ESPN Will Lead Live TV into the Next Decade

Posted by Darren on Feb 15, 2010 • (Comments)

It’s a bold statement in the title, but I believe that the only traditional television programming to exist in the future are based around live events.  Unless Ticketmaster/Livenation create a live concert channel which I would assume is not out of the realm of possibilities, I think ESPN and it’s associated brothers/sister channels will lead television into the next decade.

It’s just not fun to watch a time shifted sporting event.

Read this article in the Sports Business Journal about ESPN entitled, Industry Wonders Who Will Challenge ESPN?

Another great addition to live television is the use of social media and technology to enhance the experience.  Yes, you can use Hot Potato during an episode of The Hills, but watching a sporting event with updates via tweets/etc is much more enjoyable.  We’ve not even scratched the surface with what is avaialble here, but it’s an area I’m interested in and I’m sure we’ll see lots in the next two years.

In a recent article in Advertising Age, entitled Live TV is Alive as Ever, Boosted by Social Media, author Andrew Hampp talks about the undeniable link between social media buzz and TV ratings.

With a programming schedule dominated by live events, ESPN is in a nice position to win the television war into the next decade.

Note:  the TV war won’t just be on your beautiful 60″ LCD in your living room – it’ll be on multiple screens, including your mobile devices.

Tagged as , , , , , + Categorized as Internet & Web X.0, Media & Entertainment, Technology
  • Just got around to reading this post. I agree that ESPN is in the driver's seat because of it's ability to secure programming - thanks to mind-blowing rev from cable subs. What interests me most is what they are doing with ESPN360. Using a similar cable pricing model (to preserve current revenues) they have developed a digital live video content platform that is much more aligned with how people want to control their viewing experience.

    There's lots of talk that ESPN will secure the rights to future Olympics. I'm sure there media broadcasting, digital and monetization strategy will trump that of NBC because they will have the ability to 1)stream/broadcast all events LIVE 2) ensure/maintain cable prices 3) extend programming to all platforms

    I recently blogged about some of my thoughts when it comes to TV -- http://www.blog.littyhoops.com...

    Also, as Kevin mentioned we've played around exploring a fantasy twitter game that capitalizes on people using their 2nd or 3rd screen as they watch their television. Watching TV without also being online is almost boring! Jacked (http://www.jacked.com) is an interesting company that tries to create an interactive media experience by providing a compliment to live sporting events.




  • mediaaderts
    Very nice and informative post and it will be useful for us in the nearest future. Thank you very much!
  • Agreed. I approach the issue by thinking about shared experiences. In your past post about livecasting concerts, you suggest an approach where the concert experience (a major social experience, when else is the crowd a defining part of the event) can be extended beyond the stadium and into theaters.

    As media consumption becomes more fragmented and personalized, we lose those shared media experiences -- stuff to talk about around the water cooler.

    A new-school solution to this phenomenon is the social sharing and recommendation functionality that is native to next gen TV interfaces like Boxee. Not only does this solve the shared experience / social currency problem, it also helps the discovery problem in long tail content consumption.

    The old-school reaction is a increased excitement around the big events that you will be able to discuss with anyone you run into the next day -- e.g., the Super Bowl & The Olympics. I liked how this past Superbowl I didn't discuss the "shared experience" the next day around the water cooler. I was reading tweets in real time, sharing the experience with everyone on Twitter not just the people in the room.

  • I hear you Darren, its been really interesting to think about the evolution of Social TV. Its a subtile, but important point you draw - sports are the only real captivating program worth watching in real-time for a multitude of reasons. It will be interesting to see where the major sports head with there own broadcasting stations they've began to focus on. For one the NFL's redzone is rumored to be heading to the mobile phone next season. In my mind this could almost increase viewer-ship as it allows fathers who are out of the house to stay plugged in.

    I put some thoughts behind the interesting hardware a couple weeks back http://convertiv.com/social-tv....

    Cheers,
    CP
  • Darren - Timely post. With the Olympics I too have been thinking about the TV/web continuum. I agree with you on the time shifting -- also the Olympics has frustrated me with gated coverage when there are so many events that are of interest.

    Personally though, as I wrote about a year and a half ago here http://bit.ly/3QqBE3 I think this is Google's for the taking. Like many I was simply blown away in every regard by the seamless high quality U2 stream this past October that got 10 million viewers. Google has some deep pockets to start competing for content.

    The real advantage YouTube has however is in recommendations/personalization. YouTube is making huge strides in this area. In an ever crowded world of content choices, even live ones, the game may just be won on a networks ability to push the right event to you rather than wait for you to find it. This is an area even forward thinking TV networks like ESPN are far behind Google on.
  • The big oppty you talk about which I also have written about in the
    past is getting the concerts streamed online (to multiple screens).

    I feel/think that if Google did exactly what you are talking about
    below, it would really change a big part of the company. It ain't
    cheap. I think that Myspace with it's music roots have a much better
    DNA for this.

    Should google acquire livenation and ticketmaster? Ticketmaster for
    ticket econmerce and livenation for the rights to events?
  • Def. an interesting theory...I agree live sports/events is where it's at...not so sure ESPN is the leader in this realm though (I feel like 90% of their programming is replays/rebroadcasts rather than live sports)...

    Related, but as a bit of an aside, the Gawk.it project Brian and I played around with this past MLB and NFL season was targeted at adding to the real-time sports experience...and I still think it's going to be a big part of the experience going forward...but so far, at least our version, was WAY too far ahead of the curve of the average user/player...we are going to continue to tweak the concept and come out with new/different games around the idea, but right now it feels like it's going to be awhile before the average user is really ready to 'do' something while watching real time sports...
  • I also believe that experiences (games, etc) alongside live content
    will be powerful. Not sure if society at large is ready yet, and
    might take a national event (olympics, superbowl, etc) to kickstart it
    as enough people will be together watching to learn how to participate.
blog comments powered by Disqus