ESPN launches new free digital video platform to push brand into mainstream
ESPN is to make a major new digital push with the launch a free new short-form video offering for Australia and New Zealand called ESPN View, Mumbrella can reveal.
The new video product brings together the video from all of ESPN’s digital sport properties into one place and for free, and is likely to be a challenger to rival Fox Sports as well as the offerings from the sports codes themselves. Content will include footage from its various panel shows and documentaries, online sports news sites like ESPNcricinfo and ESPNFC, plus video match reports across AFL, NRL, A-League, Super Rugby and Cricket.
“This was a natural play for us given TV is a centrepiece of ESPN in Australia”, said Lance Peatey ESPN’s director digital products and partnerships.
“Our business in Australia is our TV channels and our digital business, on that side we are the largest multichannel publisher across the sports category but those users are splintered across six different websites and we want to aggregate all the video across our network into one destination for sports fans.”
If this is the site – http://video.espn.com.au/ (which was noticeably left off the PR release)… then they’ve got a fair bit of work to do.
About time there was some competition to FoxSports and their paywall model.
Looks to be heaps of Football and US sport on there too.
Hey Sports Fan. Since when is Foxtel a “paywall”. It’s not called PAY television for nothing. Fork up or shut up.