ESPN is coming to Disney+. Now, the sports network wants to make sure Disney+ users come to ESPN.
Walt Disney debuted a dedicated ESPN tile Wednesday on Disney+ for people who subscribe to ESPN+, its sports streaming platform, to watch programming without leaving the Disney+ application. Next fall, when ESPN launches its yet-to-be-named “flagship” service, those subscribers will get full access to all ESPN content through the ESPN tile on Disney+.
Disney is making about 100 live games available to Disney+ members without a corresponding ESPN subscription. Those events will span college football and basketball, the National Basketball Association and WNBA, the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, tennis, golf, the Little League World Series and UFC, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in an interview.
Next week’s alternate “Simpsons” telecast of the NFL’s “Monday Night Football” game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also be available to Disney+ subscribers, as well as five NBA Christmas games.
“Now when you subscribe to Disney+, you’ll have access to kids and family, general entertainment if you’re a Hulu subscriber, and sports,” said Pitaro. “Our goal is to serve sports fans anytime, anywhere.”
ESPN will also include some of its studio programming — such as “College Gameday,” “Pardon the Interruption” and certain podcasts that include video — on Disney+ for non-ESPN subscribers. Some ESPN sports-related films and documentaries will also appear on Disney+ married to whatever sports season is active, Pitaro said.
ESPN’s programming will also be integrated within the Disney+ search, similar to Hulu’s integration earlier this year. If a Disney+ subscriber who isn’t an ESPN customer clicks on something that requires an ESPN subscription, the user will be prompted to sign up within the app.
ESPN is also creating two studio shows specifically for Disney+, Pitaro said. The first will be a daily “SportsCenter” just for Disney+ subscribers, which will air live on Disney+ at a set time and then remain on the platform for on-demand viewing.
The second is a women’s sports show that may air weekly or several times a week. Both programs are in development and will be made for a more casual sports fan, said Pitaro.
“Our research shows there’s very little overlap between people watching Disney+ and ESPN linear,” said Pitaro.
Disney+ has a strong female audience that Pitaro hopes will tune into the weekly’s women’s show, which he first alluded to in an interview with CNBC Sport in October.
ESPN+ has about 30,000 live games each year and costs $11.99 per month when purchased separately from Disney+. A Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ bundle (with ads) costs $16.99 per month.