World 1, a new sports-entertainment company that counts 10 Olympic medalists among its founders pool, is bringing sports to vertical video — and not just highlights.
Brett Morris, the CEO of World 1, wants you to watch his “Microsports,” which he describes as “entirely original sports where world titles are won or lost in 30 seconds.”
“The entire sports industry was built around the TV, but audiences have moved to their phones,” Morris told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re building a new sports industry for the phone. Not by adapting legacy sports, but by creating entirely new ones engineered for the feed.”
The feed is exactly where the ad dollars are these days. And that is how Morris and World 1 president Nate Thomas (BattleBots), a media-industry veteran, plan to make their money — as well as through sponsorship and licensing. (No subscriptions or microtransactions here, they say. Not yet at least.)
“The premise is simple: Make the highlight the sport,” Thomas said. “Fans never have to wonder if what they’re watching matters. At World 1, champions put their titles on the line at every event. It’s high-stakes by design. Rivalries will get settled and new stars will emerge in a single, 30-second window. That intensity isn’t an accident — it’s the entire point.”
