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For someone who’s as addicted to sports and technology as moi, today’s the first day of the rest of our lives. And if you’re somewhat more interdependent of both, today might just be your first day spending quality time inside the ESPN app.
I for one have had a long and complicated relationship with anything ESPN and digital, going back decades to when scores became available via a branded pager that was perpetually attached to my belt, even when I was gaining too much weight for it to fully encircle my girth. And when the full site began embedding video highlights, it was often my first and sometimes only destination most mornings–even when I was able to actually sleep in on most of them. It became an obsession for me to plow through every single video clip available at any point, even the breaking highlights that would often be posted in real time as games that one of the networks happened to be covering would join the feed.
But as time and technology have worn on the site has become much more complex and complicated–the days of “finishing the internet”, at least in that corner of it, are long gone. And as of today, it appears any hope I might have harbored to ever have that much time and aptitude on my hands to do so again is gone forever. As THE WRAP’s Lucas Manfredi noted yesterday, its newest iteration of this is not only not your father’s (grandfather’s) version of what digital sports has been, it’s now not even your older sibling’s:
Thursday marks a big day for sports fans and a new era for ESPN as its new streaming service is set for kickoff, packaging the network’s programming with fantasy sports integrations, enhanced statistics, betting features and e-commerce. The company will also launch an enhanced version of its existing ESPN app, which currently has 30 million monthly active users. “We are on the verge of another industry-shaping moment,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro told reporters during a Tuesday media briefing. “Our mission is to serve this sports fan anytime, anywhere and this service and the enhanced ESPN app will deliver on that promise.”
Pitaro apparently had a lot of help at that presser, a point THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Tony Maglio couldn’t avoid getting in a few snarks of his own in his own piece that dropped yesterday:
The former(ly branded) “Worldwide Leader in Sports” is now all-in – and “All in One Place,” as the new branding hammers home – on streaming. ESPN has also gone all-in on marketing the hell out of this thing; it better, the new app costs a not-cheap $29.99/month.
John Cena headlines the campaign as some sort of coach “guiding fans on the new ESPN DTC features in addition to what fans need to know about the Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Bundle,” according to the announcement. Cena’s tag-team partner in this endeavor is ESPN’s first-ever mascot, App-E.
App-E is, well, a giant square with the ESPN-stylized letter “E” on its … torso? It’s a very oversized smartphone/tablet application button, with arms and hands poking out from the margins of the “E,” and eyebrows, eyes and a mouth above. There’s also a not-very-nose-like pillow between App-E’s eyes, which is probably what the human inside sees out of. App-E has a big red ESPN hat, and some dope ESPN kicks that appear to be modeled off the original Air Jordan sneakers. With his build, App-E is going to have a hard time getting through some doors sideways. Then again, same for Cena.
The fact appears to be this evolution isn’t meant for hardcore veterans like him or me. It’s designed to bring far more casual fans–or even non-fans–into the tent. BALLER ALERT’s byline-shy writer who goes by “thinktank” weighed in:
ESPN is stepping deeper into the short-form video world with a brand-new TikTok-style feed inside its app, set to launch this week. The update will feature a mix of highlights, reactions and user-generated content alongside a new vertical version of SportsCenter, debuting as a beta on Thursday. ESPN’s evolution in digital sports storytelling has been building for decades. From Page 2 in 2000 to mobile updates, live feeds, Snapchat stories and even a short-lived Quibi experiment, the company has consistently tested new ways to engage fans. But this time, it has more technological muscle than ever. ESPN’s digital team produces over 400 social posts a day with AI support, and its new recommendation system, designed with help from Disney Entertainment and chief product and technology officer Adam Smith, promises personalized video tailored to each fan. Kaitee Daley, ESPN’s SVP of digital, social and streaming content, explained, “We want this to be a fresh feed that you can get lost in whenever you open the app. Vertical, scrollable video is how so many fans get their information today. I’m just thrilled to be at that moment where we can deliver that.”
They’re apparently looking to expand beyond both the core age and sex demographic cells of those 30 million MAUs, as a LinkedIn post from a well-informed media and entertainment executive (translated: a currently beached veteran who should be more involved) named Teresa Prindle meticulously noted:
At launch, the full bundle with Disney+ and Hulu will also cost $29.99, giving subscribers a clear incentive to choose the bundle over the stand-alone option. This move could help boost Disney’s 128 million subscribers. Early tests showed crossover content like SC+, a SportsCenter spinoff, and Vibe Check, a female-led studio show, kept audiences returning to Disney+ more often. The Walt Disney Company has expanded its rights portfolio. National Football League (NFL) coverage is growing. WWE premium live events including WrestleMania and SummerSlam will stream starting next year. ESPN Unlimited will be accessible directly inside Disney+. Most importantly, bundle subscribers are the most engaged, churn the least, and report the highest satisfaction.
As I’ve previously mused, it looks like I’m one of those bundlers, at the moment tied in via that full Disney trifecta with the option of pivoting to a combo that will roll in FOX ONE down the line. But just to be sure even us old-timers aren’t gonna stray too far they’re apparently about to provide yet another reason to stay in their ‘hood. Per AWFUL ANNOUNCING’s Drew Lerner:
After weeks of anticipation, it seems that Major League Baseball is reportedly closing in on its new-look media rights deals resulting from ESPN’s decision to exit its current contract after this season. According to a report by Kendall Baker of Yahoo Sports… the Worldwide Leader will purchase MLB.tv, the league’s out-of-market streaming service, presumably to complement its soon-to-launch streaming service. ESPN has indicated its intention to remain involved in MLB, preferably through some sort of local rights agreement, and this acquisition fits the bill.
As a hockey fan, I’m quite familiar with this arrangement; last year the NHL’s streaming subscriptions were relocated from its own app to ESPN’s, where the RSN and dedicated OTA feeds were seamlessly embedded with the games that the ESPN networks and Hulu covered themselves, all with consistent and unified branding. Given their pre-existence alliance with MLB via their declining cable networks I have a pretty good idea what MLB.tv will look like within the App-E-verse. With ESPN’s announcement that they will now make multi-screen views available it will hopefully eliminate one of the major flaws of their NHL coverage and, ideally, continue one of the major plusses of a baseball platform that I confess I spend a LOT of time within–yep, at ESPN.com’s expense.
It’s a land grab consistent with their recent gobbling of NFL Media, and if I don’t miss my guess at some point in the not too distant future what’s left of the MLB and NHL networks will soon also become available via ESPN, screen and suffix be damned. What’s two more tiles in a seemingly limitless universe of options anyhoo?
And if nothing else, maybe at some point in that same not too distant future I too might be facile enough to handle Verts. After all, at one point I never thought I could lose my pager–or, for that matter, the oversized belt that supported it.
Courage…