Jimmy Pitaro has worked within the Walt Disney Company since 2010. He was hired by Bob Iger, who was the chief executive officer of the company at the time, to work within its Disney Interactive division. Iger was also the executive who named Pitaro the new president of ESPN and co-chair of Disney Media Networks in 2018, and was instrumental in his quest of innovation to effectively position the company to adapt to the next generation of digital media.
“Without Bob Iger, I’m not here at ESPN,” Pitaro said while attending the Sports Video Group Summit in New York, N.Y. “Bob’s a huge sports fan. To be effective, you need to be a fan; you can’t fake it.”
It was announced that Iger was returning as chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company last month, concluding what ended up being a short stint in retirement. He and Pitaro peak regularly whether it is over the phone, text or Zoom both about business and their fandom of the New York Yankees.
“I have a boss; I have a mentor who is a passionate sports fan and someone who I can learn a ton from,” Pitaro said. “Having Bob back is great for ESPN and I’m very pleased to have him back as my boss.”
Pitaro, now chairman of ESPN and sports content, stated that he has not yet spoken to Iger pertaining to specific aspects of future strategy, but figures to continue emphasizing alternate broadcasts. Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli, colloquially known as the Manningcast, derived from Peyton Manning seeing Kirk Herbstreit commentate a college football playoff game from his basement at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Manning then contacted Pitaro and asked him if there would be a way to have him do the same thing – and it has subsequently evolved into what it is today.
Alternate broadcasts and live sports as a whole keep people coming to ESPN, especially on its linear platforms. Pitaro noted that out of the top 100 live broadcasts in 2022 thus far, 98 of them have been live sporting events, part of why the business continues to thrive despite cord-cutting, social media distractions and other headwinds.
“It’s the power of live sports,” Pitaro said. “…People are spending much more time consuming live sports than anything else live. I think live news ratings are just dependent on the political cycles, but for sports, it seems to be pretty constant.”
ESPN has been producing and airing alternate broadcasts since the 1990s, but caught what Pitaro calls “lightning in a bottle” creating Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli. Since that broadcast began in the 2021-22 NFL season, the network has launched Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod and the NBA in Stephen A’s World.
“We’re going to continue to experiment,” Pitaro expressed. “There’s no real formula here. We’ve tried alternate broadcasts that haven’t worked…We’re okay with failure here as long as we learn from it and get better. We’re going to continue to try new things here.”
An aspect of the ratings that is out of the control of ESPN is in the quality of the games the network broadcasts and Pitaro stated the last few weeks have been weaker in terms of quality. One part of the media rights deal between Disney and the National Football League is the addition of flex scheduling starting next season, meaning the chance to air higher quality matchups can be ensured.
There is undoubtedly an expectation of stellar performance across the board regardless of the sport. Pitaro is tasked with overseeing the network’s parallel paths; those being its linear channels and its direct-to-consumer platform: ESPN+.
“We’ve got to get it right and we have to show up every single day,” Pitaro said. “There are no off days. Look, we’re not perfect. Let me be clear. Our production is not perfect; our executives do not execute perfectly, but we do have a pretty high standard at ESPN and The Walt Disney Company.”
As some networks look to prioritize cord-cutting, Pitaro views linear television as a primary part of its business model. While the conversation around media encompasses digital growth and cord-cutting, ESPN’s outright linear television ratings rose 10% during the past fiscal year and those in primetime experienced 16% growth. Surely, it has been profitable for the network for many years, but Pitaro is cognizant of the change taking place as more consumers transition to watching live sports on other platforms of dissemination.
“We are continuing to acquire rights and invest in the traditional platform,” Pitaro said. “At the same time, pretty much every deal we do and we’ve done over the last 4.5 years since we’ve launched ESPN+ has had a direct-to-consumer component.”
NFL Sunday Ticket will transition into a streaming service, according to a statement made by National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell in an interview with CNBC, and DirecTV has had its rights for nearly three decades. Yet it has been reported that many companies have been involved in the bidding process, including Apple, Amazon and ESPN.
“We let the league know that we very much value that product,” Pitaro said. “It’d be interesting to see how this plays out. We typically don’t comment on league negotiations or discussions but I will tell you – and I’ve been consistent on this from day one- that we value that product.”
The proliferation of sports betting has led to its legalization in certain areas of the United States, resulting in the expansion of sports books and concomitant betting content. ESPN partnered with Caesars Sportsbook to create branded studios in Las Vegas and airs plenty of sports betting content.
It is representative of an area of future growth for ESPN and Pitaro spoke about ideas the network has in ways to implement it into its presentation. Some of these possibilities include potentially creating a watch-and-bet experience or a watch-and-buy experience in which consumers can directly interact and immerse themselves in the game experience.
“Our research shows us that our fans are good here,” Pitaro said. “They expect this from us – they’re not just okay with it – but they expect us to be doing more. What does that mean? It means creating a more seamless experience….They want to be able to place a bet without a lot of friction.”
As an executive within the Walt Disney Company, Pitaro has to think about the immersion of sports betting not just in terms of how it impacts ESPN, but how it impacts the venture as a whole.
“The way it’s come back is that our Disney fans are okay with this as well,” he said. “We’re still in the exploratory phase, but we certainly believe we can be doing more there.”
The advantage to ESPN+ is its unlimited real estate in terms of producing and distributing content. In the past, the network had to turn down certain content ideas because there was simply a lack of space to program them on the linear side. Now with the advent of technologies enabling nonlinear broadcast transmission, ESPN is able to create more programming and offer it in a multitude of different locations.
The growth of women’s sports is a priority for ESPN and drives aggregate viewership levels. Pitaro expressed how he received a call from his father last year pertaining to his watching more WNBA games because of the on-court product. Despite the network’s 10-year media rights deal with the WNBA expiring “relatively soon,” Pitaro delineated that the network will continue to invest in the space, in addition to NCAA women’s sports
“It’s becoming more and more in the zeitgeist,” Pitaro said of the WNBA, “and I think that’s kind of chicken and egg, but from our perspective – if we build it, they will come. If we give these games; these leagues; these sports more exposure, people are going to show up.”
Pitaro is excited to once again work with Iger in developing ESPN and having a voice in guiding the direction of the Walt Disney Company. In fact, Pitaro has currently been tasked by Iger to work with some of his colleagues at the company “to look at the structure of the entire enterprise.”
“A lot of the games that we’re airing right now we acquired through deals that Bob was at the table for,” Pitaro said. “We need a little bit more time. Bob and I need to sit down and talk through what’s transpired over the last few years.”
As ESPN aims to continue living up to its slogan as the “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” it has signature live studio programming and what may seem like an interminable number of media rights deals with sporting leagues around the world. Whatever the future holds, Pitaro is prepared and energized to continue to conceive new ideas that push the boundary in sports media.
“Our product needs to continue to advance,” he said. “ESPN; the ESPN App; ESPN+ – [they are] very good products right now. Personalized; contemporary; modern; they’re easy to navigate. We’re constantly focused on improving them…We don’t want to be a solution looking for a problem here, but that’s something that’s on the table, but in general, sports betting; gamification; free-to-play gaming could be an element as well – all that is being looked at as well.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
