ESPN is in a bit of a rock and a hard place when it comes to its streaming efforts. The Walt Disney Company has invested heavily in the technology — and rightfully so. But there are going to be competing efforts from The Worldwide Leader, it appears.
As Project Flagship — ESPN’s direct-to-consumer offer — comes to fruition in 2025, it begs the question of what will happen to ESPN+.
According to recent numbers, ESPN+ has just under 25 million subscribers, which is down from the 26 million it featured in November of last year. Now, while you can argued the platform is beefed up due to the Disney+ bundle that includes ad-supported Hulu and the ESPN streaming offering, it’s still an impressive number.
But when ESPN goes direct-to-consumer with it’s linear channels — and their favorite line has always remained “It’s if, not when” — what will that do to the subscriber count of ESPN+.
Conceivably, it can’t go away, right? The number of contracts the company has to air content for colleges, niche sports leagues, and everything else under the sun can’t simply be moved into an all-encompassing platform that jumps from $11 per month to somewhere in the $30-$40 per month range. At least, I can’t think so.
But at the same time, I’m an ESPN+ subscriber. I enjoy being able to scroll through college sporting events on a random Saturday and find myself watching Horizon League or A-10 baseball.
Additionally, I can watch almost anything I want, currently, with a subscription, because the network allows you to do so. But, I assume that ability will go away in 2025. It makes logical sense. ESPN would rather me pay them $30 per month and get the NBA and Monday Night Football, than pay $11 per month and keep watching college sports, MLB, NHL, and F1.
Should they take away ESPN+, however, I don’t think I’d be subscribing to a direct-to-consumer stream. So, they’d be losing my subscription money each month. Now, I realize that’s insanely anecdotal, but I just wonder if there are about to be competing ideologies inside Bristol. On one hand, you’re going to be skewered for dropping ESPN+ subscriber metrics should they begin to drop, even if it leads to increase revenue from Project Flagship. People will look to tear down the network any change they get, fair or unfair.
Simultaneously, investors, analysts, and everyone in the financial, media, and tech worlds will watch like a hawk to see how a direct-to-consumer model works for ESPN. And the second it doesn’t reach projections, it will be deemed a failure — again, fair or unfair.
I just don’t see how both a direct-to-consumer platform works in conjunction with an already established streaming platform. I’d like to think the network has grown past its ultra-confusing ESPN+ and ESPN3 days, but virtually every time I go to watch a live game on the app, it asks if I want to watch via ESPN+ or my (read: my dad’s) DISH Network login.
That’s not even to mention the joint streaming service alongside FOX Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery that will play into whether or not subscribers will remain with the already established offering from The Worldwide Leader.
The company has a lot going on in the streaming world. It’s clear they’re invested into the space for the long haul. I think that’s the right move. But they’ll have an awful lot of balls to juggle, and, right now, I don’t see how they keep them all in the air.
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.
They will have streaming services Hulu Disney+ ESPN+ and these two new ones honestly that is two that need to go merge Hulu with Disney plus the new all in one ESPN+ With all the ESPN streaming content in one place then the new joint venture with FOX and WBD as third