It's pretty clear that, like in 2021, ESPN+ is going to be the plurality channel for AAC football. Yes, if you add up all the games that are appearing on all the cable channels and ABC, you get to the contract-mandated 40, which is more, but still, more games are going to show up on ESPN+ than on any other single channel.

Personally, this doesn't bother me at all, because I like ESPN+ and have it readily available on all my TVs, laptops and tablets. It's no big deal at all to me to click on it and bring up a game.

But for those who like to bean-count about "exposure", I guess there's no getting around the fact that ESPN+ doesn't have the same level of penetration as the linear cable channels, and for many sports fans there are still barriers to access in the form of not being familiar with streaming an not wanting to pay $7 extra for it.

IIRC, in 2017, about 13 of our games were streaming-only, on ESPN3. Last year, in 2021, I think 24 games were on ESPN+. So it seems like compared to 4-5 years ago, about 10 of our games have been shifted from some kind of cable outlet, like CBSSN, to streaming. Maybe I'm wrong and didn't tabulate correctly, but that's what I came up with when I looked at the TV rosters for those years.

Yes, ESPN+ is considerably better than ESPN3 was, but it's still streaming.

(06-01-2022 08:55 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  It's pretty clear that, like in 2021, ESPN+ is going to be the plurality channel for AAC football. Yes, if you add up all the games that are appearing on all the cable channels and ABC, you get to the contract-mandated 40, which is more, but still, more games are going to show up on ESPN+ than on any other single channel.

Personally, this doesn't bother me at all, because I like ESPN+ and have it readily available on all my TVs, laptops and tablets. It's no big deal at all to me to click on it and bring up a game.

But for those who like to bean-count about "exposure", I guess there's no getting around the fact that ESPN+ doesn't have the same level of penetration as the linear cable channels, and for many sports fans there are still barriers to access in the form of not being familiar with streaming an not wanting to pay $7 extra for it.

IIRC, in 2017, about 13 of our games were streaming-only, on ESPN3. Last year, in 2021, I think 24 games were on ESPN+. So it seems like compared to 4-5 years ago, about 10 of our games have been shifted from some kind of cable outlet, like CBSSN, to streaming. Maybe I'm wrong and didn't tabulate correctly, but that's what I came up with when I looked at the TV rosters for those years.

Yes, ESPN+ is considerably better than ESPN3 was, but it's still streaming.

Truth. The only silver lining is that more/better properties are moving in that direction. The better company we can keep on the platform, the more exposure it will mean as the world keeps migrating toward streaming.

Think about Disney+. You don't think a poo-load more kids are watching random disney content because disney added Star Wars stuff that their dad's want to watch?

They are also making things easier and more consolidated, which is nice. I have YoutubeTV, which has the ESPN channels, but on Saturdays I'm usually on the ESPN App because it has both the ESPN Networks and ESPN+ content in the same place.