Bristol, CT – October 19, 2016: ESPN campus
(Photo by Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)
As ESPN continues to face the challenges of getting its users to watch the video on its mobile app, the challenges seem to prop up much quicker than the solutions. Videos have become the holy grail of sorts for media outlets that are looking for their readers to not only be more immersed in their content as video allows them to do, but to also spend additional time on the website for potential advertisers. In short, the goal to get you the reader reading longer and being happier that you did so.
ESPN seems to think its has figured this issue out as the common pitfall with video content is that it takes up the entire screen, and in the multi-tasking age of 2016, that is often a deal breaker.
To combat this issue, ESPN rolled out an update for their app last week that has included a portrait video for their live video and new product “live cards.” The way portrait view works is that readers can watch a video or live stream on the ESPN app and don’t have to adjust their mobile devices in any way. Traditionally, smart phones have had to be tilted to accommodate these videos in the past. As has always been the case, users need to log into to their cable provider to authenticate their TV subscriptions in order to view any of the ESPN mobile content on their app or website.
“So much of the last year has been about, ‘How do we make the best experience of everything ESPN Digital does in one app?’” ESPN SVP of Digital Product management Ryan Spoon told Digiday. “We obviously have the scores and news, but now we can make it more relevant and personalize it to you, and allow you to watch our networks and events and other video, or our live audio programming and podcasts.”
Ultimately it is the live cards that could be the driving force that increases the consumer usage of the ESPN app. With the video content coming in on top of the existing feed, it allows users to customize a viewing experience that is unique to their interests and is uninterrupted by video and potential aspects of the app — like articles and scores of other games — that used to cut off the rest of the content within the app. This can also include social media posts by the user’s favorite accounts as well as news items and game news from the video that is also streaming within the app. Previously, if a user watched a game video within the app, it cut off the rest of the capabilities of the ESPN app.
Spoon said to Digiday that smartphones have gotten larger, landscape mode with phones has become less of an issue than it used to be. He also mentioned that game video will soon be able to be docked to the bottom of the app to give the user lots of real estate to utilize other features and content.
“We want to give people more ways to view content,” Spoon said. “To get you to return more, consume more and spend more time.”
ESPN was the top app in the comScore October report with 15.6 million unique viewers during the month, but it continues to conform to the user’s viewing needs and look to utilize technology to find a way to improve on the 1.4 billion total minutes that users engaged with the app during that same month. Lots will likely to change and be tinkered with these large scale changes to the viewing experience of the largest sports app out there, but technology and innovation is once again leading the way to the ideal sports viewing experience.
