Bear Grylls & Banijay Partner With Team Whistle To Launch Digital Network

EXCLUSIVE: Bear Grylls, star of Netflix’s You Vs Wild and Nat Geo’s Running Wild With Bear Grylls, is launching a digital network after striking a deal with Team Whistle.

The digital media company has partnered with Grylls and his Banijay Group-backed production company The Natural Studios to produce a slate of digitally native adventure shows.

The deal was announced ahead of Team Whistle’s NewFronts presentation.

This comes after Grylls and his Co-CEO Delbert Shoopman team up last year to launch The Natural Studios with Banijay, which owns production companies including Keeping Up With The Kardashians producer Bunim/Murray Productions.

The outdoor lifestyle and adventure programming will be aimed at young audiences and the network will launch this fall with several new formats developed exclusively for the online platform.

The Bear Grylls digital network series will be distributed globally across Bear’s social channels including YouTube, Snap, Instagram and Facebook.

“This is about giving people access to the coolest tips and tricks of survival, as well as a look behind-the-scenes of my adventures, my life and my friends,” said Grylls. “Ultimately, we want to empower people to be able to survive and thrive in the wild and in life.”

“At The Natural Studios, we continue to strive to bring adventure and the great outdoors direct to people’s homes,” added Delbert Shoopman, Co-CEO, The Natural Studios. “Social provides that instant sense of intimacy and immediacy that fans and adventurers love. We can’t wait to get started on introducing our followers to more of our friends and remarkable fellow adventurers.”

“Team Whistle’s positive and relatable media network reaches massive audiences with programming centered around lifestyle, sports, gaming and entertainment content, and Banijay and The Natural Studios are the perfect partners to bring the wild world of Bear Grylls to our viewers,” said Michael Cohen, president of Team Whistle. “Bear is a household name in outdoor and survival content, and these new digitally native shows will bring our uplifting attitude to a whole new world of outdoor adventure.”