George Bodenheimer

This article originally appeared in the MIPCOM ’09 issue.

ESPN is the leading sports entertainment company, featuring a portfolio of more than 50 multimedia assets. It launched its flagship network in the U.S. in 1979, and quickly proceeded to roll out services around the world. It went on to offer events, highlights and sports news on multiple platforms. As George Bodenheimer explains, the key to ESPN’s success has been to serve sports fans wherever they are.

WS: What are ESPN viewers watching online?
BODENHEIMER: We see sports fans watching everything from short clips of highlights and news to full live games and original online programs. On ESPN.com, espnsoccernet.com, espncricinfo.com and our other editorial sites, video has become an integral part of our journalistic storytelling. We have the most comprehensive library of online video in sports, and we are continuing to grow that. In the U.S. alone, we deliver hundreds of millions of streams of video every month. Globally, we continue to extend our sportscenter brand online through sportscenter Right Now in the U.S., ESPN Deportes sportscenter, espnsoccernet sportscenter and espncricinfo sportscenter. These are originally produced programs, specifically delivering the best daily news and information for fans in each case.

And our commitment to delivering live games online is growing as well. That effort is furthest along in the U.S., where broadband penetration has grown quickly and where ESPN360.com now delivers a broadband TV network with 3,500 live sports events annually to 42 million homes. It is also growing in other places around the globe, though, with versions of ESPN360 in the U.K., many European countries, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and others around the world.

WS: What kind of information do sports fans want on their mobile devices?
BODENHEIMER: Mobile is an enormous piece of the evolving media landscape. It will increasingly be the glue that connects a multiplatform environment, because mobile devices are the only media within arm’s reach of billions of fans worldwide at nearly any point in the day.

However, the engagement is different. Immediacy and simplicity [are] critical. Fans want an easy way to get scores and news quickly. In June, we launched the ESPN scorecenter app for the iphone in 77 countries and six languages. It is the ultimate scoreboard for more than a dozen sports and hundreds of leagues. It is simple, fast and intuitive. And every month, ESPN delivers more than 65 million alerts to fans that have personalized their connection with us by telling us what to deliver to them and when.
On the mobile web, ESPN is the clear leader. ESPN.com averages 9 million users every month, roughly 65 percent of the U.S. market share.

While mobile video is still early in its adoption curve with consumers, we are already seeing that sports will again be a driving force in moving the industry forward. That is the most exciting part about mobile as a platform—it holds such enormous growth potential for fans and for our business. It is only beginning its growth, and will continue to accelerate with the pace of technology.

WS: How important is it to make programming available on youtube or other sites?
BODENHEIMER: It is important, in the same way that it is important for us to be in sports bars and pubs around the world, on phones in Brazil, the U.S., South Africa, the U.K. and so many other countries. We must always strive to anticipate what media platforms are important to fans and be there as part of the conversation. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have to evaluate each medium or platform individually and be sure that what we do on them is also smart for our business. With that in mind, we are working on ways to ensure that the conversations that are happening in social media also are happening on ESPN.com. It is not to say we have any interest in limiting the conversation on social-media platforms, but rather, it is about ensuring that fans on our sites don’t have to go elsewhere to take part in those conversations.

ESPN and The Walt Disney Company signed a deal with youtube earlier this year that served as a bit of a landmark, in that we anchor their sports channel, we have our own channel within youtube and—importantly—we were the first company to control our own video player on youtube. We now program those channels as another way that fans can get our leading sports video. We have seen it add to the overall views of ESPN video and have discovered that we can reach deeper into some audiences than we did on ESPN.com alone.