Can ESPN Survive As Cable TV Fades?

[rayzor]

i honestly can't remember the last time i watched espn. aside from maybe a time or two in the waiting room of a mechanic or doctor, i haven't watched it in maybe a decade.

[CRA]

47 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

ESPN is still profitable for Disney right now and it won’t go anywhere until it’s not.

They’ll bring on minority stakeholders, continue doing mass layoffs, etc.

They still have their deals with essentially every sports league save the MLS. ESPN may eventually become like CBS Sports but I doubt it truly ever goes away.

ESPN has the college football playoff contract until 2031.  

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, CRA said:

I agree social media destroyed the need....but I can't co sign we are better off going down the social media road.  Think that's proving to be a path to a worse outcome for just about all avenues.  

It's a more free way to communicate and it gives everyone a chance to be a voice. So, in truth it is very much closer to anarchy than anything else, hence what you see.

It's a double edged sword. You are less likely to be brainwashed by the common narrative a few large companies are pushing, but you are much more likely to be impacted by some unmedicated nutcase that now has a platform and is sucking people into their black hole of mental instability.

I say it is indeed a net negative but the paradigm shifted because of the greed of the companies controlling media. They didn't listen to the consumers so now they will fade into a position of far less relevance than before.

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, PanthersATL said:

Not entirely true.  Audacy (a radio company with a vested interest) says that 98% of GenZ listens to radio daily.  A different company's report is more realistic and says over half of GenZ listens to radio daily

And yet a *different* survey in 2023 (that is often reliable) says 37% of GenZ said they've listened to radio in the past week vs 60% for older demos.  Different phrasing: GenZ might not be listening to radio as much as older generations, but they haven't abandoned it completely

From a price perspective, it's almost to the point where subscribing to all the required streaming services at one time (which few households actually do) is practically the same as a lower-tier cable subscription. 

The one issue all the streamers have to deal with is the ongoing issue of "where do I go to watch my preferred show", vs having it all in one place - or at least, easier to find/interface - via a cable sub.

And many cable subscribers don't take advantage of the TV Everywhere feature which allows them to log into a cable channel's website to watch content on-demand, just like they could with a streaming service.  (*disclaimer: Paramount has removed themselves from the TV Everywhere service recently)

Do you mean over the air radio or paid radio/streaming services?

Also, I am not sure I would call that a 1 to 1 comparison with subscription cable/TV.

[PanthersATL]

6 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Do you mean over the air radio or paid radio/streaming services?

Also, I am not sure I would call that a 1 to 1 comparison with subscription cable/TV.

Was referring to OTA / traditional broadcast radio. Anything that is a paid or streaming-only audio service is not "radio".   

[CRA]

14 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

It's a more free way to communicate and it gives everyone a chance to be a voice. So, in truth it is very much closer to anarchy than anything else, hence what you see.

It's a double edged sword. You are less likely to be brainwashed by the common narrative a few large companies are pushing, but you are much more likely to be impacted by some unmedicated nutcase that now has a platform and is sucking people into their black hole of mental instability.

I say it is indeed a net negative but the paradigm shifted because of the greed of the companies controlling media. They didn't listen to the consumers so now they will fade into a position of far less relevance than before.

it's all a trade-off for the worse IMO.  

I think as a whole, facts and reality are getting more and more murky as time go by.  The tech heavy world is getting us further away from reality. 

and it's still greed-driven.  The greed is just shifting to new hands.  The online world has an incentive to misinform.  It drives clicks online.  

 

[PanthersATL]

54 minutes ago, rayzor said:

i honestly can't remember the last time i watched espn. aside from maybe a time or two in the waiting room of a mechanic or doctor, i haven't watched it in maybe a decade.

Individual perception does not mean it's not being viewed by others

The MTV Challenge is typically the #1 rated cable show when it airs (aside from some NBA basketball or wrestling program that may get randomly scheduled against it).  Depending on the season being aired, it would pull in higher ratings than the primary broadcast channels.

Yet it can be difficult to find people in one's own circle who actively tune in to watch it to help an individual justify its ratings numbers.

Similarly, I've been to tech conferences where the overwhelming cell phone/watch combo seen is Apple (it has almost 60% market share in the US). But Android is more popular overall around the world with 70% global market share. So when the presenter says "raise your hand if you have an iPhone" and the entire room excitedly waves their arms around, that's not quite an accurate reflection of what's happening outside the conference walls.

 

[rayzor]

3 minutes ago, PanthersATL said:

Individual perception does not mean it's not being viewed by others

The MTV Challenge is typically the #1 rated cable show when it airs (aside from some NBA basketball or wrestling program that may get randomly scheduled against it).  Depending on the season being aired, it would pull in higher ratings than the primary broadcast channels.

Yet it can be difficult to find people in one's own circle who actively tune in to watch it to help an individual justify its ratings numbers.

Similarly, I've been to tech conferences where the overwhelming cell phone/watch combo seen is Apple (it has almost 60% market share in the US). But Android is more popular overall around the world with 70% global market share. So when the presenter says "raise your hand if you have an iPhone" and the entire room excitedly waves their arms around, that's not quite an accurate reflection of what's happening outside the conference walls.

all probably true. won't argue it.

but i haven't watched it or really much thought of it in a decade. that was all i had to offer. like with sports illustrated, i just didn't know that was still a thing. it's like seeing some actor on an old tv show you haven't watched in a long time and thinking, "i wonder if that guy is still alive...i haven't thought of him in a long time"

for a long time there was no questioning their presence because there was so little in the way of alternatives. i haven't bought or even looked at print media in a long time so i haven't thought of it in a long time. forgot all about it. i haven't had cable or satellite for a long time and since i'm not flipping through channels or looking at the guide on cable or satellite i don't really think about it. 

there's probably a growing group of people who used to depend on both for sports news who are in the same boat and probably a much larger younger demographic group who may go through their whole life as sports fans without knowing much if anything about either one of those. 

[Panthero]

2 hours ago, PanthersATL said:

If broadcasters stop paying/broadcasting the events... you'll have nothing to see.

 

[PanthersATL]

ESPN is looking to be a one-stop shop for all sports streaming (even if they aren't carrying the programming themselves - they'll at least point you to where it can be seen)

ESPN Digital brought in nearly half of all users in the U.S. sports category in 2023 (as monthly unique visitors). For 2024, the numbers are higher, more than 50%.

The offering will be geotargeted so that only those located in specific areas of the U.S. will see the option to watch their local games. The streams will not be housed within the ESPN app, which is merely serving as a portal to the RSN (regional sports networks) telecast, and viewers also will still need to pay for access to the RSNs. ....  Internal research has indicated that avid sports viewers are “confused about where to find games, they’re frustrated,”

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/espn-integrates-pathway-regional-sports-153446055.html 

[CRA]

2 hours ago, PanthersATL said:

Similarly, I've been to tech conferences where the overwhelming cell phone/watch combo seen is Apple (it has almost 60% market share in the US). But Android is more popular overall around the world with 70% global market share. So when the presenter says "raise your hand if you have an iPhone" and the entire room excitedly waves their arms around, that's not quite an accurate reflection of what's happening outside the conference walls.

and yet the US Gov is suing Apple for a monopoly 

I mean, they would like to have one.  But they don't.  

[PanthersATL]

18 minutes ago, CRA said:

and yet the US Gov is suing Apple for a monopoly 

I mean, they would like to have one.  But they don't.  

They do in terms of the walled garden. 

If you want to create/sell an app, you have to do it on Apple's terms via Apple's store.
If you want to use an Apple Watch, you aren't allowed to use one unless you have an iPhone.

With Android, you have options on whose hardware to use. Not so much with Apple.

From a monopoly viewpoint, other than a sunk-cost of ownership/application knowledge - it's hard to say that users are permantently locked in and can't utilize a different set of hardware. It may not be configured/done how those consumers are used to, but pretty much anything you're trying to do on iOS is accessible elsewhere.

Similarly: Amazon is not a monopoly. Walmart and other online stores offers (almost) the exact same merchandise with (similar) shipping policies. AWS has competition from MSFT, Google and others. Doesn't mean that there aren't monopolistic practices happening, but DOJ can't break up Apple/Amazon simply because "they're big". Gotta have a solid reason to do so.

 

[kungfoodude]

53 minutes ago, PanthersATL said:

ESPN is looking to be a one-stop shop for all sports streaming (even if they aren't carrying the programming themselves - they'll at least point you to where it can be seen)

ESPN Digital brought in nearly half of all users in the U.S. sports category in 2023 (as monthly unique visitors). For 2024, the numbers are higher, more than 50%.

The offering will be geotargeted so that only those located in specific areas of the U.S. will see the option to watch their local games. The streams will not be housed within the ESPN app, which is merely serving as a portal to the RSN (regional sports networks) telecast, and viewers also will still need to pay for access to the RSNs. ....  Internal research has indicated that avid sports viewers are “confused about where to find games, they’re frustrated,”

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/espn-integrates-pathway-regional-sports-153446055.html 

The RSN situation was dramatically flubbed by Bally. 

[kungfoodude]

7 minutes ago, PanthersATL said:

They do in terms of the walled garden. 

If you want to create/sell an app, you have to do it on Apple's terms via Apple's store.
If you want to use an Apple Watch, you aren't allowed to use one unless you have an iPhone.

With Android, you have options on whose hardware to use. Not so much with Apple.

From a monopoly viewpoint, other than a sunk-cost of ownership/application knowledge - it's hard to say that users are permantently locked in and can't utilize a different set of hardware. It may not be configured/done how those consumers are used to, but pretty much anything you're trying to do on iOS is accessible elsewhere.

Similarly: Amazon is not a monopoly. Walmart and other online stores offers (almost) the exact same merchandise with (similar) shipping policies. AWS has competition from MSFT, Google and others. Doesn't mean that there aren't monopolistic practices happening, but DOJ can't break up Apple/Amazon simply because "they're big". Gotta have a solid reason to do so.

 

It will be their stores(they will get Google for this too with Play) and the software they natively install. That's what they got Microsoft for a while back.