Imagine a version of ESPN‘s “Sports Center” where you — not Scott Van Pelt, not Elle Duncan, not Kevin Neghandi — leads the show. Actually, you don’t have to.
On Thursday, ESPN will launch an interactive version of the show that gives each subscriber almost exactly what they want. This “Sports Center for You,” actually a series of short clips that appear much like an array of TikTok offerings and are narrated by popular anchors including Hannah Storm (thanks to some A.I. enhancement), is tailored to the interests and favorite topics of each user and will be a part of ESPN’s new set of interactive features that launch in tandem with its new all-in streaming service, set to debut Thursday and make available its entire portfolio of content for the first time in broadband fashion.
“Fans don’t just want to watch,” says ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro speaking Tuesday at an event designed to promote the new offering. “They want to experience. They want to interact.”
ESPN isn’t cancelling its original “Sports Center” — you can still see it every day at 7 a.m., 2p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., among other hours — but the launch of the new, interactive version is a sign of the times. Digitally-savvy fans don’t want to watch their favorite show at a specific time of day; they want to watch it when they feel like it. And in an era when video fans can, more or less, get exactly what they want to see, it behooves even a sports-media giant to let each Nets, Cowboys, Kings or Cubs fan get the news of those teams first before diving into other topics.
The Disney sports-media giant has essentially “built millions of Sports Centers, each one personalized for the user,” says Brian Marshall,. vice president of sports products and strategy for Disney Entertainment and ESPN.
There’s a growing consensus that even the most venerated sports format will need to be updated. A survey of 2000 sports fans conducted last year by PwC found that younger fans have signficantly shorter attention spans and crave unique viewing experiences. According to PwC, only 19% of younger fans watched an entire game when at home, and usually are enmeshed in another activity at the same time. More than two-thirds of respondents indicated they used social media, while 47% said they surfed the web. The survey showed 24% played video games.
Only 1% said they did nothing but watch the game they had selected.
Others are testing new ways of showing old sports-TV mainstays. CBS Sports will on September 7 launch a streaming-only version of “The NFL Today,” a pre-game show that has been on the air in one form or another since 1961 (originally titled “Pro Football Kickoff”), except for a four-year stint in the 1990s when CBS lost its NFL rights. The new two-hour show will stream live starting at 10 a.m. on Paramount+, CBS Sports HQ and a special NFL on CBS YouTube channel, leading viewers in to the traditional noontime airing of “NFL Today” on the linear CBS network and Paramount+.
The streaming version of the show, titled “The NFL Today+,” is meant to “reach younger NFL fans where they already consume content,” says Jeff Gerttula, executive vice president and CBS Head of Digital. “It strengthens our NFL offering while driving continued growth on the platform and redefining the pregame experience.”
TV networks are even trying to place old formats in places where they have never been. NBC Sports last year unveiled a “Gold Zone” format for Paris Olympics coverage on its Peacock streaming service took viewers on a hopscotch from among as many as 40 different events taking place in similar time windows. The concept was based on “NFL RedZone,” the so-called “whip-around” cable outlet operated by the NFL that takes viewers to key moments in various in-progress live NFL games playing on Sunday afternoons. NBC tapped Scott Hanson, who is seen regularly on “RedZone,” for its “Gold Zone” coverage.
Fans may see even more of “RedZone” in the near future. ESPN and NFL have struck a deal that will give ESPN the ability to license and sell “RedZone,” and, potentially, to create more products out of it in the future. In exchange for both “RedZone” and cable’s NFL Network, the NFL would take a 10% stake in ESPN under the pact, which needs to be approved by regulators.
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