ESPN signed a deal with the WWE last week that will put many of its live events on the Disney sports giant, but John Cena is getting in the ring immediately.
Cena plays a new and crucial role for ESPN, starring as a coach of sorts for people who want to learn about new features set to debut as the sports-media titan launches its new direct to consumer service on August 21. A teaser featuring Cena and ESPN’s first ad mascot — “App-E” — debuts Monday and is meant to rev up interest in the streaming sports app and the new experiences that will be provided to users both new and old.
“We want to make sure that more people have broad awareness,” says Jo Fox, ESPN, senior vice president of marketing, in an interview. Cena will portray a “sports coach,” she says, who aims to tell potential customers that they have a new way to get “all of ESPN in one place.”
The Disney sports hub is entering a crowded field. The August 21st launch positions the company to spark interest in its offering just a few weeks before the start of the next NFL season. But there are many other streaming services with sports to offer, including a new Fox One app that is slated to debut on the same day as ESPN’s. Meanwhile, NBCU’s Peacock and Amazon’s Prime Video services also rely heavily on sports as their calling card to consumers.
The new service is seen as critical to the fortunes of both ESPN and its owners Disney and Hearst, who are grappling with an exodus of subscribers from traditional cable to on-demand streaming. ESPN and ESPN2, which are each projected to have 61.4 million subscribers at the end of 2025, are likely to see those figures drop to 57.9 million and 57.8 million respectively by the end of 2026, according to data from Kagan, a research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. ESPN aims to get a broad group of some 60 million consumers who don’t subscribe to traditional TV packages to consider the new ESPN streaming venue – and also tout new interactive and personalized features to traditional ESPN viewers, who can use their current subscription to access ESPN’s mobile app.
The company will make the teaser available across Disney’s linear properties as well as social media and online video, says Fox. In weeks to come, Cena is likely to talk about live ESPN events, new features and even how to get the new ESPN service as part of a larger bundle of Disney’s online video properties. That’s one reason behind the use of traditional TV networks for the ad, even though new subscribers are likely to come from the ranks of cord cutters. Even so, there are plenty of veteran ESPN aficionados who will learn about new features they can use to spend more time with the sports outlet.
The coach character “really helps, because you hold the fans’ hands and explain it to them in a way that is entertaining and engaging,” Fox says. The concept is not “the easiest thing to put into a couple of symbols and some words.”
Cena’s appearance may have even more resonance than expected. In addition to striking a unique pact with the National Football League that gives ESPN the ability to distribute NFL Network and NFL RedZone, the company also unveiled a five-year rights deal with WWE that will put premium live events such as “WrestleMania” on the its new streaming service. Enlisting Cena was “kismet,” says Fox, who declined to say if the upcoming pact influenced the choice of talent to be used in the new campaign.
The anthropomorphic “App-E” may also surprise ESPN die-hards, says Fox, who notes that ESPN has never had its own advertising mascot despite running many distinctive campaigns over the years. “We all had that same reaction,” she says, upon learning ESPN has never relied on such a marketing technique. The new character’s longevity is likely to hinge on its ability to win the media’s current game — generating streaming subscribers.
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