ESPN, ‘SportsCenter’ and Understanding the Power of Sports Fandom

To understand how diffuse the world of sports media has become, look no further than ESPN‘s “SportsCenter.”

ESPN’s flagship newscast airs multiple iterations throughout the day on linear platforms. It has dedicated social content across major platforms including Snapchat. It also has its own “SC+” tile on Disney+ for a version that is aimed at younger and more casual sports fans. “SportsCenter” aims to find its audience where they are — and it’s about to get even more personal, as Jo Fox, ESPN’s senior VP of marketing, explained during the “Understanding the Power of Sports Fandom” session at the Variety Entertainment Marketing Summit presented by Deloitte.

In a conversation with Adam Deutsch, managing director of Deloitte Consulting, Fox noted that ESPN’s upcoming launch as a digital standalone outlet will bring even more customization to the show.

“It will shortly be a personalized ‘SportsCenter’ for you as we go direct to consumer,” Fox said. “The way we try and do that is we are well placed to serve all those audiences in a broad area, but we think about what’s the talent we use, what are the brands that we do, and how do we make sure we’re serving fans, delivering the information they want, but in the way they want it on the platform and in the tone that they want it in.”

Fox noted that ESPN reached some 200 million adults in March on its digital platforms alone; ESPN’s social team generates some 400 to 500 clips a day. Clips are a crucial way to reach millennial and Gen Z sports buffs.

“That younger generation wants to see clips even if they’re not watching the live sport,” Fox said. “It’s also about giving them not just the news they need to know about sports, but also what they want to know about pop culture.”

Deutsch observed, “When you have the production engine that ESPN has, you can be there in a way that is relevant and authentic to those platforms.”

Deloitte’s reseach has found that some 40% of Gen Z consumers say access to live sports is the motivator that gets them to subscribe to a streaming platform, Deutsch added in the conversation moderated by Andrew Wallenstein, president and chief media analyst for Variety Intelligence Platform.

On the other hand, Deutsch noted, some 27% of consumers say they don’t need to subscribe to sports-centric services because they can get all the clips and highlights they want across free TV and digital outlets.

“They’re so busy with gaming and podcasts and radio and TV and everything else that they actually say, ‘I have so much access to highlights. I can still do the things that I want, but I don’t necessarily have to subscribe because it’s frictionless to get the highlights that keep me invested in the sports that I’m passionate about.’ So there’s the yin and the yang of what we see there,” Deutsch said.