Endemol launches online sports channel

The digital arm of global production giant Endemol is launching a new international sports channel with a YouTube gaming celebrity.

Endemol Beyond will launch Rule’m Sports featuring gamer Olatuniji (aka KSI) as he attempts to master five sporting disciplines over the course of a year, training alongside top athletes including boxer Amir Khan and rugby player James Haskell.

The YouTube channel will carry more than 150 pieces of sports entertainment content over the next 12 months as the gamer gets out of his chair and starts serious physical training.

The move continues UK-based Endemol Beyond’s strategy of partnering with talent for digital channels, since its launch in late 2013. The company has recently joined forces with rappers Pitbull and MattyB, comedian Brittany Furla as well as beauty expert Michelle Phan.

KSI has nearly nine million fans on his YouTube channels KSIOlajideBT and KSIOlajideBTHD and has amassed more than 1.28 billion views of his videos.

Endemol Beyond UK’s director Randel Bryan said: “We believe that Rule’m Sports addresses a dramatic short-fall in sports and fitness content created solely for today’s connected youth.

“We see YouTube as an ideal platform to engage with this audience in a language they understand, on any device they choose and at any time they crave it.”