(10-31-2017 10:15 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(10-31-2017 10:01 AM)levydl Wrote:  

(10-31-2017 09:49 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  They lost 15,000 subscribers... a day... this past month. It's ramping up not down. It was 7000 is day in September.

They are about to get clobbered by the online platforms, too. And they know it. Thus, the next round of layoffs. Their business model became antiquated.

Look, I know some people want it to be the case that ESPN is failing and that it's failing because it became a heathen liberal mouthpiece, but neither of those things is true.

More than one thing can be true at the same time.... ESPN is losing viewership because the business model has changed, but politics has helped expedite their demise.

Heard an interest quote from Jason Whitlock the other day. Basically he said that ESPN made the mistake of going all in on politics as opposed to spending the time/resources to figure out how to change their business model so they can grow.

There's little to no evidence regarding politics playing a statistically significant role in the decreasing number of subscribers for ESPN. This is a 'johnny come lately' explanation that flies in the face of massive data regarding the affects of a variety of market factors at play. Mind you, EVERY cable channel is facing the exact same downward pressure. Are we to shoehorn the political explanation in to the narrative for any/ all networks??? i would guess that ESPN is far more 'sticky' than just about every other channel that's not something like HBO. It's numbers just look large because it was/ is such a behemoth. Only shareholders and disconnected execs would expect the numbers to rise endlessly...esp in this market environment.

As noted in this thread, we're witnessing the rise of a new generation of primary targets who find little use in the things that were previously staples of ESPN. Highlights are everywhere on the web, live events can be streamed, etc.

At one point american cars were king, then market competition happened. The big 3 still exist, and in some ways they thrive in the modern marketplace. It's reasonable to assume that ESPN will still do well - albeit with lowered expectations. That's distinctly different than it being a money loser. It's simply not. It's suffering the same fate as dayum near any market leader. Marveling at their current state of affairs is to ignore the wisdom of decades of business lifecycles. Bottom line, sh*t happens, and at the moment it's happening to ESPN. All their garbage bloat, and trash programming can die a slow death as they experience creative destruction.

I'm all for the market correction in prices for sports. I love sports, but there's little doubt - at least in my mind - that their rights are grossly overpriced.




mc

I watch sports on ESPN to escape politics!
I watch the NFL to escape politics!
I bring up politics on Bearcat Banter whenever possible!

I say again, an irony sensing shock collar would clean this stuff right up.

It isn't politics that is hurting ESPN its cord cutting and changing audience needs in terms of sports consumption. The biggest issue facing ESPN going forward will be if the pro and college sports leagues decide to cut out the middle man and directly distribute content. The other problem is that younger generations do not consume sports the same way older generations have.

ESPN is still going to likely thrive once they find the sweet spot again in terms of distribution and price point. They are ahead of the game with the Watch ESPN App and are still the most popular sports network by far.

(10-31-2017 09:14 PM)EffinBJ Wrote:  I watch sports on ESPN to escape politics!
I watch the NFL to escape politics!
I bring up politics on Bearcat Banter whenever possible!

I say again, an irony sensing shock collar would clean this stuff right up.

You do realize... Nah. Troll harder.

My opinion is that ESPN began pandering to the lowest common denominator a long time ago and that was before politics was part of the issue.

I also think that ESPN, like MTV in the 80's and early 90's, is a great mirror for society and ESPN's political involvements are merely a reflection of our society as a whole which seems consumed by politics all of the time now.

The politics stuff probably hasn't helped, I am sure there are plenty of soft minded people who won't watch the NFL because they believe that their beloved crucif.....I mean flag is being disrespected. But I think the is a very small factor in what is happening to ESPN. Streaming was so obviously the new way of media and they, like all gigantic, dinosaur companies, fought it instead of leadignt he way in it. Now they will pay the price. One thing they do seem to have going to for them is Netflix's hesitation of live streaming sporting events and their other natural competitoor's like FS1, NBCSports, CBSsports etc have all been even worse than ESPN at adapting to the change.

(11-01-2017 07:17 AM)BeerCat Wrote:  My opinion is that ESPN began pandering to the lowest common denominator a long time ago and that was before politics was part of the issue.

I also think that ESPN, like MTV in the 80's and early 90's, is a great mirror for society and ESPN's political involvements are merely a reflection of our society as a whole which seems consumed by politics all of the time now.

The politics stuff probably hasn't helped, I am sure there are plenty of soft minded people who won't watch the NFL because they believe that their beloved crucif.....I mean flag is being disrespected. But I think the is a very small factor in what is happening to ESPN. Streaming was so obviously the new way of media and they, like all gigantic, dinosaur companies, fought it instead of leadignt he way in it. Now they will pay the price. One thing they do seem to have going to for them is Netflix's hesitation of live streaming sporting events and their other natural competitoor's like FS1, NBCSports, CBSsports etc have all been even worse than ESPN at adapting to the change.

Right. Typical corporate arrogance. They were printing money so easily....OF COURSE they were dumb enough to thing the gravy train was gonna keep on keeping on.

Say what you will about him, but listening to Bill Simmons gives great insight about the hubris of the organization. How corporations think they can stem the tide against generational preferences is beyond me. It was quite obvious the next generation's preferences were going to win out, and change how sports is consumed.





mc