MLB and Endemol Team Up for Web Series

Major League Baseball and Endemol are teaming up to mint a new multi-media sports personality via a web series that gives one fan a “dream job.” 

The companies are searching for the ultimate seamhead to move to New York and watch every single MLB game over the course of the entire season and share that experience with baseball fans via social media, video blogs and webisodes.    The series is set to launch at the end of the month in time for March 31 Opening Day of the 2011 baseball season.   MLB and Endemol have received over 5,000 submissions since the online application was posted Feb. 17.    “The response has been overwhelming,” said David Armour, vp of digital media at Endemol USA.   The winner will be set up in an apartment in New York City festooned with numerous flat screen TV’s providing a live feed of every game. The companies are looking for someone who knows their baseball, obviously. But the ideal candidate will also need to possess sharp writing skills, be comfortable on all manner of social media and pop on TV. Interactivity is key and while Armour won’t yet say where this ultimate fan’s mancave will be located, it will be wired with webcams for a variation on the Real World-Big Brother concept of total access. The series will have a presence on MLB.com and there will also be potential for TV appearances.   “This is much more than a web series,” adds Armour. “This is a longer term commitment. We’re creating a full community with lots of interactivity.”   Endemol has produced several web series including Married on MySpace which let users plan a couples wedding – voting on location, the dress, the details of the bachelor and bachelorette parties via the social networking site. The show spawned a TV spinoff – The Married Life – on CTV, a English-language Latino-targeted network.   The goal with the MLB partnership is to create an even more interactive experience and perhaps develop a new sports personality in the process.    Says Armour: “We want to mint a new kind of web series.”