Menu
Media

ESPN+ Hits 1 Million Paid Subscriber Mark After April Launch

Five months after ESPN launched ESPN+, the streaming service has logged more than 1 million paid subscribers, the network said. The number of initial subs is higher than most analyst estimates and its early growth compares favorably to other direct-to-consumer offerings. For example, it took WWE Network 11 months to reach the 1 million sub mark. Some of ESPN+’s early growth can be attributed to an August decision to combine ESPN Insider and ESPN+. ESPN would not say how many subs ESPN Insider -- a service that had been around for 20 years -- had at the time of the merge, but a spokesperson did say that the number of Insider subs "account for a minority of the total (significantly so)." Growth also can be traced to sports that it carries exclusively, such as international soccer, boxing and college football games. ESPN+ is an important initiative for ESPN, which has spent the past few years dealing with higher rights fees combined with a smaller subscriber base. The launch of a direct-to-consumer service for $4.99 per month was an attempt to combat cord cutting, and the impressed subscriber growth so far suggests that ESPN will continue to invest heavily in buying sports rights for it.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2018/09/20/Media/ESPN-Plus.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2018/09/20/Media/ESPN-Plus.aspx

CLOSE