The old saying goes, “Less is more.” A smaller, simpler, or more restrained approach is often more effective than a large, cluttered, or complicated strategy. This year, ESPN will broadcast its first Super Bowl across five networks: ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, and NFL Network. That’s five different ways to watch the biggest live event in American entertainment this February.
The move is bold and different, but it should be expected. ESPN has had years to prepare for the Super Bowl through its exclusive presentation of the College Football Playoff National Championship. The concept is simple: Instead of providing the same traditional broadcast, how can you potentially expand the audience by offering different approaches to the game? It’s a strategy uniquely suited to ESPN, but will it work for the Super Bowl?
Make no mistake about it, the Super Bowl coming to ESPN is a huge deal. For the past 60 years, the game has been available through a single network’s primary broadcast, giving advertisers and viewer one central destination. Over the past two decades, the Super Bowl has rotated among CBS, FOX, and NBC.
Now, with ESPN, the focus shifts to expanding the game’s reach and providing as many viewing options as possible.
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call the game on ESPN and ABC. Who knows? It could even be the last time the duo calls a game together.
Then there’s ESPN megastar Pat McAfee and his Field Pass alternate broadcast on ESPNU. The Manning brothers will keep each other company on ESPN2, while NFL Network will offer a Next Gen Stats presentation of the big game. Who’s to say ESPNews won’t introduce another alternate broadcast? Could the ESPN App offer radio feeds for the two teams competing in the game?
That’s the power of ESPN. The Super Bowl represents the ultimate opportunity to flex that muscle by providing viewing options that no other NFL broadcast partner can match.
But will audiences embrace them?
Super Bowl Traditions
Every network wants to maximize revenue and reach while delivering a viewing experience that feels fresh. Programmers constantly search for a new look, sound, or presentation that hooks viewers and keeps them coming back. But this is the Super Bowl. Its audience includes traditional viewers who value familiarity, alongside younger fans who consume content in entirely different ways.
Historically, the Super Bowl has been a singular destination. The priority has been to drive viewers to one central presentation. However, first impressions matter. This is ESPN’s first opportunity to showcase how it produces America’s biggest football game for its partner, the NFL.
Do Super Bowl fans really need different ways to watch the biggest game of the year when they’ve traditionally consumed just one? Probably not. The main Super Bowl broadcast strikes a rare balance among sports, entertainment, pop culture, and advertising. But will these AltCasts do the same? Would a SkyCast viewer miss the debut of a new Pepsi commercial? Would a Field Pass broadcast fully integrate the halftime performance?
With the added complexity and cross-promotion these presentations could require, the question is simple: Is it worth it?
ESPN has spent years refining its approach to the College Football Playoff National Championship, but less is more when it comes to the Super Bowl. ESPN had to build an audience for the College Football Playoff and establish the championship game as a major event. The Super Bowl is already Americana.
It’s peanut butter and jelly, fireworks, and a halftime show produced by Jay-Z. The game arrives every year with a built-in audience and established expectations. The Super Bowl is more than a football game, it’s America culture. ESPN doesn’t have to convince viewers why they should watch, as it has worked to do with the College Football Playoff National Championship.
A Risk Worth Taking?
Yet ESPN risks ignoring the principle of less is more. Rather than keeping viewers anchored in familiarity and enhancing that experience with a strong central presentation, the network is applying a strategy that has worked for a relatively new concept to an event with generations of history behind it.
ESPN has spent more than a decade developing the College Football Playoff National Championship into an event worthy of its biggest production ideas. Now, with the Super Bowl, the network has an opportunity to showcase everything it has learned on the biggest stage in sports.
But there’s a difference between expanding an audience’s options and overwhelming viewers with choices.
The Super Bowl doesn’t need ESPN to reinvent the viewing experience. It needs the network to deliver a broadcast that lives up to the moment. Alternate broadcasts have their place, but ESPN should be careful not to let the pursuit of innovation overshadow what has made the game an annual cultural phenomenon for generations.
ESPN finally has the Super Bowl it has spent years preparing for. The irony would be if, in trying to prove how much it can do with the game, the network forgets what made the game so special in the first place.
Sometimes, the biggest statement a network can make is knowing when to do less.
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