Tag: ESPN

ESPN To Air FIFA eSports Championship Ahead Of Super Bowl

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Earlier today, ESPN announced that it will broadcast the Paris Regional Finals for FIFA’s Ultimate Team Championship Series this Saturday, marking the first time the network has aired an eSports event on its flagship channel in the U.S. Previous eSports telecasts, such as the 2016 Street Fighter World Championship, were aired on ESPN2. In addition, the Championship Series will be available via live streams on Facebook, Twitch and YouTube Gaming.

What Brands Need To Do
In recent years, eSports has grown from a niche media platform into a massive global phenomenon that brands are starting to tap into to reach the tens of millions of fans around the world. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a sports channel like ESPN is starting to incorporate eSports into its programming, despite the wide availability of live streams. Nevertheless, as media companies rush into the eSports space, brands gain new channels to reach the young, male-skewing eSports audience, brands, especially those seeking global recognition, need to start leveraging the massive reach of eSports events and platforms via sponsorships and ads.

 

Source: VentureBeat

ESPN Gets Serious About eSports

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
eSports have been receiving increasing attention from mainstream media lately. Turner Broadcasting announced in September its plan to air eSports tournament on TBS during prime time this year, and now ESPN, the leading cable channel in sports, is also getting into the eSports game by launching a brand new vertical to cover competitive gaming. The Disney-owned network has launched a dedicated section on ESPN.com to cover eSports news, videos, and profiles about influential members from the eSports community. Plus, a new Twitter handle @ESPN_Esports is also created to support the new vertical.

What Brands Need To Do
Over the past few years, esports have grown into a massive media platform that attracts hundreds of millions of spectators and generates billions of dollars. This new ESPN vertical shows how serious eSports have become in today’s media landscape. Previously, early-moving brands like Coca-Cola and Geico have been sponsoring esports events to reach their staggering number of viewers. Now with ESPN on board, brands will have more platforms to reach the much-coveted demographic of young millennial guys.

 

Source: Engadget

Header image courtesy of @ESPN_Esports

Cablevision To Team Up With ESPN For Data-Sharing Deal

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: AdWeek

In a first-of-its-kind data deal between a cable TV provider and a cable network, ESPN is teaming up with Cablevision to combine audience data, taken straight from set-top boxes, with viewing habits and other behavioral data, the premium sports channel announced at its upfront presentation earlier today.

The new deal will help match ESPN impressions with sales data and other relevant information to accurately determine value, demonstrating ROI to advertisers, who will be able to see how long ESPN’s audience spends on a particular sport and the time of day they’re most engaged.

As both companies reportedly expressed interest in making similar deals in the near future, we expect to see more mutually beneficial data-sharing deals between content providers and service providers coming soon.

Roku Adds Live Disney and ESPN Content

Posted on by Lab Team

As Americans begin to abandon cable TV providers in favor of streaming services, and those streaming services being to gain a foothold in the living room environment, content providers are aiming to distribute to the widest variety of services possible. Set-top box manufacturer Roku added new live broadcast programming to its selection in the form of WatchESPN and WatchDisney channels.  These networks are available widely to tens of millions of digital cable subscribers, and represent an effort on the part of content providers to accommodate varying user tastes to ensure they aren’t left behind by rapid developments in how people choose to consume media.

WatchESPN Updates Live Toolbar

Posted on by Lab Team

One of the original streaming apps, WatchESPN, vastly improved its service today, through an update that includes a major face lift and real-time stats, scores, and on-demand clips via a live toolbar. The app provides access to live streams from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, and ESPN Goal Line/Buzzer Beater, and now the toolbar gives access to clips across all of these channels, without the user having to navigate away from the live stream they’re watching. This means that users can turn the second screen – the iPad or other streaming device – entirely into the first stream for most sports entertainment. 

The End Of 3D? ESPN Drops 3D Channel

Posted on by Lab Team

ESPN has decided to drop its dedicated 3D channel which launched in 2010, based on high costs, low consumer demand and lack of adoption from cable companies. Sports programming was the catalyst for HD adoption so the flagship sports channel’s decision to no longer support 3D may mark the end of the medium. Likely to supersede HD will be 4K (4x resolution of HD) which had a huge presence at this year’s CES.

ESPN.com gets glittery, unicorn makeover

Posted on by Lab Team

Screengrab from ESPN.comThis is the best story we have seen in weeks.  Apparently the ESPN site has an Easter Egg for old school gamers.  When visiting the site in Internet Explorer and entering the Konami code, one of the most famous cheat codes in gaming, the site gets an aesthetic makeover suited to an 8-year-old girl.

The makeover seems to come from cornify.com, and while the unicorns and pink text might be deemed by some to be a welcome addition, one thread posting in the article about this trick notes that there is a job opening for web designer for ESPN on Disney’s recruiting site.

See the full page screenshot: Continue reading “ESPN.com gets glittery, unicorn makeover”