Religion Of Sports, Ensemble & Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment Partner On Women’s Sports Programming Slate ‘Next Is Now’

With women’s sports continuing to receive less than 20% of media coverage, Religion of Sports, Ensemble, and Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment are setting out to address a gap in the market with Next Is Now, an anthology slate that will stream for free on The Roku Channel later this year.

A mix of docuseries and short-form content tailored for TV, streaming platforms, and social media, Next Is Now‘s initial programming includes The Fastest Six Weeks in Sports, a series documenting the intense period between the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament and the start of the WNBA season, which will follow top draft prospects and veteran athletes as they transition through this high-stakes window.

Religion of Sports, the award-winning media company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, and Gotham Chopra, will lead production, with Issa Rae’s next-gen branded entertainment company Ensemble focusing on social media content creation and distribution. Founded in 2023 to drive more commercial investment and business opportunities in women’s sports, Deep Blue will provide media and creative consultation along with spearheading brand partnerships and activation.

Next of Now’s financing model has brand partners fully funding projects and serving as executive producers, ensuring swift production and distribution, as well as robust marketing and promotion. Programming will be curated in FAST channel Roku Sports Channel, as well as Roku’s Women’s Sports Zone.

The slate arrives on the heels of a record-breaking year in women’s sports, which saw the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship drawing an average of 18.7 million viewers, surpassing ratings for the men’s tournament for the first time in history. Attendance records followed suit, highlighted by the University of Nebraska women’s volleyball team attracting a crowd of more than 92,000, the largest ever for a U.S. women’s sporting event.

Women’s sports were projected to surpass $1 billion in revenue in 2024. Lauren Fisher, VP, Creative Director, Religion of Sports, called them “a wellspring of powerful and captivating stories—tales of extraordinary talent, resilience, and triumph that have been unfolding for decades,” while underscoring that coverage of the arena “has barely moved since the 1980s.”

From Fisher’s perspective, “These stories aren’t just overdue; they’re unstoppable. At this tipping point—fueled by record-breaking attendance, rising viewership, and growing investments—it’s clear the time for these stories isn’t next, it’s now.”

“Two of the greatest growth barriers to women’s sports are that they’re hard to find and hard to buy,” said Laura Correnti, Founder and CEO of Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment. “By creating unprecedented focus on women’s sports storytelling at scale, we have a unique opportunity to create the market advertisers and consumers want to invest in. Next is Now will supercharge access, visibility and representation for women’s sports at a time where the world – including fans, brands, leagues, teams, athletes – is screaming for ‘MORE.’”

Prior to its work on Next Is Now, Religion of Sports produced women’s sports-focused projects including Simone Biles Rising, which followed the gymnast’s return to the Olympic stage after withdrawing from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental health. Part 1 of the hit series topped the most watched list on Netflix following its debut. Earlier this year, ROS also produced the ESPN+ docuseries In the Arena: Serena Williams, which follows the tennis legend, key figures throughout her life, and the events of her career, told from her own perspective.

Additional projects from the Next is Now slate will be announced in the coming months.