EA SPORTS Game Time filled a wide-open hole in Branded Entertainment in the US. Before Game Time, there was no long-format Youth Sports show that was created and produced by a brand for television distribution. Game Time airs in the Saturday/Sunday morning time block that is coveted by anyone who seeks a youth or family audience, running adjacent to other kids programming as well as sports airings such as MLB and college football games. Before hitting the airwaves, however, the show had to pass multiple educational and informational restrictions in order to be considered “youth-appropriate.” Our show is considered both educational and informational.

With EA SPORTS Game Time we knew we were on the right track based on the feedback we received on our three pilot episodes. Not only did the episodes test well among both kids and parent groups, we also heard from participating athletes how much they loved being involved in something new and different. When the networks asked us for more episodes, we knew we had to go all-in for a full 52-week Season 1 featuring 26 biweekly original episodes.

In order to engage our youthful target audience, we make them part of the show. In segments 2 – 4 minutes in length as well as in shorter recurring segments, kids learn about and hear from the biggest athletes in sports today and go behind the scenes at the most exciting sporting events. But kids aren’t just spectators, they’re active participants, writing letters that athletes respond to during the show, sending in their own personal sports highlights and amazing plays, and even serving as field reporters. We also highlight “Rising Stars,” youth athletes that are standouts in their sport.

It did not take long at all for EA SPORTS Game Time to get up to speed and prove itself a resounding success. On the viewership side, the show’s primary demographic is males 8 – 16, with families and parents with kids being our primary demographic for family viewing. Each episode reaches an audience of 650,000. Each episode of gets re-aired at least once. That gives us an original audience of 1.3 MM per episode. At 26 episodes (and counting), that is a very large campaign.

The value of each view is extremely high given that each episode is a long-format, 30-minute engagement. The entire series was produced for an outrageously affordable price, achieving EA’s lowest-ever cost per minute for content marketing. The cost per view at the end of Episode 26 will be less than $0.01, an accomplishment that’s even more remarkable when you consider that it was done without any media support.