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March 8, 2023

ESPN Sports Content Hub Idea Fails to Address Larger Problems

ESPN has

reportedly held conversations

with sports leagues and other rights holders (think: streaming companies, RSNs) about becoming 'the TV Guide for live sports'.

Fans would be able to visit ESPN.com or the free ESPN app to see where a game is airing, be able to link directly to the platform streaming it, sign-up for the service (if necessary) and watch the broadcast.

In theory, a live sports content hub would make it easier for fans to find and access a given game.

But the solution fails to address a pair of larger problems associated with the ongoing media evolution.

“The biggest challenge is that these rights are spread out across multiple platforms [and the fan needs to subscribe to each one],” former Turner Sports president David Levy said.

The next generation of fans is also not necessarily predisposed to watch full games.

It’s worth noting no media partners have been determined and there is no guarantee ESPN will unfurl the functionality. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

The idea of creating a hub for live sports content is not new. ESPN has been toying with the concept since at least the late 2000s.  

Proponents of the strategy felt as if the company could generate additional traffic by making ESPN3 the destination sports fans went to to find out when and where a game was airing.

However, the focus at the time was on gaining the digital rights to marquee events and adding distributors, not discoverability. So, conversations failed to advance beyond the exploratory phase.

Turner Sports had a similar vision when it introduced B/R Live in 2018. “We wanted to be a search engine [for streaming and PPV] because it had become so complicated to find all your sports,” Levy said. The standalone platform has since been shuttered.

As did former Pac-12 Networks president Lydia Murphy-Stephans. Her company SportsBubble is preparing to release the

WatchSports app

from beta. The live sports event guide provides direct connections to the platforms offering event viewing.

While several efforts have been made to create a sports content hub, it's not evident one is necessary.

Discoverability is a challenge in the streaming world because viewers do not flip between channels and stumble upon content the way they did in the past with cable. But that behavioral shift affects scripted programming (think: someone who wants to sit down and enjoy a movie) more than live sports.

“40 years ago, there may have been a market for people who just wanted to lean back and consume [a game] but didn’t know what they wanted to watch,” Robert Seidman (founder, SportsTVRatings.com) said. “That market doesn’t exist anymore in any significant way.”

Today’s sports fan “knows the games are on,” he added. “They know how to use Google. They know how to find where these games are if they want to watch them. [Discovery] is not the problem.”

Or at least not the main problem.

Seidman believes increased competition for the consumer’s time is a larger issue. “There are a lot of people who are fans of the NBA, that are just not interested in watching the games,” he said. “They want to watch [highlights] on TikTok or Instagram, and you’re not going to solve that with [a guide].”

The costs associated with fractionalization have also become problematic. “The fact that there are multiple services and if [a fan] really wants everything they have to subscribe to them [all],” is limiting viewership, Seidman said.

ESPN calls itself the ‘Worldwide Leader in Sports’. So, it makes sense for the company to try and become the first stop that fans looking to stream live sports come to.

But to become that destination, the company will have to be willing to link users directly to competing platforms. ESPN is only currently driving viewers to ESPN-licensed programming.

That shouldn’t be a difficult decision.

“If there are ways to watch sports elsewhere, why not get paid to send a fan to where that sports property is,” Levy said. “It’s no different than Amazon taking a referral fee if someone signs up for one of the streaming services.”

While the revenue opportunity associated with a content hub is unlikely to move the needle for The Walt Disney Company subsidiary, ESPN would be delivering additional value to its customers and getting paid while doing that. “To me, it’s a no brainer,” Levy said.

Having sports fans increasingly passing through their site and/or app would also enhance ESPN’s influence and there would presumably be some value in the additional data and insights that could be gathered.

However, unless ESPN is willing to pay to serve as the exclusive content hub, it doesn’t make sense for a tier-one rights owner to limit its distribution partners.

In the event a rights owner chose to go down the exclusive affiliate route, there are existing content hubs, with greater scale, better positioned to serve in that capacity.

“People who are streaming are using Roku, the built in OS on their smart TV, which is generally Roku, Google or Amazon, or AppleTV,” Seidman said. “If you’re going to go watch Netflix or bring up the ESPN app, those are the pathways to do it.”

The referral model seems unlikely to drive meaningful viewership, regardless of which path the rights owner goes down. But with little harm or expense associated with embracing additional distribution, expect fans to have more pathways to access games in the years ahead.