EXCLUSIVE: By design, the launch of ESPN+ in April 2018 did not resemble that of streaming sibling Disney+ a year and a half later, with its Mandalorian cannon shot and 10 million subscribers on Day 1.
Aiming at first to incrementally extend the universe of programming available to diehard sports fans beyond the pay-TV bundle, ESPN+ debuted with a few marquee attractions (Major League Baseball, boxing and college sports among them), plus some new on-demand and library fare.
The venture gained a bit of early traction, but the early phase could be summed up by a single word: complementary. In the recollection of Scott Connor, executive director of product management at ESPN and ESPN+, “We started off on second base” on launch day, because the company had been streaming for years through authenticated apps like WatchESPN, giving ESPN+ a potential subscriber base of “tens of millions of homes.” The launch also was a proving ground for Bamtech, the former Major League Baseball division acquired by Disney ahead of its direct-to-consumer streaming pivot.
Today, analysts estimate that the pay-TV bundle is at least 20 million households smaller than it was in 2018, and the business model of sports media is shifting accordingly.
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