Would one of cable’s most in-demand networks ever think of skipping the middle man and going direct to consumer? If they do, when would they consider doing so?
ESPN has been near the top of cable subscribers' most desired channels for years now but the Worldwide Leader in Sports has seen its cable subscriber numbers drop steadily since 2011. Recently, ESPN lost another 10% of its cable subscribers as more sports fans cut the cord on cable. Interestingly enough, another aspect of ESPN’s business happened to grow as its linear offerings faltered — ESPN+, the company’s dedicated sports streaming service.
ESPN+ reached 17.1 million subscribers as of last month and the platform has steadily grown since its launch in 2018. ESPN+ is home to a wide variety of live sports content, ESPN-themed studio shows, documentaries, and more, with new content (and a new hockey/collegiate athletic league) added regularly. Disney has also said it will invest in streaming throughout 2022 and beyond, meaning we could see even more from ESPN+ moving forward.
So would ESPN ever do the (seemingly) unthinkable and ever ditch cable and go DTC? It could happen, but not that soon.
A recent Axios Sports report showed ESPN’s current situation compared to Disney’s other properties. While Disney generates more revenue from non-sports fans through streaming services compared to its linear platforms, the opposite holds true for ESPN, where the linear platforms generate more cash than the streaming entity. Granted, ESPN’s 76 million linear subscribers dwarf the 17.1 million ESPN+ subscribers, but that number could change over the next few years. Axios says ESPN, “probably won’t consider a direct-to-consumer service until the pay-TV bundle falls below 50 million U.S. households, which could happen in the next five years (according to CNBC.)”
If ESPN lost 8 million cable subscribers per year (the drop from 2020’s fiscal year total of 84 million compared to the most recent numbers), they’d be under that 50 million number by 2025. This assumes, of course, cord-cutting doesn’t accelerate and cause numbers to drop even faster in the future. It looks like that while ESPN won’t be looking to cut out on its own just yet, the standalone ESPN content offering may not really be that far away.
ESPN+
ESPN+ is a live TV streaming service that gives access to thousands of live sporting events, original shows like Peyton’s Place, the entire library of 30 for 30, E:60, The Last Dance, as well exclusive written analysis from top ESPN insiders. Sports available on ESPN+ include NFL, MLB, NHL, UFC, College Football, F1, Bundesliga, PGA Tour, La Liga, and more.