ESPN Streaming Step-Up Going “Extremely Well,” With 80% Of Subscribers Also Taking Disney+ & Hulu, Bob Iger Says
The launch of ESPN’s beefed-up direct-to-consumer streaming service last August was “a real success for many reasons,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told Wall Street analysts on Thursday.
Iger revealed on the company’s quarterly earnings call that 80% of new sign-ups to the service, which offers access to ESPN linear networks, opted for the “Trio Bundle,” which also includes Disney+ and Hulu.
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company exceeded publication expectations It added more than 12 million subscribers in its fiscal fourth quarter, bringing its total to 196 million. Disney has said it does not intend to regularly report subscriber numbers for ESPN’s new broadcast channel and sees it as a complement to the networks’ declining but still profitable linear operations. Research firm Antenna recently said: ESPN garnered 2.1 million sign-ups from launch until September 30.
Iger said the strong adoption of the Triple Pack is “a very positive sign for us in terms of reducing churn going forward.”
The CEO spoke at length about ESPN’s broadcasting milestone. The question of how exactly the sports brand will transition to independent broadcasting has been debated for more than a decade, with ESPN past its linear peak.
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Iger said the new service is performing “extremely well” with new users, which he defined as “people who subscribe to the multi-channel linear package or people who are not subscribers but want to engage more with ESPN.” He also said pay TV subscribers who want to “engage with us on a deeper level” also enjoy the option to verify their pay TV subscriptions to watch shows through the ESPN app. Iger said the authentication rate was “very, very encouraging.”
Viewers who didn’t want to dig that deep opted for the “Ultimate” tier of the ESPN service (which had less of an “Unlimited” option), usually with cable never being a key component either.
Besides linear flows, the app also brings other features like a personalized version of the company’s news and highlights Sports Centerand a selection of TikTok-like vertical videos.
“The algorithm seems to be working,” Iger said. “I know this works for me; if you watch certain videos on ESPN and specifically click ‘like’, your feed will be filled with sports, news, and sports highlights that you’re more interested in.”
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Iger said the ad gained traction on the service.
“In almost every respect, it works,” Iger summed up. “It also works for advertisers, because it’s clear there’s real value in the data we provide to advertisers on the director consumer platform. And so we’re driving both more ads and new advertisers to the service.”
Iger added that in addition to the appeal of the ESPN offering to viewers and advertisers, it “works for both the traditional distribution ecosystem and what I would call the DTC ecosystem, if there is such a thing.” So we’re very, very encouraged.”
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