ESPN's Brand of Gold

George Bodenheimer on ESPN's fan-centred, can-do, will-do approach to driving media expansion. Whenever there’s a poll to identify the most influential people in US sports, George Bodenheimer is at or close to the top of the list. As president of ESPN and ABC Sports he wields enormous power but, according those who have worked with and for him, manages to do so in an empathetic and understated manner quite at odds with the standard perception of sports media magnates. In many respects Bodenheimer’s story is that of the American Dream. He’s the kid who got a job straight out of college delivering mail around ESPN’s campus and ended up running the show. Along the way he has helped build a great American media brand which resonates around the world and whose rights portfolio is the envy of his competitors. The brand has been built by adopting a fan-centred, can-do, will-do approach to sports media. Bodenheimer summed it up some years ago when he said: “We’re not just in the TV business anymore... We’re going to the table as a sports media company.” And that means delivering sports content in more or less any way that technology makes possible, so long as there’s an audience and a business case. It’s a philosophy which has put the ESPN brand at the vanguard of sports media in many different respects and given Bodenheimer himself rock solid respect and credibility. “We’ve been approaching our business this way for 10 years now, and have learned that fans want sports content when and where they want it, regardless of platform,” he says. “We have signed nearly 20 major sports rights deals that are multiplatform in nature in the last three years alone, and in some cases, they include platforms that have yet to be invented. Adding new ways to consume sports has helped us grow our business and audience. For instance, 2007 was not only the most watched year for the four main US ESPN networks, we also had the most ever page views of ESPN.com video (1.2 billion), the highest traffic ever for ESPN.com, the number one WAP site, and the most downloaded collection of sports podcasts on iTunes in the US.” But no organisation succeeds through technology alone. There has to be something more at the heart and that, says Bodenheimer, is to do with understanding sports fans and ensuring that ESPN delivers the action, the news and the talking points discussed in bars and around water coolers from sea to shining sea. “Our mission is to serve fans wherever sports are watched, listened to, discussed, debated, read about or played,” he says. “We constantly look at ways to improve our production and programming to bring fans, advertisers and affiliates the best possible coverage of the sports they love. We take sports seriously, but try not to take ourselves too seriously. We think this rings true through our programming. We also continue to focus on embracing technology and new innovations - whether it’s internet, mobile or HD television - while thinking as globally as we can in all we do.” While the quality of ESPN’s portfolio is unquestioned, it is also remarkable for its depth. In tandem with ABC it was quick to see the potential for soccer in the USA and other ‘minority’ sports also get their share of exposure. It’s not exactly rocket science but, once again, acquisitions are driven by what the customer wants and packaged accordingly. “Our fans are our best gauge and we continue to be interested in sports they are interested in and that fit our brand. We are proud to show big ticket events on our channels - NFL games, NBA finals, Euro 2008 and the Masters,” Bodenheimer explains. “But, we also have channels which cater to specialised tastes. For example, ESPNU - for those who enjoy college and high school sports; NASN - for fans in Europe who enjoy North American Sports; and ESPN Deportes - for Spanish-speaking sports fans in the US, have all been very popular with audiences, advertisers and affiliates. Our digital offerings, including ESPN360.com, allows us to show a number of different sports at the same time, reaching rugby and cricket fans in the US or American sports fans in Europe. We’re also no longer limited to just TV channels. We’re focused on new platforms every day.” Given that depth, of content, ESPN clearly has a role to play in creating and maintaining the profile of individual sports in a market still dominated by the NFL and the other Big Leagues. But despite the overwhelming popularity of its indigenous games, Bodenheimer is convinced that the US is in love with all big tournaments and top quality sport. This is important news for ‘soccer.’ “Big ticket soccer games have been hugely successful in the US in recent years. The World Cup, Euro 2008 and Champions League have all had big and increasing audience figures. MLS also continues to grow. “We are proud to broadcast these games, giving soccer the profile it deserves. Tastes have changed and soccer is here to stay. Demographics in the US are evolving all the time too, with diverse groups enjoying sports not usually associated with the US, not only soccer, but also cricket. Given all this, it’s hardly surprising that ESPN has been linked to a bid for the rights to the Olympic Games in 2014 and 2016. Its capacity across a range of platforms and channels means that it is already well structured to make the most of the voluminous output possibilities offered, particularly by the Summer Games. Indeed, while the Beijing games were in full flow, news organisation around the world reported ESPN’s head of content John Skipper enthusing about the prospects and even promising more live coverage that that offered by present rights holder NBC, irrespective of time zone. ”It’s a beautiful property and NBC’s done great with it,” Skipper told journalists. He added that NBC’s success ‘probably forces us to change some of our calculations’ concluding, “If you’re doing P&L’s, these guys have done spectacularly. If I was holding the rights to this, this is a great time to be selling them.” While the International Olympic Committee has yet to decide when to go to market with its next rights packages, this outburst might be taken as a clear ‘come and get me call.’ Bodenheimer, naturally, is more circumspect when asked whether his brands will be treading a path to Lausanne with a cheque book at the ready. “The Olympic Games are a fantastic sporting event,” he says. “We were the local rights holder in Brazil, and although we weren’t broadcasting the Beijing Games in the US, we covered the excitement through our news and information outlets. As a company, ESPN looks at all sporting rights opportunities on a case by case basis and we are evaluating a bid for the next games. Of course, it has to make business sense.” So that’s a Big Maybe then… but common sense suggests it would be unrealistic to expect anything else from the head of an organisation whose participation in any bidding contest could radically change the market. Over the years ESPN has become inextricably linked to action sports, acting not only as broadcaster but, in many cases, as a promoter and event manger. It’s another example of the way a media brand has taken and nurtured a sports property. As a result ESPN’s X Games has become a strong brand in its own right. “The X Games is popular in the US and across the globe for a number of reasons. First, we work with the athletes and organisers in each sport to feature the top names and provide them with the best ramps and courses possible to display their amazing talents. Audiences can either see events live in an arena, on TV or across a number of multimedia platforms, including broadband, mobile video and iPods. Second, there is a buzz about the spots we show with youth, who go on to ‘promote’ the events to their friends virally via the internet and mobile,” Bodenheimer says. “We always strive to produce a high-quality event, with high-quality production values and interactivity. And finally, the X Games is already a truly global event. Athletes compete from different parts of the world. ESPN has already taken the X Games competitions and demonstrations to fans in the US, Dubai, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Malaysia, China and Spain. We continue to talk to partners about hosting the X Games in a number of other cities around the world.” While the ESPN brand is synonymous with sport in the domestic market, international markets are also important and Bodenheimer says that ‘great strides’ have been taken in building the brand overseas. “On the international front, we have a two-pronged strategy,” he explains. “First, we take successful models of ESPN franchises and expand and adapt them abroad. We have created locally tailored versions of ESPN Classic, SportsCenter, the X Games and ESPN The Magazine in a number of markets. “Second, while we build on our North American sports expertise, we work with rights holders on the most popular local sports around the world - whether it is live cricket and soccer through ESPN STAR in Asia, or the UEFA Champions League in Africa, Latin America, Australia and the US. “ESPN Classic in Europe shows soccer, rugby, cricket compared to the US version which shows a lot of football, basketball and baseball. We have also expanded our digital businesses over the past 18 months with the acquisitions of Cricinfo, Scrum and racing-live.com, in addition to adding French, Spanish, Italian and German language versions of ESPNsoccernet.” “Right now we have two big areas with growth opportunities: International and Digital,” he says. “ESPN is a global multimedia sports and entertainment company, with a big US division. While we will continue to grow our sports business in the US we will look to expand our properties in other markets. We have 34 Networks outside the US, and fans can watch ESPN in 200 million homes, in 194 countries outside of the US. By working with local leagues, platforms and advertisers around the world we hope this will continue to grow. As for digital, as I said earlier, we are in an exciting new era and we want to be where fans consume sports.” Bodenheimer is as upbeat about ESPN’s future as he is pragmatic about its past achievement and his future world view is, inevitably shaped by the confidence instilled by those achievements. It’s a confidence which, having become the first network to have rights to all four MajorLeagues, allowed him to speculate that if ice hockey were to demand too much money, ESPN would do just fine without it. Inevitably, ESPN can only maintain its success so long as the hunger for well presented sports programming remains strong. In this respect, ESPN, like other sports broadcasters, is a component of a virtuous circle which shows no sign of breaking apart any time soon. ESPN has become a key point of connection between fans and sport, something which, Bodenheimer says, the leagues recognise. Yet this hasn’t stopped a number of them launching broadcast operations of their own in recent years, a move which might be seen as placing them in direct competition with traditional broadcast partners. Bodenheimer however, is unperturbed about this new ‘competition’ emerging out of the sunlight. “We have always operated in a competitive environment, and there are many new players entering the market each year. Leagues and clubs too, are increasingly becoming broadcasters. While this is greater today than ever before, we believe our brand and production quality puts us in a good position moving forward. Leagues understand and appreciate the bridges we build to their fans.” The emergence of leagues as broadcasters and the obvious potential for other rights owners to follow the same route as the NFL and others is just one of the significant consequences of the digital make-over embraced by the media sector. The term digital revolution tips off the keyboard easily and probably too often but that is what it has been and perhaps its most important impact has been fragmentation of audiences now faced with a glut of choice of viewing options. Naturally it is the mentally and agile and dexterous youngsters who have adapted most easily to this new environment and there have been fears that sports might get left behind in a rush for different types of content delivered in new and exciting ways. ESPN’s development strategy appears to have headed off some of this drift potential at the pass. They’ve helped make sport an integral part of the digital environment, not an adjunct to it. Once again, Bodenheimer ascribes success to the strength of the brand. “Maintaining a strong brand is critical to attracting sports fans and navigating them to our multiple media options. The age profile of sports news and information consumers is much younger than event viewers, and sports news and information is driving the expansion of media use in sports. “Growing our media options also strengthens our brand - particularly among younger fans that are most prone to use new media options. Our success in mobile is a great example of that. As of July, ESPN Mobile reported a 78 per cent increase in year-to-year traffic, was the #1 mobile sports site and #7 site overall in mobile web.” The future, then, be it mobile or online, be it TV, domestic or international burns bright for the sports enthusiasts’ brand.