Marketing Article Analysis

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Eric Beste

Marketing Article Analysis

10-27-03

        “ESPN’s Risky New Game Plan: Relying Less on Play-by-Play”

WSJ, Friday, Oct. 24th, 2003

ESPN is widely known as a 24-hour sports channel leader that broadcasts the most popular American sports and some of the biggest games, including Sunday night NFL football.  The popular sports channel latest move of creating original programming about the lives behind the scenes of professional football players with the show “PLAYMAKERS” represents a dance with marketing fire.  It risks weakening of strong brand identity that has yielded a leadership position in sports broadcasting and alienation of strategic partners that made that leadership position possible.  As with most brand weakening moves, the result will at best not be close to what is being promised and at worst end up ruining the ESPN brand.  

         Mark Shapiro, the head of broadcasting, decided to create the show PLAYMAKERS for various reasons.  This line extension, which is not a play-by-play show which ESPN is known for, is an effort to ward off challenges in the industry.  The main challenges are a growing backlash against the high fees being charged to cable companies and strategic partners beginning to bring their business to other broadcasting outlets.  Instead of working to strengthen their strategic partnerships and leadership position, there is a desire to appeal to new viewers (especially women) and bring ‘steadier ratings’ as a hedge against the challenges.  This move of emphasizing play-by-play programming to a predominantly male audience and original programming to bring new viewers represents a foot in both camps and will most likely not be successful.

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The idea from Mark’s boss, George Bodenheimer – president of ESPN and ABC sports, is that they ‘are not going to sit on their laurels’ and that the company is ‘on the move’, but at what cost?  As described in the article, the ‘symbiotic relationship’ that exists between ESPN and most of professional sports is what made their leadership position possible and what made it possible to charge high fees and be as profitable as they are.  What will happen if the cable network continues to produce original programming that is offensive to strategic partners?  The most likely result is ...

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