National CineMedia Teams with Religion of Sports for Content Partnership on the Big Screen

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NCM and Religion of Sports announce content partnership to bring diverse sports stories to the big screen

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Collaboration with Religion of Sports expands NCM's audience reach and partnerships
Short-form sports content expected to grow in value relative to live-rights market

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09/13/2023 - 09:00 AM

NCM Will Feature Six ROS Bite-Sized Episodes Around Human-Interest Stories

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- National CineMedia (NCM), the largest cinema advertising platform in the U.S., and Religion of Sports (ROS), the Emmy Award-winning sports media company, today announced a new content partnership bringing diverse, real-life stories of athletes and sports to the big screen for the first time. ROS was founded by filmmaker and producer Gotham Chopra, American football legend and Hall of Famer Michael Strahan, and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.

Each of Religion of Sports’ sixty-second episodes will feature a human-interest story where sports had an impact on an individual, team or community. The six-part content series launches in September and will run as part of NCM’s The Noovie® Show, which airs in 19,000 + theaters nationwide before the film trailers and will be available for brand sponsors seeking to reach young, diverse audiences at the movies each week.

Research has shown that the hard to reach, ad skipping and cord-cutting 18-34-year-old demographic who are passionate moviegoers are also major sports fans and consumers of sport content. Today, these super fans of sports are seeking to consume their sports content in digestible shorter form snippets. In fact, they are more likely to get their sports content everywhere except TV. Less than half of sports fans aged between ages 18 to 29 watch live sports on TV (45%). As a result of this generational change, the value of short-form video content is expected to continue to grow relative to the live-rights market, possibly overtaking it within the next decade.

Religion of Sports has built a foundation around telling stories and showcasing the greatness in the greatest. Fans have come to look forward to the groundbreaking sports content that can only be found with ROS, transforming them into modern mythmakers. This collaboration with NCM is the first of its kind for Religion of Sports, as the company continues to expand both its audience reach, and partnerships, within the world of sports and beyond.

“When we created Religion of Sports nearly a decade ago, it started with a single series with the intention to show why sports matter and how the mythos of sports and religion are intertwined,” said ROS creator and co-founder Gotham Chopra. “With hours upon hours of content, across numerous platforms and distribution channels, and five Sports Emmy Awards, we’re thrilled to be bringing ROS to NCM’s premier cinema advertising platform, and moviegoers nationwide, with one of the of the best representations of our work.”

Since the relaunch of The Noovie Show last year, NCM has developed a slew of new content and series aimed to engage moviegoing audiences while aligning brands with movie and pop culture storytelling. This includes collaborations with iHeartMedia and Tastemade, with more in development. New series also include The Noovie Trivia Show hosted by Maria Menounos and Cultural Celebrations featuring creators Jose Enrique Rivera Collazo, Nique Marina, and Jasmine Moore.

“We know moviegoers are passionate fans of great storytelling. The powerful narratives and stories Religion of Sports brings to NCM’s screens will be incredibly compelling for Young Millennials and Gen Zs,” shared Amy Tunick, Chief Marketing Officer at NCM. “Brands will now have the opportunity to work with NCM and ROS, connecting with our leaned-in movie audiences via the most premier short-form sports content.”

Episode List

Perfect Game – There is a spiritual dimension to baseball in Brooklyn, embodied by a minor league prospect, a Pakistani-American family, an NYPD detective, a TV analyst, and the president emeritus of NYU.

Keepers of the Faith – Celtic and Rangers FC are two of football's oldest teams. Separated by only six miles in Glasgow, they have a rivalry unparalleled in the sporting world, with religious, societal, and historic tensions.

We Are the People – In villages around Alaska, young Natives share the same dream as kids from LA to New York - to be an NBA baller. The first step on that path is NABI, the Native American Basketball Invitational.

The Space Between – The Isle of Man TT is the most dangerous motorbike race in the world. Hitting speeds in excess of 200 mph, fatalities during the event are a statistical certainty. And yet, each year, the riders come back.

Gods of War – In New Zealand, every boy dreams of joining national rugby team the All Blacks, a team that strives to embrace Maori culture. For young Maori student Pou Sorensen, making the team would be an achievement of both personal and cultural significance.

Follow That Line – Race Across America is an ultra-cycling event that runs the length of the U.S., clocking in at a little over 3000 miles. Sarah Cooper, a 45-year-old mother of four from Iowa and an ultra-cycling phenomenon, sets out to finish the race in under 10 days.

About NCM

National CineMedia (NCM) is America’s Movie Network. As the largest cinema advertising platform in the U.S., we unite brands with young, diverse audiences through the power of movies and popular culture. NCM’s The Noovie® Show is presented exclusively in 47 leading national and regional theater circuits including AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:AMC), Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CNK) and Regal Entertainment Group (a subsidiary of Cineworld Group PLC, LON: CINE). NCM’s cinema advertising platform offers broad reach and unparalleled audience engagement with more than 19,400 screens in over 1,550 theaters in 195 Designated Market Areas® (all of the top 50). NCM Digital and Digital-Out-Of-Home (DOOH) go beyond the big screen, extending in-theater campaigns into online, mobile, and place-based marketing programs to reach entertainment audiences. National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) owns and is the managing member of, National CineMedia, LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com and www.noovie.com.

About Religion of Sports

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Religion of Sports (ROS) is an award- winning media company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, and Gotham Chopra. To believe in the power of sports is to experience religion, and the company’s work is defined by thoughtful, elevated stories that explore a range of themes and uncover why sports matter.

Through scripted and unscripted video, podcasts, feature films and social content, ROS distills the spirituality, science and humanity that unites elite performers and people of all kinds. Since its inception, the company has built an impressive array of work in collaboration with the world’s most elite athletes, distributed across platforms including Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime Video, ESPN, Showtime, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Facebook Watch and more. Among its highlights, “Man in the Arena,” “Tom vs Time,’’ and “Greatness Code” won Sports Emmy awards and projects on Simone Biles, Stephen Curry, Conor McGregor, Shohei Ohtani, and Russell Westbrook have captured global audiences. The Company has several upcoming productions green lit, including In the Arena: Serena Williams (ESPN) and a docuseries on the NBA G League (Prime Video).