ESPN has come up with an answer to sports fans’ age-old question: Who is showing the game?
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The Disney-owned sports division has launched a new feature called “Where to Watch” on its main app and website. The service guides users to any sports event on ESPN platforms and elsewhere, including broadcast, cable and regional sports networks and streaming services.
Brian Marshall, VP, Sports Product & Technology, Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, offered a demo during ESPN’s Media Day on Wednesday at its Bristol, CT headquarters. He said results are not ranked according to whether the viewing platform is part of Disney or ESPN. Users can indicate preferences in terms of where they watch sports, putting in place filters for games being shown on Peacock, YES Network, ION or any other media rightsholder.
“Simplifying discovery of sporting events and where a fan can watch has become increasingly important as sports viewing has become fragmented across networks and platforms,” Marshall said in a press release. “ESPN has always been the first stop for sports fans, and as we continue our evolution as the preeminent digital sports platform, we are proud to meet the needs of fans with new features to improve the discoverability of live sports and simplify their consumption journeys.”
Live games are highlighted and include a boldly colored “watch” button to take users directly to the broadcast, provided they authenticate through their pay-TV provider or are a subscriber to ESPN+. Users can also customize by sport or by league, across dozens of options.
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The new service relies on an event database created and managed by the ESPN Stats and Information Group. That unit aggregates ESPN and partner data feeds along with originally sourced information and programming details from more than 250 media sources, including TV networks and streaming platforms, the press release noted.
At launch, Where to Watch showcases tens of thousands of events across dozens of sports and leagues. The roster includes the NFL, NCAA football, men’s and women’s NCAA basketball, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, UFC, F1, NASCAR, PGA Tour, tennis majors, MLS, Premier League, Champions League, and other live sporting event airing on ESPN platforms. Additional sport and event coverage will be added over time, ESPN said.
At the ESPN event in Bristol, Chara-Lynn Aguiar, EVP of Finance, Research, Strategy and Office of the Chairman for ESPN, noted in an interview that Where to Watch arose from consumer feedback over the years. The aim of launching it, execs said, is not to create a revenue-producing business unto itself, but to make the ESPN app and ESPN.com more useful and therefore increase customer loyalty.
One person offering feedback, Aguilar said, was her boss, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “He would ask me, ‘Why is it so hard for me to find out where the Yankee game is on?'” she recalled. “I told him, ‘We can fix that!'”
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