Disney Considers Sports Betting Promotion
Throughout the course of the business history, Walt Disney has never attempted to get into something secret. With several brands under its arm, including ESPN, Disney has made sure that the content created is as childlike and family-oriented as possible.
When sports betting began to become more popular, some businesses started getting on early, recognizing the promise of what sports betting could do for the sports and entertainment industry around the world. Disney was one of the businesses who didn't want to get into the debate, but now that's changed.
Disney is looking to expand its ESPN+ offerings because the new venture is not as profitable as it would have hoped. They will use the site to produce more sports betting content, aiming to draw in more fans. Disney claims it will be able to harness the up-and-coming market with ESPN+ to meet its target of 12 million subscribers by 2024.
ESPN Goes To Sports Betting
Disney wants to move on to ESPN+ because the subscription-based network would not compete against Hulu (38.8 million) and Disney+ (86.8 million).
The organization has announced that to be profitable for ESPN+. It needs to be closer to $45-$50 a month than the existing $5 a month fee, and sign up an extra 500,000 users. Disney aims to make the sports-based streaming channel more profitable by adding sports betting features to the ESPN+ package.
ESPN has agreements with Caesar's and DraftKings, which are looking to assist with the quality of sports betting. ESPN has 'The Daily Wager, which is a regular show that offers viewers the day's best bets, but is expected to extend in the future to more betting content.
Even ESPN shows odds and lines on the bottom ticker for nearly any sporting event. And as games are addressed at a show like 'Sportscenter', the chances for fans to see are on the television. Scott Van Pelt also has weekly episodes such as Bad Beats and Winner$ where he speaks about the week's worst betting beats and his best bets for the forthcoming weekend of football.
These clips and shows are now to be watched on espn sites, so in the future they might go behind the ESPN+ paywall, or Disney and ESPN could add related material to ESPN+.
The ESPN And Disney Question
ESPN could become more of a vanishing breed in the next decade as the world becomes more global. Live sports was hopefully the last thing broadcast firms are trying to gamble on when it offers real-time eyeballs and advertising.
With Disney not having to join the 'taboo' sports betting so early, it may have hurt the business long-term. Over the last few years numerous media outlets and sports betting technology firms have arisen, and although ESPN is the 'World Wide Leader in Sports', it might not be in sports betting.
“I don’t see The Walt Disney Company, certainly in the near term, getting involved in the business of gambling, in effect, by facilitating gambling in any way,”
said Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Company.
Disney wants to go all-in on sports betting, according to Iger, but it seems that means dipping a toe in. The parent corporation is already family-friendly, but it's hard to imagine ESPN turning the business into a complete transition.
The boat could have been overlooked by ESPN as keeping up with sports news because that may cost them down the line.
