ESPN’s Streaming Future Poised To Win With Volume (And Quality)

When it was confirmed just two months ago that ESPN’s standalone streaming service would come with a $29.99-per-month subscription cost later this year, the main concern (in this space, at least) was how ESPN planned to sell to an audience that may not “need” it.

Recent news has potentially given us our answer there.

On the heels of returning to the MLB rights conversation — that it exited earlier this year — Front Office Sports reported this week that NFL ownership will soon be voting on The Walt Disney Co. acquiring league media assets.

The NFL has had these assets, including but not limited to NFL Network and NFL RedZone, up for sale for years now. But without any takers at a price tag of $2 billion or more. However, Disney and ESPN seem ready to take the leap now, at a time when ESPN is suddenly making new plays for “more” after years of cutting back on its top-tier inventory.

Over the last decade or so, ESPN has shed the rights for the FIFA Men’s World Cup, Big Ten, Big East, NASCAR, MLS and in February, MLB games. In that same stretch, it’s also expanded its relationship with the SEC and added NHL games, while jumping back into the pool with some Big East inventory.

But largely, the additions to ESPN’s coverage footprint have been in terms of niche sports and “lesser” college games. They primarily function as a boost to the volume of live game tiles any consumer may see when opening ESPN/WatchESPN, along the NHL.TV inventory already on there.

If ESPN is adding NFL media properties AND possibly local MLB coverage, too? Suddenly, the ESPN app becomes a far more essential entity in the larger scheme of streaming — sports or otherwise.

Assuming both are added, that sales pitch for $30-per-month now includes year-round NFL content (with live games), regional MLB and NHL content, most of the college sports landscape, plus national NBA and NHL games. It’s no omnibus sports app, as Disney-affiliated Venu once thought it could be. And it also doesn’t need to be.

With all of those rights (plus more we’re not even listing), ESPN becomes the only must-have sports streaming app in a way that seemed unlikely even a few months ago. It’s a volume play, sure. The bigger sell, though, is the quality at that volume.

In an economic environment where households are sure to be second-guessing non-essential purchases, having “most” of the sports landscape available in one app could very well be enough. There are, after all, only so many hours available in the day to watch. Even if the idea of having every single NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college football and college basketball game sounds great on paper, there’s a) no MVPD or streaming service that offers that today, and b) you do hit a limit on how much you can actually tune into.

Arguably, that was part of ESPN’s initial appeal as the “Worldwide Leader In Sports.”

When there was little other competition beyond broadcast networks with a variety of priorities, ESPN stood out as the place where you could go to get most — not all — of the sports.

Consumers felt compelled to want or need the network because it was their best shot of catching most of the games, and if not the live contests, then at least the highlights during SportsCenter’s heyday. That idea helped ESPN charge higher carriage fees than any other network and make Disney a ton of money on the backs of MVPDs until very recently (when it still makes a ton, just not as much relative to what it pays for game rights).

So following that same script here, the quality-at-volume play does seem like a winning formula for ESPN’s new app.

Granted, it needs at least one of the NFL media or MLB local rights elements to fully come to fruition. But if consumers truly want bundled entertainment options (and 70% now seem to, according to Hub Entertainment Research), then this becomes a clear answer to that — especially when grouped with the larger Hulu and Disney+ streaming apparatus.

Magically, after all of the handwringing about its streaming strategy in recent years, Disney may just wind up coming out on top again.