Week In Review: ESPN Enables Binge Watching, Facebook Live Does eSports
- ESPN Enables Binge Watching
ESPN is very proud of it’s “30 for 30” documentary program and of it’s recent series “O.J.: Made In America,” in particular. It’s a great fit for ESPN, given that before he was a noted alleged murderer, O.J. actually played football. It’s also an well-reviewed series that’s been screened as a seven-and-a-half hour film at festivals.Which is why ESPN is making the final three episodes of the five-part series available on WatchESPN before they air live on standard-issue ESPN. They know that the sort of people who watch seven-and-a-half hour documentaries don’t like to watch regularly scheduled linear television and that they can build buzz for the series—and grow audience for all of 30 for 30 by releasing the series in a binge-able format.The only caveat is that WatchESPN is not Netflix or Hulu and so viewers still have to have an MVPD log-in (or access to one) to watch. (Sorry, cord-cutters.) Why It MattersIt’s about time that networks acknowledged the appeal of binge watching and that lots of their viewers don’t watch any other way—live TV is all but dead to them. WatchESPN is one of the more popular OTT apps and already has a sizable user base. Plus there’s the novelty factor.But zooming out to take a more high-level view, there’s a renewed appeal to mini-series style programming: A&E’s remake of Roots drew some very good ratings earlier this month. Imagine if that series was available to binge too, and you can start to see the appeal.The catch, of course, is ad revenue. Networks make a lot more money from the (heavier) ad load on linear than they do on VOD and advertisers won’t like the idea of OTT siphoning away audience.If, however, ESPN can find evidence that the binge watching audience consists of people who would not otherwise watch the linear broadcast and that they are not cannibalizing that audience (which is what we suspect) then they have uncovered a brand new revenue stream… and they’ve got an answer for the brands advertising on the linear broadcast when they complain. What You Need To Do About ItIf you’re a network, you want to do some research into your most popular and binge-able shows. (Pro Tip: Netflix just did this study on which genres are most likely to be binge-watched.) Try putting one of them up on your OTT site and make sure you remember to spend some marketing dollars letting the likely audience know it’s up there.If you’re a brand, think about the benefits of sponsoring the bingeable version of a popular new series. You can own every commercial break and create a whole lot of goodwill with fans of the show. You could, if you want to be really ambitious, work with a network or studio now to get your brand organically inserted into the plot of a series they are developing, a series you can then become the exclusive sponsor of.
- Facebook Live Does eSports
While it may sounds like a punchline delivered by a bad comedian hired to perform at a Silicon Valley launch party, Facebook Live’s latest foray into sports is going to be eSports: the social network is partnering with Activision’s Blizzard, creator of the Warcraft games, to live stream their upcoming competitions. Why It MattersBecause eSports is a booming market. Even if you personally don’t get it, lots of other people do: it’s currently at $500 million and a recent report has it growing to $1.1 billion by 2019.And because Live is getting bigger and bigger and eSports is another notch in their belt. Watch for them finding a way to integrate Facebook Messenger into it as well, giving you updates on scores or letting you know when a new match is coming up. What You Need To Do About ItIf you’re a brand and eSports is relevant to your audience, jump all over this one if you still can. Otherwise, make sure you’re tapped in to what Facebook is planning to do next, so when there is a relevant Live opportunity, you can get onboard. There are no interruptive ads on Live, but there are opportunities to co-brand and promote.If you’re a network, think about how to use Live to promote your shows. One idea we’ll throw at you for free, is to simulcast the show on Live until the first commercial break, prompting users to tune-in if they want to see the rest of the show. A well-planned promotion around that can make the live stream seem like a real event. It’s worth spending some experimental dollars on it.
