Meet The Leaders is a special 8-week series created in partnership with Point to Point Marketing. Our seventh feature is on the EVP, Creative Studio and Marketing for ESPN, Tina Thornton Follow along with the series and revisit former conversations by checking out the entire category.
As Executive Vice President, Creative Studio and Marketing at ESPN, Tina Thornton is a key member of ESPN’s executive leadership team reporting to ESPN Chairman, Jimmy Pitaro. In her current role, Tina is responsible for leading all of ESPN’s marketing efforts – overseeing all creative output for ESPN Marketing, overall media strategy, spending and budgeting, and fan engagement – across brands, events, platforms, and shows.
Thornton is instrumental to the ESPN brand, working collectively to enhance promotion for critical league partners inclusive of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and F1, and vital priorities such as Fantasy Football, the ESPN App and ESPN+ (ESPN’s leading streaming service), among many others. Additionally, she’s responsible for fostering a culture that embraces new audience growth with strategies that engage diverse audiences throughout the ESPN ecosystem.
In this edition of “Meet The Leaders,” we dive her rise at ESPN, and how a number of pivots in her career path have defined her influence on the company as a key leader. We also discuss the marketing aspects of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product, what makes a great leader, and how she continues to work with her teams on innovative partnerships for one-of-a-kind content opportunities serving the sports fan any time, any place, any where.
Thronton spoke with Barrett Media from her office in Bristol, CT.
*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.*
John Mamola: Let’s start here. You’ve been with ESPN in some capacity for 32 years?
Tina Thornton: A little over 32 years. August 22nd was my 32nd anniversary, which seems like forever ago. It’s pretty amazing to be at the same company for that long.
John Mamola: When you walked in on day one, what was the goal for you in joining ESPN from the start?
Tina Thornton: To be honest, I thought I was going to be here for a year and then leave. I had interned at CNN Sports one summer and at CNN Promotions. I thought I’m going to go off and be a sports reporter of some kind traveling the country.
Then I got to ESPN as a production assistant. A lot of us came in 1993 because we were launching ESPN2. I remember getting here and just feeling like this is the place for me. It feels like a family.
I liked being behind the scenes, and starting as a production assistant was such a great opportunity. Back then, you did advance a little more quickly just because everything was moving so fast.
I loved it. Working on everything from college football and basketball, to the XGames and Winter X.
Eventually I worked on Sunday Night Football. My mentor was Fred Gaudelli. Freddie was the last major producer at NBC Sports for the NFL, and he’s amazing. I worked my way up in those spaces and eventually became a coordinating producer in charge of all NCAA championships. This includes the women’s tournament and the Final Four. I ended up working on that event in different roles for about 20 years, with the last 16 in charge as the coordinating producer.
Being involved in all these sports and opportunities, there weren’t many women at the time. It was a great experience for me to be involved in all these things. Content was my love more than anything, and I was involved in all these content opportunities.
When I was placed in charge of the outdoor programs that ESPN used to air, once those outdoor properties started to go away, one of my bosses asked me to help with sales.
I thought sales, ugh. I don’t even like putting sales in my own shows. It felt like clutter to me at the time, which sounds terrible now. I just didn’t realize the importance of it.
I decided to keep doing the NCAA championships. So I was still doing content, but I started dabbling in the business of content. I became a leader that sat between our content and sales teams and developed a team called ad sales integration.
Integrating sponsorships without hurting editorial integrity but also advancing the ball with our revenue. I loved it, and that led to more business opportunities for me.
That was my first pivot. Doing content while dabbling in the business of content and leading some areas there.
The second pivot was when Jimmy Pitaro came to ESPN.
He was looking for a chief of staff, and I had never met him. Someone told me I should talk to him about that, but I didn’t know what the chief of staff does. I was a senior leader at that time, but I did meet with him and left the meeting thinking I need that job. I need to work with him.
He gave me the opportunity to be his chief of staff and allowed me to keep the things I was doing except for content. I’ve been at the company for 25 years, but when I got into the role it was like going to graduate school all over again.
Jimmy is such an inclusive leader and included me in every meeting that wasn’t a one-on-one. All the leagues and our partners. It was such a great learning experience for me. That was my second pivot.
There was a lot of change going on with the business and the industry evolving. Jimmy asked me to step away from being chief of staff and run all of our operations to pull together all of our creative teams and oversee creative. At the same time, I was running all these other businesses for the company as well. That was amazing and right in my wheelhouse.
Then the third pivot came about two years ago when our CMO Laura Gentile was leaving. Jimmy then asked me to run marketing. I know a lot of things, but I didn’t grow up in marketing and don’t know enough about marketing. Why this and now?
He told me I think you’re a great leader, and I think you’re going to have fun.
We navigated a couple of things, but overall everything that I oversee does complement each other. Marketing, creative studio, and I have corporate citizenship which is more about marketing the good we do in the industry.
Marketing was interesting, so I took marketing about two and a half years ago and I’ve learned so much.
John Mamola: It sounds as though you’ve been tasked or asked to do something that you were completely foreign to on several occasions.
Tina Thornton: When I talk to students or people early in their careers, I talk about transferable skills. In particular, I talk about leadership. People always ask me, what is your superpower or what do you think you’re good at?
Leadership is one of those things. I’m able to get different people in different parts of the business to come together towards a common goal. That’s probably the one thing that I just feel good at.
It’s funny, I took this class in college that was about hostage negotiation. Looking back on that class as one of the things that shaped me, oddly enough. I feel like we’re in hostage negotiations every single day. We’re in some sort of area where we’re having to get people to come together towards a common goal.
That’s been a real big part of my career.
John Mamola: Was the last two and a half weeks a good use of that course you took in college? I don’t imagine you had any involvement with the carriage dispute between Disney and YouTube TV.
However, from a marketing perspective, there’s messaging with those circumstances. Did that course help in some aspects with how the messaging was navigated the last two and a half weeks?
Tina Thornton: It did. I was involved to a point, but it was a broader thing for the Walt Disney Company. It wasn’t just about ESPN, but yes, absolutely. Those types of things are things that I do draw from, which I think is important.
It’s been fascinating in this marketing role. I spent the first year in marketing learning from others and building relationships. Not only on our team but making sure that we weren’t siloed. Making sure that we were represented across the company in a great way.
Particularly building relationships at the Walt Disney Company because we knew that we were going to step into the direct-to-consumer space.
Disney had been in that space with Disney+ and Hulu.
Having to start thinking about full direct-to-consumer was important to me. I made one of the best hires; her name is Jo Fox. Jo originally came from Sky Sports but then helped launch Peacock as well. You always pride yourself in the people that you bring to the table.
My leaders are the best leaders, whether it’s Jo leading marketing, or Carrie Brzezinski Hsu who leads our creative studio, or Kevin Martinez who leads CSR. They are amazing.
Jo has transformed marketing and put it in a place that really looks at the entire package. It’s not just D2C, and it’s not just our sports and linear offerings. It’s everything collectively, and it’s just been amazing to learn from her.
Even as her leader, I learn from her. You don’t always know the ins and outs of every little thing. You have to trust in your people, and that’s what I must do.
John Mamola: How long was the planning for the direct-to-consumer product that launched this year?
Tina Thornton: I don’t know if I can speak to when it started, but it had always been on the roadmap. Our affiliate agreements, there were certain things that the affiliate team had to get through in order to get to that next step.
What I can say from a marketing perspective is I knew two years in advance what we were going to do. But really that first year of me in marketing was just me learning about marketing in general.
Bringing Jo [Fox] on board was important for me because she really helped solidify our messaging and thought process. She and I working together along with Carrie Brzezinski Hsu, all the creative was done by our creative studio.
Except for one item we took out very early on when we did something called Sports Forever. Everything else remained internal.
Jo was hired, onboarded, and boom. You’re in this, and let’s go. We were then suddenly thinking about D2C all the time, but then we must remember we have all these other partners that we have to work with.
That first fall that she was here, we were still in an NFL season. We were still in a college football season, and about to do the women’s tournament. All these things were going on, and oh there’s D2C too.
Even just coming up with the simplicity of the name, and calling it ESPN. To all of ESPN in one place. We really looked at that as that message is about creating awareness.
You’re getting all your content in a centralized place, and you have control of it. Jo called that the three Cs: content, centralization, and control. We were just really redefining alongside our product partners how fans experience sports.
It was so much fun thinking about the partnerships that the team was developing. It was amazing. The creativity was all done internally. It brought a consistent look, a consistent feel. I’m really proud of it.
John Mamola: This is more playing to your content background. The updates that ESPN made with the added features to the app, I would imagine everything wasn’t released all at once. Is that a constant conversation that’s ongoing within on how to build moving forward?
Tina Thornton: Jimmy [Pitaro] always says we’re in the first inning. If you think about other media and streaming companies, they evolve all the time. The expectation for us is that we do the same. We evolve, we innovate as we go.
Yes, there are all kinds of unique and interesting opportunities down the road. Let’s get past the first inning. Make people aware of it, and let’s keep evolving it. Our product team does such a great job with that. More people are starting to use the Verts tab, and it’s evolving.
I think we’re going to continue to evolve and hopefully continue to be a leader in this space.
On the DTC front, that first phase for us from marketing was about awareness. Now it’s about what’s the value proposition. Why should fans keep ESPN year-round?
The landscape is complex. We know that. It may take a few years for the complexity to simplify, if that makes sense. For people to understand what they can get, where they can get it, and when they can get it.
John Mamola: When it comes to the marketing of the ESPN DTC moving forward, there’s a lot of discussion currently about the term affordability. People attempting to figure out how to spend on the products they value.
Next year, when these introductory bundles potentially expire, from a marketing perspective, how do you address the concerns about affordability with your subscribers today that will be making that decision at some point next year?
Tina Thornton: We are going to start with a phase two on December 18. More to come on that, I can’t really speak about it yet. It’s sort of phase two, and it’s also a time around the holidays where a lot of people do churn. So, we’re going to come in with a phase two that’s about the value proposition.
Why do you keep ESPN year-round? Why do you keep the bundle year-round?
You suggest that there’s this large expense tied to it. Depending upon what type of subscriber you are, there are different price points that different people are good with.
It’s not just ESPN’s direct-to-consumer proposition. It’s about ESPN’s entire distribution model, which includes people like YouTube TV, Comcast, and Charter. Plus, our own bundle or our own standalone direct-to-consumer.
We are giving fans choice. As we do that, we just need to continue to push the value of ESPN and why you need to keep ESPN all year round. If you’re a sports fan, you will.
Why is it also important for a casual sports fan, a women’s sports fan, or your kids? There are all kinds of ways to think about it, but you’ll see phase two coming up here soon. Next summer we’ll likely move into the next opportunity that we have. Just be on the lookout for that.
John Mamola: As you know, sports fans consume the sports they love differently. More today than ever before. From your perspective, how drastic has the consumption of sports becoming more highlight driven than ever before affect how you market to the ESPN consumer?
Tina Thornton: How old are your kids?
John Mamola: I have a 17-year-old son, and a 12-year-old daughter.
Tina Thornton: I have a 19-year-old daughter. She’s a sophomore in college, and she plays soccer — small Division III. She does watch differently than I watch. Yet she has become a big fan and watches longer, more so on her phone.
Think about the features that we’re offering in terms of personalization, betting, and opportunity to purchase consumer products right from the app. We’re hopefully doing a really good job bringing something for everyone. There are people that do like bite-size, some like long-form. Others watch full games, and there are people that fan in different ways.
The hard part for us from a marketing standpoint is capturing all of those people in simple messages. It’s really tough. I’m proud of the things that we’ve done so far, and I’m looking forward to continuing to learn.
One of my teammates — we were talking about something the other day — and they use this phrase “launch and learn.” It’s not about launch and you’re done; it’s about launch and learn. What are you learning next? What’s the next thing? How is the product evolving? What are you doing? What’s the next message? How do you simplify it?
People will figure it out as long as you get them there.
I have so many thoughts on all these things. It’s fascinating not coming from a marketing background and stepping into this going, “Wow.” This has been such a unique experience for me.
John Mamola: You mentioned betting. ESPN BET is going away at the end of the month. How does that change the user experience on the ESPN app and possibly the marketing around it?
Tina Thornton: A product person would be able to answer that fully, but I would also tell you that we’re trying to create a seamless integration and a seamless experience.
DraftKings is a leader in the betting space. It’s nice to have two leaders combining and partnering up. Bringing forward this great opportunity.
Fans aren’t just watching. They want to interact with personalized, real-time insights, with features. It’s just another layer to their experience.
We want to elevate sports from game to experience, and that’s what the betting space is. It’s another opportunity for fans to engage in a way that maybe feels connected to the outcomes, which is fun.
John Mamola: Let’s talk about creative studio. Monsters Funday Football is next month. You’ve been a part of the Simpsons Funday Football and Dunk the Halls.
These are great ideas utilizing a lot of different partners. How did this one in particular come together?
Tina Thornton: I’m so excited about this one. Monsters, Inc. is one of my favorite IPs at the Walt Disney Company. This is the second one that we’ve done with Pixar. Toy Story was the first.
The way Pixar, ESPN, NFL, Beyond Sports — we all work together in partnership on this. This one — I’m excited because we get to use voice actors now. We did that with Simpsons, but didn’t get to do that for Toy Story, because Toy Story was during the writers’ strike. We couldn’t use voice actors.
To be able to hear some of the things that I’m seeing and some of the things you’ll see on December 8th — Billy Crystal, John Goodman — it’s going to be so exciting.
What I love so much about these is that we create a story within a story. You have the game that’s going on, and that’s a story in itself. Then you have Mike and Sully playing in the game. Mike’s going to play for the Eagles, and Sully is playing for the Chargers. They’re playing on a cheer floor.
The creative studio team — Michael Szykowny is an amazing leader that looks through the lens of this story with Pixar and says, “Hey, what’s important to this brand? What’s important to this IP?”
There’s going to be 6,000 monsters on the cheer floor, and appearances by other monsters. Roz is going to interview players — not live obviously. We also have people like Katie Feeney who’s going to be the social screamer. The CDA is running the sky cam. Roz is going to make sure everything runs smoothly just like she does in the movie. All of these stories play into it.
I’m just so excited about this opportunity. These alternate telecasts are great opportunities for co-viewing with families and getting kids to sit down with their parents to watch football. I’m just so proud of the team and working with our production partners. Our partners at Pixar, to gain the trust in Pixar that we have. To take their IP and use it in something like this, it’s special.
John Mamola: You’re only a couple weeks to air. What’s the next couple of weeks like for you? How involved are you to make sure this goes off as best as it can?
Tina Thornton: You’d be surprised. I’m not nearly as involved as you may think. We just have so much going on. Whether it’s the DTC work that’s going on, the college football playoff, the NFL.
We’re thinking about Super Bowl 2027.
John Mamola: I’m glad you brought up the Super Bowl. Are there plans laid in yet to begin marketing the first Super Bowl in ESPN’s history?
Tina Thornton: It’s a huge deal. Yes, we already have thoughts in place. I can’t go into all of them, but I’ll tell you we’ve been working on the Super Bowl probably for a year already.
There’s a committee set up that goes through and talks about all the different ideas and applications we have. We have employees that are providing ideas along the way that we take into account. We’ve got ideas for marketing in the works.
So, you asked me how involved I am with Monsters Inc. It’s hard to get super involved with any one thing because there’s so many things going on at ESPN at any given point in time. I really do have to rely on the amazing teams that we have.
John Mamola: What’s a typical day-to-day like for you?
Tina Thornton: It’s checking in but not micromanaging. It’s about staying up on the balcony and looking at everything, but also being there for anyone that needs counsel. People may want to come and just bounce ideas off of you.
There’s also a lot of people stuff too. There’s a lot of structural change, the evolution of the business. It’s amazing how much leaders do that’s even outside their area of expertise.
Prioritization is huge. Think about all that we just talked about. We have to prioritize every single day what we can even get done, and who can get it done.
John Mamola: What is the best part of your job, but also the most challenging part of your job?
Tina Thornton: The best part of my job is working with all the amazing and talented people that we have at ESPN. It’s always been the best part of my job. Growing up at the company — the people make the difference.
The most challenging part of my job?
It’s not so much when do I sleep. It’s that I wake up every night at 3–4 in the morning thinking about the challenges that I have to face the next week. I never look at work-life as balance. I look at work-life as integration. Each day you integrate differently based upon what you have to get done.
When I was growing up at the company, even when I was at really busy times. I never played lacrosse, but I coached my daughter’s lacrosse team for nine years. That was really important to me. When my daughter was in high school and she had her soccer season or her lacrosse season, I would leave the office to go to her games. That was really important to me.
Now it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t get on calls when I was at the field, or work into the evening because I was trying to catch up on something that maybe happened. That was really important to me. So, I do look at work-life as integration.
Now that she’s off in college, I traveled to 12 or 13 games between all the things that were going on and between all the launches. We launched our direct-to-consumer in August, then launched an NFL Plus premium bundle. Two weeks later, we launched WWE and a FOX one bundle two weeks after that. It was a lot, but I still wanted to see her play.
You figure out how to make time.
The most challenging thing for me is waking up in the middle of the night thinking about all the things I have to do and still wanting to get a good night’s sleep.
Challenges are opportunities. I try to lead with an optimistic view, and challenges sometimes sound a little pessimistic to me. How do you transition that wording to what are the opportunities we have to be better and evolve? What hard decisions do we have to make today?
Once we get there and get past those things, there’s opportunities on the back end of those.
John Mamola: What excites you the most about the future of ESPN?
Tina Thornton: In the 32 years that I’ve been here, we’ve evolved significantly. There were periods of evolution that took place along the way. We’ve always been innovative; people forget that.
Particularly in the tech space, ESPN has always been innovative. I’m proud of that.
What excites me the most is that continued innovation. What are we going to do next, and how are we going to bring the sports fans love to them wherever they are? ESPN has a motto that is “Serve sports fans anytime, anywhere.” I’m excited how we continue to do that and evolve with the entire industry and be the best at it.
I don’t think we’re going to back down at any given point in time. We’re just going to continue to evolve. Plus continue to put out the best experiences — not just product, but experience — for our fans.
To learn more about Point-To-Point Marketing’s Podcast and Broadcast Audience Development Marketing strategies, contact Tim Bronsil at tim@ptpmarketing.com or 513-702-5072.
John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
