Tagged: ‘WatchESPN’

posted by on May 17, 2013 8:00 AM

Front & Center: Jason Bernstein on ESPN’s 11-year deal with the US Open

Serena Williams during the 2012 US Open. (Scott Clarke / ESPN Images)

Serena Williams during the 2012 US Open.
(Scott Clarke / ESPN Images)

Click HERE to listen or visit iTunes to download the podcast and be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the Front & Center podcast. Also, make sure to check out the ESPN Radio app, available for the iPad.

On Thursday, ESPN and the United States Tennis Association announced a landmark, 11-year agreement making the network the exclusive home of the US Open starting in 2015.

Jason Bernstein (ESPN)

Jason Bernstein (ESPN)

With this new deal adding about 30 hours of US Open television coverage to the 100 or so ESPN has aired since 2009 — including Labor Day weekend, the semifinals in prime time and both the women’s and men’s finals — and countless hours on ESPN3 covering the outer courts, ESPN will now air the championship in three of the four tennis majors. continue reading…

Filed in: Front & Center, Podcast, TennisOnESPN

posted by on April 16, 2013 4:33 PM

espnW unveils new display celebrating milestones in women’s sports before WNBA Draft event

More than 40 years after the passing of Title IX legislation, ESPN is capturing watershed moments in women’s sports in a new display unveiled yesterday on ESPN’s Bristol, Conn. campus. The wall dedication was a fitting part of the festivities leading up to the first-ever primetime telecast of the WNBA Draft, held in Studio E and aired on ESPN2, ESPNU and WatchESPN.

The 560-square foot wall (just down the hall from ESPN’s newsroom) features iconic moments in women’s sports history, from Billie Jean King’s triumph in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match against Bobby Riggs in 1973, to ESPN’s pioneering female sports broadcasters of the 1970′s and 80′s, to “The Year of Women’s Soccer” in 1999. continue reading…

Filed in: espnW, Office Space, Title IX, WNBAOnESPN

posted by on March 22, 2013 8:00 AM

Fan Central Mailbag: NCAA Women’s Tournament Viewing Guide; MLB Opening Night; Clemente documentary re-airs

Screen-shot-2012-11-28-at-4.20.25-PM1

Welcome to another edition of the Fan Central Mailbag. Remember, if you have an ESPN-related question, follow us @ESPN_FanCentral and use #FanCentralMB to tweet your questions. Also, be sure to “like” our Fan Central Facebook page. You can also e-mail questions to FanCentral@espn.com.

To tip-off this edition of the mailbag, we want to provide you with a complete guide to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of all 63 games of the 2013 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, which starts tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET. continue reading…

Filed in: ESPN Fan Central, Fan Central

posted by on March 11, 2013 5:44 PM

ScreenGrabbed: WatchESPN used court side

ScreengrabWatch

The Marist women’s basketball team won today’s MAAC Championship, 72-48 over Iona. During the post-game interview on-court with ESPNU’s Julianne Viani, Marist junior Casey Dulin discussed the school’s eighth straight title while her parents were watching and listening to the interview from the stands using the WatchESPN app.

Play-by-play commentator Doug Sherman, said after the interview was over: “Here’s how great the ESPN WatchESPN app is; it allows the Dulin family up in the stands to listen to their daughter being interviewed after they win another MAAC championship.”

Filed in: ScreenGrabbed

posted by on March 8, 2013 12:35 PM

Travel around the world of sports in 14 hours via ESPN3, home to 86 live events Saturday

Inside the ESPN3 “nerve center,” ESPN Transmission.
(Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)

ESPN3 is gearing up for a long day tomorrow, delivering a total of 86 live events from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. ET — more than a third of which are exclusive to the live, multi-screen sports network.

That’s an average of more than six events per hour happening simultaneously, spanning 10 sports categories from more than 20 conferences being delivered live from around the world. On Saturday alone, sports fans will find:

• College Sports: Championship Week men’s and women’s basketball, the Whitman’s Sampler Independence Classic for lacrosse, NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship, ACC Wrestling Championship, ECAC women’s hockey, regular season NCAA baseball and softball

• International Soccer: Dutch Eredivisie, Liga MX and the Soweto Derby

• Tennis: BNP Paribas Open

• High School: Iowa Boy’s State Basketball Tournament

ESPN Transmission
(Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)

And with access across multiple screens including computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox, fans will have no problem finding a way to tune into a live game on Saturday. Front Row went behind the scenes to the “nerve center” with Paul Gavalis, ESPN’s senior director, Digital Video Technology & Operations as the ESPN3 team prepares for the big day:

Can you take us through what you anticipate the day to be like on Saturday for you and your team?
Although we are on track to offer more than 5,500 live events this year, handling 86 live events in 24 hours is a significant effort involving teamwork, communication and a focus on the details from everyone involved. Working together with Programming, Remote Traffic, Production and Transmission, the WatchESPN Content Operations and Technical Operations teams are coordinating each event from start to finish.

The teams are monitoring the status of the event itself, the acquisition of the signal from site, ad insertion, encoding, publishing and distribution to fans’ computers, tablets, smartphones, and Xboxes. We also message users in our experiences and via social media of delays, schedule changes or other issues which impact our event schedule.

How many events can you accommodate at any given time and how does a network like ESPN3 do that? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, ESPN3

posted by on March 7, 2013 2:49 PM

ESPN Digital Media Report: Measuring across platforms

ESPN.com on an IPad

ESPN.com on an iPad (Photo illustration by Hannah Worster)

Last week, ESPN released its first Digital Audience Report, based on comScore’s new Multi Platform (Beta) data for January.

Measuring consumption of digital content across platforms is important to ESPN’s business partners, but it is also vital to serving sports fans anytime, anywhere.

As part of our continuing dialogue with ESPN Research, Front Row checked in with Dave Coletti, Vice President, Digital Media Research and Analytics.

Your team has been working internally and with comScore for years to develop insight into how sports fans consume content across platforms. But this is the first time you’ve released a report of this kind. Why now?
It’s the first time we’ve had cross-platform data coming from a third-party source. Like you mentioned, for years we’ve used our internal analytics data to provide insight on user behavior across devices and platforms. Until comScore released their January Multi Platform data, there hadn’t been a research company publishing such information. That is hugely important, as it allows the media, ad agencies, marketers and the like to finally have the ability to evaluate the totality of ESPN’s digital audience, not just look at it in small pieces.

What does last week’s report tell us about ESPN Digital Media? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on March 4, 2013 4:28 PM

ESPN by the numbers, March 2013

Digital Center 2 will add nearly 200,000 square feet of space to ESPN's Bristol, Conn. campus and be the new home of SportsCenter.

Digital Center 2 will add nearly 200,000 square feet of space to ESPN’s Bristol, Conn. campus and be the new home of SportsCenter.

When you’ve been delivering sports fans their news, entertainment and game coverage for 33 years, you tend to accumulate a lot of impressive statistics and factoids.

To help translate the size and scope of what ESPN does, Front Row presents:

ESPN By the Numbers, March 2013

Make up. . .
• 8 US cable networks with more than 18,000 hours of live event programming and more than 11,900 of live studio hours
• ESPN is in 98,516,000 homes nationwide and ESPN2 is in 98,477,000
• ESPN Audio presents 9,000 hours of talk/news/events to 24 million listeners a week via 450 affiliates (360 of which are full-time) including owned and operated stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas
• ESPN Digital Media accounted for 29 percent of all sports category usage in January 2013, more than the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 sports properties combined
• ESPN the Magazine delivers more than 14 million readers with the average issue.

Our people. . .
• 7,000 worldwide employees (more than 4,000 based at headquarters in Bristol, Conn.)
• More than 1000 public facing commentators, analysts, hosts and writers

Our Connecticut campus. . .
• 1.35 Million square feet
• 123 Acres (87 in Bristol, Conn. and 36 in Southington, Conn.)
• 16 Buildings
• 27 Satellite dishes
• Additional facilities in Los Angeles, Charlotte and Austin

Digital Center 1

  • 136,000 square feet
  • 4 studios
  • 8 production control rooms
  • 22 edit suites
  • 10 master control rooms

Digital Center 2 (Opening in 2014)

  • 193,000 square feet
  • 4 studios (including new home of SportsCenter)
  • 6 production control rooms

Programming and ratings in 2012. . .

• In the fourth quarter, ESPN averaged more than 980,000 households on a 24-hour basis, and more than 2.3 M homes in prime time.
• ESPN Networks averaged 1.34M HH overall and 2.84M HH in prime.
• In prime, ESPN was the top-rated cable net overall, and among M18-34, M18-49 and M25-54.
• ESPN had the top 10 most-watched programs on cable, 14 of top 15 and 22 of top 25
• SportsCenter aired its 50,000th program in September
• 113 million different people use ESPN media each week
• The average person spends 6 hours, 57 minutes with ESPN media each week

ESPN Digital and Social Media. . .
In January 2013:
• In total ESPN digital properties attracted 62.6 million unique visitors, logging 4.97 billion minutes of usage
• Users watched 292 million ESPN digital video clips in January
• ESPN television content generated 13 million social comments, making it the “most social” cable network and the second most social network overall in January
• ESPN video content on YouTube generated 30 million views

In 2012:

• ESPN.com continued to lead the Sports Category with an average minute audience of 77,000, 52 percent higher than its closest competitor
• The five ESPN Local sites (New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Dallas) averaged 8.8 million unique visitors per month
• Grantland.com averaged 2.2 million unique visitors and 26.8 million total minutes per month
• WatchESPN distribution (which includes live access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Goal Line/Buzzer Beater) is now available to more than 50 million households nationwide
• ESPN Mobile ranked No. 1 across the mobile Web and apps for total minutes (642 million), unique visitors (13.3 million), and an average minute audience of 14,600

ESPN’s value. . . 
• Almost all Americans have heard of the ESPN Brand (98 percent); while a vast majority (93 percent) are familiar with it
• ESPN is the favorite network (broadcast or cable) among men
• In Beta Research Corp’s annual Cable Operator Evaluation Study, operators named ESPN the network with the most average perceived value among all networks measured for the 13th straight year
• ESPN also ranked the most important network in their cable system for the ninth straight year with 95 percent of operators describing ESPN as “very important” for subscriber retention and acquisition
• ESPN2 ranked second in average perceived value among cable operators for the eighth straight year. The network also ranked No. 5 as the most important network to operators among the 46 measured networks, up from No. 9 in 2011

Note: Digital traffic numbers are from comScore.

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on March 1, 2013 12:20 PM

Rapper, boxing promoter 50 Cent visits ESPN, talks sports and his camp’s role in Friday Night Fights

Multiplatinum recording artist Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson stopped by ESPN’s Bristol headquarters yesterday for a “Car Wash” to discuss ESPN’s Friday Night Fights tonight, which will feature an IBF world title fight between featherweight champ Billy Dib and challenger Evgeny Gradovich.

The show will be televised live from the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn., at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+ and WatchESPN. 50 Cent’s company, SMS Promotions, handles Dib. The rapper will perform Dib’s walk-out song.

50 Cent also will be the “sparring partner” in the FNF “Fight Plan” segment with ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas. That segment will air before the main event.

In the video above, 50 Cent talks with Front Row about his love for boxing, his favorite ESPN show and commentators, the FNF performance and more.

Video produced by Ariel Bond

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on February 5, 2013 8:00 AM

Chris Isenberg of artist collective No Mas on work with WatchESPN’s new ‘The Clutch Way to Watch’ campaign

ESPN introduced its newest brand campaign for WatchESPN across television and digital platforms that focuses on the heart of what WatchESPN delivers: clutch moments in sports fandom.

The campaign titled “The Clutch Way to Watch” — created in collaboration with 72andSunny — introduces viewers to Steve and Vic, avid sports fans not unlike millions of others who live for those big moments in watching sports, no matter where they are. The characters were brought to life by artist collective No Mas, an award-winning creative team that includes James Blagden and Chris Isenberg.

Front Row spoke to Chris Isenberg about their latest work with ESPN.

This actually isn’t your first project with ESPN. Your impressive portfolio of work includes animations and illustrations for the 30 for 30 films as well as Grantland. How did you approach this project differently compared to your other projects with ESPN to visually illustrate WatchESPN as “The Clutch Way to Watch”?
This is our fourth time working with ESPN: Straight Outta LA, Story Time with Jalen Rose: Stealing Patrick Ewing’s TV with VCR attachment, and You Don’t Know Bo which was illustrated by James and our mutual friend Mickey Duzyj — he’s actually the one who originally introduced me to James.

James and I first really connected with ESPN at Sundance a couple of years ago because [the No Mas film] Dock Ellis played as a short in front of [the 30 for 30 film] Winning Time, so we got to meet some great people on the ESPN Films side. We also watched the Jets lose to the Colts in the AFC Championship at the ESPN party, which was profoundly not clutch. “Clutch Way to Watch” is different because the other three projects have been documentary and this is fictional and an ad, so it’s completely different challenge with a lot of freedom. It feels like the characters we are working with, Steve and Vic, have a lot of legs so it’s going to be fun to put them in different situations as the year goes on.

What’s your definition of clutch? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on January 10, 2013 8:00 AM

ESPN’s Chris Fowler, quick-change artist, on making transition from College GameDay to Australian Open

Chris Fowler (L) interviews Serena Williams after she won the 2010 Women's Australian Open. (Ben Soloman/ESPN Images)

Chris Fowler (L) interviews Serena Williams after she won the 2010 Women’s Australian Open.
(Ben Soloman/ESPN Images)

Editor’s note: On Monday, Jan. 7 in Miami, Chris Fowler culminated his season on College GameDay at the Discover BCS National Championship. This Sunday night, tennis fans can start their season with the Australian Open on ESPN2 and ESPN3 (6:30 p.m. ET). And they’ll be watching the same Chris Fowler on the screen — he has a brother, but not a twin — live from the other side of the world.

In his own words, Fowler describes what’s it’s like to make such a quick transition from sport to sport, role to role, winter to summer and North America to Down Under. Here’s Fowler’s take as told to ESPN Communications’ Dave Nagle:

It is a jarring transition on many levels. The two sports are very different. There’s absolutely no overlap. It will be my 11th Australian Open, so while jarring, at least it’s familiar.

I remember my first trip, in 2003. I’d never been to Australia and was fairly new to tennis. I clearly remember trying to sprinkle in some tennis prep during the college football bowl season. I still do a little. When Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Australian Open at the end of December, I was printing out stories and talking to people on the phone.

During my time in Miami for the BCS title game I caught up on what’s been happening since the US Open. Plus, it’s a 14-hour trip to Australia. You can use that time with focused preparation. The phone doesn’t ring and emails can’t come in.

Plus, my role is different. I go from hosting a pre-game table setter to calling matches. The focus and concentration are different. GameDay is multi-task juggling. During the BCS bowls, our shows are often loosely formatted with plenty of ad-libbing. You focus in five-to-seven minute bursts between commercials.

(L-R) Desmond Howard, Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit on the set of ESPN College GameDay Built by the Home Depot during the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship Game. (Allen Kee / ESPN Images)

(L-R) Desmond Howard, Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit on the set of ESPN College GameDay Built by the Home Depot during the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship Game. (Allen Kee/ESPN Images)

In tennis, it’s intense focus on two players. The matches often last more than four hours and the changeovers are only one minute. For last year’s men’s final — the longest in Grand Slam history at nearly six hours — I was in the booth close to seven hours. It’s all you can do to get a bathroom break in. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes