Behind The Scenes

SN video ‘Hops’ to a Webby nom


This week, “Press Hop 2,” SportsNation’s most viewed YouTube video (1.1 million views in nine months), was nominated for a Webby Award, the industry standard for excellence in digital media.

One of five finalists chosen from hundreds of submissions in the ‘Video Remixes/Mashups’ category, Press Hop 2 stars LeBron James, Brett Favre, and Tiger Woods.  It’s DJ Steve Porter’s follow-up to “Press Hop,” the viral YouTube mashup of sports soundbites starring Allen Iverson and former NFL coach Jim Mora.

SportsNation, the show born from the Internet in July 2009,  airs the most talked about Web videos. When portions of Press Hop aired on SN in July 2010, fans responded with mass approval.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffJvDgBrwMI

“One of our goals at SportsNation is to find the fun videos that are popular online but underrepresented on TV,” says coordinating producer Jamie Horowitz. “We found Press Hop, contacted DJ Steve Porter, and had only one question: “Can you do another?”

DJ Steve Porter says ESPN2’s popular weekday show was the perfect home for his work: “SportsNation is a hip and tech-savvy show, so I think that’s why its audience picked up on my stuff so quick. What I do is basically a combination of sports, technology, and music. I am grateful for the platform SN gave me as well as their production vision. It’s a perfect match.”

Other ‘Video Remixes/Mashups’ Webby finalists include: NBC’s The Office: The Office Fanisode;  CNN: Walk Around the World; CollegeHumor.com: Girls Are Bad At Sound Effects; and KT Tunstall  Glamour Puss .

Nominees are eligible for two awards: The Webby Award, decided by judges, and The Webby People’s Voice Award, decided by fan vote. SN will utilize social media and other ESPN platforms to encourage fan voting the next two weeks (voting ends April 28). Winners, determined by both the judges panel and popular vote, will be announced June 13 in New York.

In addition to SportsNation, ESPN Digital Media earned two Webby nominations this year with ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile once again being nominated in the Websites and Mobile categories, respectively, for Sports. They won two years ago and were voted the People’s Voice Award in both categories as well.

There is a lot of buzz about this year’s Webby awards and the ESPN nominees are in great company with Jim Carrey, Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J, Conan O’Brien, and Jimmy Fallon among the big names in other categories.

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