I don’t know the last time ESPN had as good of a week as it did last week.
With Pat McAfee announcing his wildly popular show will join the fray, and ESPN reportedly being ready to launch a direct-to-consumer product, the network is on top of the media world, despite going through thousands of layoffs.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Go woke, go broke”. ESPN has been tabbed as “woke” for many years, for reasons that we won’t go into here (if you’d like to have this discussion, email me, and we can argue about it for entirely too long and accomplish nothing). But, even the most ardent supporters of the stupid saying couldn’t argue that ESPN has “gone broke”. There are those that would like to tell you that because ESPN is going through layoffs the financial situation is obviously bad. Those people are morons.
ESPN makes $775 million a month on cable subscriptions. A month. Before they’ve brought in a single dime from advertising, or from the more than 25 million ESPN+ subscribers, the network starts off with a $775 million head start. Not bad for a “woke” organization that is supposed to be going broke.
The addition of The Pat McAfee Show will only solidify ESPN’s standing. The Herd with Colin Cowherd, widely regarded as the best national sports radio show, generally garners about 150-200,000 viewers each day on FS1. The Pat McAfee Show usually sees 275-325,000 viewers on his daily show, which only airs on YouTube. That number is going to explode on linear ESPN, in conjunction with airing on the ESPN YouTube page and ESPN+. It is already the most popular sports show. Having an expanded reach is only going to propel McAfee, and in turn, ESPN.
Additionally, if ESPN is ready to offer its product in a direct-to-consumer model, that could be disastrous for the cable bundle.
How many people do you know — and maybe this includes you — only continue to have cable so they can watch sports? ESPN has deals with the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA, and will soon be the sole home of SEC football. It also holds contracts with every Power 5 conference outside of the Big Ten, which will see at least three games air on over-the-air television each week.
If people can ditch cable and still have ESPN and everything that comes with it, cable providers are about to witness a bloodbath. With the rise of streaming services and the collapse of the regional sports network model outside of very select markets, how do you justify paying for cable when you could get a TV antenna, subscribe to a smattering of Netflix, Paramount+, Hulu, HBO Max, and ESPN, and have 85% of the stuff you want to watch covered for half the cost of cable?
It makes logical sense that ESPN offering its channels in an over-the-top model could be the biggest driver in cord-cutting we’ve ever seen.
So, ESPN will still make money from cable subscribers it will continue to have while opening a new revenue stream from those who currently can’t watch its channels without a cable subscription, and continuing to offer ESPN+ as a stand-alone package, and also a part of one of the most widely purchased streaming bundles in the Disney+, ad-supported Hulu, and ESPN+ bundle.
Jimmy Pitaro is about to be sitting in his office looking like this:
After a corporate restructuring, ESPN is its own division inside The Walt Disney Company. It will report its own financial earnings later this year, and people who believe the network is “going broke” because it went “woke” will be flabbergasted by the numbers.
The demise of ESPN has been greatly exaggerated. The network is operating from a place of strength, while others make up scenarios for why it’s going down the drain.
The news won’t remain sunshine and roses. Throughout the summer, hosts, reporters, and analysts alike will see their jobs cut, and negative headlines will return.
But there remains an undisputed king of the mountain in sports media. And it’s the Worldwide Leader.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
