.2K+ combined views on YouTube and an additional 1.2M+ views across 40 clips released on Instagram and TikTok by WILD HOPE and PBS Nature. Through targeted ads and strategic co-promotion with partners, new audiences are discovering the series and resonating with its message of hope. The WILD HOPE trailer and first six episodes have 223 comments on YouTube to date, including:
The WILD HOPE team is building robust partnerships with PBS stations, influential educator networks, leading conservation organizations, and regional citizen science projects around the country to amplify global conservation success stories. This fall, dedicated WILD HOPE website pages are launching on the SciStarter and Homegrown National Park platforms to help youth and adult audiences alike protect and restore biodiversity where they live.
With the second season already in production and new short-form content being developed for social media, the WILD HOPE movement will continue to grow over coming years.
