Seth Davis Bomani Jones Twitter Beef

2021 in Review

ESPN, Inc.: 2021 in Review

Major Programming Agreements Highlight the Twelvemonth; ESPN+ a Cardinal Component in All

In 2021, ESPN finalized and announced in rapid-fire an unprecedented succession of progressive, landmark and long-term programming agreements with key rightsholders that identify an accent on exclusivity and multi-platform distribution – while 2 others took issue – that strengthen its future given the proven power of live sports.

Significantly, all include a substantial forward-looking straight-to-consumer component via ESPN+ – which grew 66% in the fiscal yr to 17.1 million homes – and rights beyond the Walt Disney Company enterprise, notably with ABC.

Major Programming Agreements

A major expansion of SEC rights appear in December 2020 that began to take effect this yr with football games on ESPN+ and solidifies ESPN as the briefing'due south sectional rights holder beginning in 2024.
Renewals with MLB, NFL and the AELTC for Wimbledon that include new opportunities for ESPN+ and for ABC including the potential for MLB playoff games, 2 Super Bowls and its offset-ever live Wimbledon matches.
Afterward in the year, a 2nd agreement with the NFL secured for ESPN the new Monday night Wild Carte game for 5 years starting time with the 2021 season. The game telecast will be accompanied by Monday Nighttime Football with Peyton and Eli on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
Bringing the NHL back to The Walt Disney Company with four Stanley Loving cup Finals on ABC during the seven years, 28 exclusive regular-season games per season between ESPN and ABC, 75 national regular-flavour games produced by ESPN that stream exclusively on both ESPN+ and Hulu, and the movement to ESPN+ of the NHL'south out-of-marketplace streaming package of more than 1,000 contests.
Adding La Liga, arguably the earth's top soccer league, with ESPN+ the new English- and Spanish-language home for all 380 LaLiga Santander matches and a selection of LaLiga SmartBank contests in the United States.
The 2020 PGA Bout agreement that started this year adds PGA Tour Alive with more iv,000 hours of coverage in 2022 from 36 events to ESPN+.
Other agreements volition go along and expand ESPN's long-fourth dimension leadership in the college space – renewals that include 500+ games each on ESPN+ from the Big Heaven, Large Westward and Western Athletic Conferences and the Horizon League. Also, the Primal Intercollegiate Athletics Association (CIAA) returns to ESPN platforms.

These developments correspond a peculiarly robust flurry of growing ESPN's sports rights portfolio. All are broad, lengthy and reverberate the irresolute dynamic of television viewing habits while serving sports fans wherever they are.

"It has been an extremely productive and satisfying yr for our pursuit of exclusive and premier content to fuel our businesses and serve sports fans beyond the platforms of The Walt Disney Visitor. Nosotros are driving value and maximizing acquirement in parallel paths – the traditional ecosystem and the emerging direct-to-consumer future. We are investing in ESPN+ with compelling live events, studio shows and globe-class original programming. Our strategy is to navigate the evolution of consumer choice, following the fan. As they keep to gravitate to digital and DTC, in these groundbreaking and innovative agreements we have the optionality nosotros demand. As always, our Due north Star is existence at that place for the fan and creating shareholder value. We do that with innovation. Engineering science is our heritage at ESPN and at The Walt Disney Company and beingness at the front end border of the viewer's experience is baked into our mission.

"At the aforementioned time, at ESPN we know that a critical element of our success is ensuring a culture of inclusion – valuing different perspectives, voices and ideas – so that we can continue making bully content that appeals to a diverse and growing audition. It's on every manager to create and cultivate an open, safe and caring surroundings, and we're proud how leaders and employees alike are taking action and making a commitment to that kind of civilisation."

— Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content

ESPN Highlights

Cardinal statistics and developments that defined ESPN'southward successes on a broad variety of fronts.

Linear Television Networks

Network-wide Viewership

The current quarter volition be the 34th sequent in which ESPN has been the No. 1 full-time basic cable network among Men eighteen-34 (starting in Q3 2013).
Looking at the streak in terms of years, ESPN has been 1 for at least 30 straight and also 22 consecutive in prime time among Men 18-34. Likewise, ESPN2 is right backside ESPN among cablevision sports networks amidst M18-34; it has been #two every year (in one case tied) since its 1993 launch.
This year will marking the 30th straight ESPN finishes No. 1 amid Men 18-49.
ESPN volition finish No. 1 among People 18-34 and 18-49 for the twelfth straight year.
ESPN will exist #ane in prime time amid all key adult demos (P18-34, P18-49, P25-54) for an eighth straight year.

Sport-past-Sport Outcome Viewership

Through thirteen weeks, Monday Night Football game on ESPN networks is averaging thirteen.2M viewers, up 11% vs. the 2020 season-to-date and up 4% from the same point in 2019. It has been the most-watched telecast of the night on all xiii Mondays amongst households, viewers and all key demos: men 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, besides as persons eighteen-34, 18-49 and 25-54. ESPN has been the most-watched network all 13 weeks (broadcast and cable) in prime number time among households, viewers and the same primal male and people demos, plus P55+.
The NBA Playoffs averaged five one thousand thousand viewers across ESPN/ESPN2, up 35% year-over-twelvemonth. The Finals were up 32% from the pandemic-shifted finals a year ago. ESPN/ABC aired xv of the summit twenty nationally televised games of the 2020-21 regular season.
ESPN'southward 2021-22 NBA Opening Week averaged 1.82M viewers, the network's most-viewed Opening Calendar week since 2017. Celtics/Knicks averaged 1,955,000 viewers, the near-viewed ESPN Midweek Opener since 2003. For the season to date (through December half-dozen), the audience is upward 25% vs. last season and up 4% from 2019.
ABC aired information technology well-nigh-viewed Higher Football Kickoff Weekend since 2017 and third best in the past decade. Clemson vs. Georgia (viii.9M viewers) ranks as the second-almost-viewed Offset Sat game in the past 20 years (behind FSU/ALA in 2017). Meanwhile, Notre Dame vs. Florida State (7.8M viewers) ranks as the second-best Opening Week Sun game on record.
College football game across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 averaged one.98M viewers, upwardly 19% from 2020 and upwardly two% from two years ago. For ABC, information technology was the best flavour since 2017, an boilerplate of more than than iv 1000000 viewers, upwardly 25% from terminal twelvemonth and up 2% from 2019. The increase was led by Saturday Night Football, which averaged more five 1000000 viewers, up 36% for the year and on par with 2019 and '18.
Sun Night Baseball was up 18% overall, including up 25% amidst People xviii-34.
ESPN's MLB Wild Card game betwixt the N.Y. Yankees and Boston Red Sox averaged vii.7M viewers and was the network'south about-viewed Wild Carte contest of all fourth dimension and the second-most-viewed Wild Bill of fare game of all time.
The NHL returned to ESPN networks subsequently 17 years, and the opening-nighttime doubleheader averaged 884K viewers, the top-performing e'er and 54% better than 2019.
Combat Sports – boxing and MMA – keep to be a stiff performer on both network tv set and ESPN+. The prelims for UFC 264 averaged ane.6M viewers on ESPN, the second-biggest prelim audition of all time (UFC 246). Adding ESPN Deportes and ESPN+, information technology averaged 2.2M viewers, also trailing only UFC 246. Besides, ABC aired its first 2 live UFC events this yr and a total of 25 original hours of UFC coverage, including UFC Countdown and UFC Alive.
The 25th anniversary flavor of the WNBA saw double-digit growth in both the regular season and playoffs compared to 2020 and 2019. The regular flavor was the nigh-viewed since 2009, the playoffs were the virtually-viewed since 2014, and the finals were the most-viewed since 2017.
Historic storylines at tennis' US Open up led to an audience increase of 33% in prime time over the two weeks, culminating with big increases for the championship matches. The women's last between unheralded teenagers Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez averaged 2.44M viewers, up 30% over last year. The men's terminal – with Novak Djokovic aiming for the Chiliad Slam and a record 21 Majors – was seen by an average of 2.05M viewers, an increase of 37%.
The 33 MLS matches on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 delivered an average audience of 273K viewers, a 17 percentage increment compared to a year ago (39 matches).
The EURO 2020 audience was up over 30% from 2016. The Last ranks every bit the about-watched EURO lucifer since 2008 and was up 43% from the 2016 Final.
The Formula One Grand Prix season is on rails to exist the virtually-viewed ever (topping the 1995 campaign on ESPN networks), averaging 938K viewers. The average is up double-digits from 2020 and 2019.
The Domicile Run Derby averaged seven.1M viewers, its nigh since 2017.
NCAA Championship Highlights
- Nigh-viewed Women'due south Higher World Series on record and best Softball Super Regionals since 2012.
- Most-viewed Women's Gymnastics Title always on ESPN networks.
- Most-viewed Men'southward and Women's Higher Cups (soccer) ever.
- Most-viewed Women's NCAA Basketball game Tournament Championship Game since 2014 and all-time Final Four since 2012.
- Most-viewed NCAA Hockey Championship since 2014.
- Most-viewed Men's College Lacrosse Championship since 2017.
Across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, Ten Games Aspen averaged 600K viewers and July's X Games 2021 averaged 471K viewers, both upward double digits vs. the previous competition.
The Nathan's Hot Domestic dog Contest averaged 1.35M viewers on ESPN, up double-digits vs. 2020 and 2d-best since 2014 (backside 2019).

Studio Bear witness Viewership

Pardon the Pause at 5:thirty p.k. ET is the nearly-watched daily sports news/studio show on television (626K P2+).
The midnight SportsCenter is the most-watched daily sports news/studio show on tv among P18-34, P18-49, P25-54, M18-34 and M18-49.
ESPN arrogance the top nine almost-watched daily sports news/studio shows on television (P2+) and 14 of the top fifteen.
College GameDay is the second nearly-watched sports news/studio show on cable (and was upwardly 39% year over yr) and Monday Night Countdown is #three (up 26% vs. 2020 and upwardly 10% over 2019).
In November, the post-obit studio shows enjoyed their virtually-watched month in a very long timeast:
- - Get Up posted its nigh-watched month ever , averaging 433K viewers.
  - NFL Live had its most-watched month since December 2018 (35 months), with 430K viewers.
  - Around the Horn had its nigh-watched month since December 2019 (23 months), with 523K viewers.
  - Showtime Have had its most-watched month since January 2020 (22 months), with 451K viewers.
  - SportsCenter at 1 a.m. ET had its most-watched month since January 2020 (22 months), with 541K viewers.
  - SportsCenter at 7 a.grand. had its almost-watched month since February 2020 (21 months), with 282K viewers.
  - Pardon the Pause had its most-watched month since Feb 2020 (21 months) with 717K viewers.
  - SportsCenter at half-dozen p.g. had its well-nigh-watched month since December 2020 (11 months) with 501K viewers.

ESPN in the News

ACC Network will soon be added for Comcast'due south Xfinity customers, as appear November 30, giving fans of the Atlantic Coast Conference access to the multiplatform network. The availability of ACCN is part of Comcast and The Walt Disney Visitor's content railroad vehicle agreement renewal that will continue to brand Disney's programming bachelor to Xfinity TV customers. With the improver of Comcast, ACCN is now fully distributed with every major satellite, telco and digital provider across the land.
ESPN led all network groups with nine trophies at the Sports Emmys, including ESPN Deportes sweeping the three Spanish-language categories. ESPN's long heritage of groovy storytelling was honored twice, for Blackfeet Battle on ESPN+ and a Sun NFL Countdown feature The Big Mo Show. Too, ESPN's enterprise journalism brands – such as SC Featured and E60 – proceed to receive numerous accolades, including Murrow Awards, Gracies, NAMIC Vision Awards and more.
The Last Dance won an NAACP Image Honour as Television's best documentary, one of nine awards garnered by the 2020 ratings phenomenon that went behind the scenes of the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls featuring Michael Jordan. Other awards included a Primetime Emmy, a TCA Accolade and a Critics Choice Existent TV Laurels.

ESPN Films

In 2021, ESPN Films released "144" almost the unprecedented 2020 WNBA season in the bubble; xxx for thirty's "Al Davis vs. the NFL" well-nigh one of the swell rivalries in the history of the National Football League; "Breakaway" about WNBA superstar and activist Maya Moore; and "One time Upon a Time in Queens" nigh the 1986 Mets.

Directly to Consumer

ESPN+ grew 66% during the 2020-21 financial y ear and has more than 17.i meg subscribers (as of Oct. two, 2021). True to ESPN heritage, the innovative employ of engineering in developing ESPN+ reflects ESPN and Disney'southward status as a earth-class technology leader.
ESPN+ has the company poised for the growing importance of the digital pipeline. With an unlimited capacity to present live and on-demand events, studio shows and series, ESPN+ has greatly expanded the multifariousness and volume of sports programming ESPN can deliver to fans. Also, it has created a more direct relationship with them, building make connection and affinity in a relatively short menstruum of time, thanks to how it has resonated with fans. ESPN+ also helps build a bridge to younger viewers, a goal of all rightsholders; indeed, half of its audience is nether 35. Key integrations of ESPN+ were completed on both the Hulu and Xfinity platforms.
In add-on to the recent major rights agreements mentioned to a higher place that help bring the annual total of live events to more than 20,000, thousands of hours of new studio and original programming in 2021 added to the terrific value proffer for fans. These include: Man in the Arena: Tom Brady , a 10-part series with the legendary quarterback giving a first-paw business relationship of each of his ten Super Bowl seasons; Stephen A's Globe, the signature studio prove in which host and executive producer Stephen A. Smith provides his entertaining perspective on sports stories that affair and interviews celebrities from sports, entertainment and beyond; SportsNation, a weekday morning time look at sports highlights through the lens of social media, trending topics opinion and debate; expansions of the pop Peyton's Places starring Peyton Manning via Abby's Places with Abby Wambach (soccer) and Eli'southward Places with Eli Manning (NFL); Turning Point , a weekly review of NFL activeness; Why Not U.s. , an within look at HBCU sports, featuring a flavour with Florida A&M football and another with N Carolina Cardinal basketball, executive produced by The Undefeated, Stephen A. Smith and NBA star Chris Paul; the seven-office, behind-the-scenes Quest for the Stanley Loving cup and more.
Combat Sports has become a tentpole property for DTC, driving subscriptions and retention, with major events available via ESPN+ PPV.
- - Seven of the ten biggest-selling UFC PPVs always on ESPN+ came in 2021, including the best, UFC 264. Also, 7 of the 10 most-viewed UFC Fight Nights aired this year. Overall, the category includes 12 UFC PPVs, 17 exclusive UFC Fight Nights, 35 Summit Rank battle events and this year ESPN aired The Ultimate Fighter for the starting time fourth dimension.
  - ESPN teamed with FOX Sports to present Fury vs. Wilder 3 world heavyweight title on ESPN+ PPV and FOX Sports PPV. Also, the Crawford vs. Porter welterweight world championship was the first-e'er exclusive ESPN+ PPV event for the ESPN/Meridian Rank partnership.

Digital

ESPN Digital, by far the world'due south leading sports digital platform, has averaged 102.5 one thousand thousand unique visitors per month this year, sixteen% larger than No. 2 and upwardly 12% from 2020.
ESPN Digital set a U.S. Sports category record of 120.0 million users in October, surpassing the previous record ESPN set in July of 118.half dozen million.
ESPN Digital'southward streak of leading the U.S. sports category stretched for 40 consecutive months (March 2018 – June 2021).
The ESPN App continues to exist the most pop sports app in the U.Due south. in terms of reach, three.4 times larger than the No. two sports app and up +xiv% from 2020.
The ESPN App had its best month ever in October with 27.three one thousand thousand unique visitors.
The ESPN Fantasy App continues to be the #one fantasy sports app in the U.S. in terms of reach, 33% larger than No. 2.
ESPN'south digital content routinely averages a higher boilerplate minute audience than many cable sports television set networks.

Social Media

ESPN is the No. 1 sports media publisher for engagement on social platforms with 3.6B total actions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and 25.1B video views across YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.
The 2021 NFL Draft was the most-watched alive digital plan in ESPN history. The three-mean solar day streaming result totaled 9M viewers (+41% from 2019; no streaming in 2020) and over 80M minutes of watch time (five times 2019). The ane.3M views on YouTube for the first round is a platform record for an ESPN livestream.
Off-platform, the visitor has been innovative, using Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snap. The company's efforts were rewarded, every bit it continues to exist the well-nigh engaging sports media company on social. Highlights:
ESPN'southward primary social media accounts (ESPN and SportsCenter) experienced increases in average social engagements per post across Instagram compared to 2020 (through October) (Instagram – +10%). On Instagram lonely, the ESPN and SportsCenter accounts generated more than 2.i billion total social engagements.
ESPN's Digital Production team shattered audience records in 2021. On YouTube, ESPN has nearly doubled viewership with over 5.5B views and 12B minutes this year. The growth has been powered by the launch of SportsNation, which has reached 500M unique viewers, and the launch of several new digital live titles, including the daily Debatable and the NHL pregame testify The Driblet.
ESPN's primary TikTok business relationship has surpassed 20M followers, the fastest for whatever ESPN business relationship to achieve that milestone on whatsoever platform (three years vs. 7-x years). The business relationship is a superlative five about-followed and engaged brand on the unabridged platform and over 60% of Gen-Z fans say ESPN TikTok is their most loved ESPN presence.
On Snapchat, ESPN reached 5M unduplicated viewers across all of its backdrop (January. – Sept.) while adding a daily afternoon SportsCenter, Undefeated On the G and College GameDay: All Access. As well, the Hoop Streams brand volition expand into Snapchat starting in belatedly December.
The most pop posts of the twelvemonth by platform: Instagram: The Lakers and Pistons had to be separated multiple times after this play betwixt LeBron and Isaiah Stewart (ane.73M Social Engagements, 14.1M Video views), Twitter: Brady and Mahomes playing in the Super Basin (285K Social Engagements), Facebook: This one-legged high jumper will always be AMAZING 👏 (ane.4M Social Engagements; 17M Video Views), and TikTok: @tonyhawk helping Sky Brown confront her fear of going downwardly the mega ramp 👏 (15.6M Likes, 108M Views).
ESPN hired BallerVisions founder Marcel (Celly) Chappell and acquires BallerVisions' social channels –on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter – to expand its social and digital presence in the high school landscape.

Audio

ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio, the nation's largest sports network which celebrates its 30th ceremony on January one, 2022, once over again brought listeners an unmatched schedule of live events throughout the year. The network marked its 24th consecutive twelvemonth of bringing fans every pitch of the MLB Postseason, every bit well every bit every game of the NBA Playoffs and Finals, the College Football Playoff semifinals and National Championship, the NFL Typhoon, NBA Draft and more, totaling more than 220 events.
This year saw the network's already strong weekday lineup further expand, offer skilful analysis and insight during key windows throughout the day while regularly welcoming acme-level and news-making guests.
- Keyshawn, JWill & Max and Greeny most recently led ESPN Radio to a strong start in the fall ratings book with year-over-year audience increases of nineteen and 28 percent, respectively, beyond all platforms combined in October.
- Super Bowl Champion Chris Canty (paired with Mike Golic Jr.), Pro Bowl linebacker Bart Scott and Emmy-winning broadcaster Alan Hahn became staples in the daily talk radio lineup with their shows Canty and Golic Jr. and Bart and Hahn.

ESPN Podcasts

Monthly records for listenership were fix by Fantasy Focus Football, The Lowe Mail and The Right Fourth dimension with Bomani Jones.
Reflective of their popularity, 2 shows expanded. The Correct Time with Bomani Jones increased from ii shows per calendar week to three and added video, resulting in a record-setting unique audience in October. The College Football game Podcast expanded from two times per week to v and added meridian college football voices to the roster, resulting in a 248 percent year-over-twelvemonth increase in unique audience growth (per Podtrac).
Several new shows debuted – Baldheaded Men on Campus, Black History Always, Daily Wager, DC & RC, First Take Her Take, In the Crease – The ESPN NHL Podcast, Organized Chaos, Swagu & Perk and The King of Crenshaw (30 for 30 podcast).
These shows brought a wide variety of new, diverse and industry-leading voices to the platform: Charly Arnolt, Matt Barrie, Jay Bilas, Ryan Clark, Linda Cohn, Rece Davis, Elle Duncan, LaPhonso Ellis, Paul Finebaum, Joe Fortenbaugh, Domonique Foxworth, Tyler Fulghum, Joey Galloway, Seth Greenberg, Emily Kaplan, Anita Marks, Kimberley A. Martin, Booger McFarland, Chiney Ogwumike, Kendrick Perkins, Rex Ryan, Bart Scott, Marcus Spears, Justin Tinsley and Clinton Yates.

Fundamental Initiatives

DEI – Innovation – The Undefeated – espnW – Corporate Citizenship – Owned Events

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion -- in Programming across Platforms and within the Company

At The Walt Disney Company, it is vitally important to attract and develop a diverse pool of talent so the workforce reflects the diversity of the world in which we live and practice business organisation. In improver, it is then imperative to foster a workplace where anybody feels engaged and free to contribute to the creative process. ESPN's ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion includes talent recruiting, retention and evolution efforts that prioritize the tillage of a strong, diverse and thriving workforce.
ESPN implemented required grooming and Inclusive Leader Assessments: an Inclusion & Belonging @ ESPN workshop, a follow-up DEI Toolkit and an Inclusion i360 cess. Virtually 100% of people managers have completed the workshop along with more than than half of individual contributors with more sessions scheduled. The toolkit offers tips to support inclusion with tips on hosting inclusive meetings and tips on allyship. It also contains an inclusive calendar that highlights significant dates many may not be enlightened of but that teammates may celebrate. Additionally, almost all VPs/above, including Jimmy Pitaro'southward direct reports and their reports, accept gone through the i360, which reliably identifies a leader'southward specific strengths and weaknesses around inclusion. By the end of 2021, over 100 leaders volition have gone through the cess and had a debrief session with a motorcoach.
ESPN champions ix Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and four Analogousness Groups – voluntary, employee-led groups formed around shared identity, interests, and pursuits with 2000 members stiff beyond ESPN. The ERGs include Emerging Leaders (Early Career Professionals), ESPN SALUTE, (Veterans), ESPN Women, ESPN Ascend (Asians and Pacific Islanders). ENABLED (people with disabilities), SOMOS (Hispanic/Latinx), ESPN Families, PULSE (Black and African Americans) and EQUAL (LGBTQIA+ employees). The Affinity Groups are the Multicultural Women's Network, T.R.U.Due south.T., (mental health), YBI (Young Black Idea) and the ESPN Executive Women'southward Forum. In improver, employees are free to participate in Disney-wide communities similar SHALOM, Salam, and the Native American/Indigenous Concern Employee Grouping.
This fall, ESPN launched an effort to improve gender equality in online coverage, with a rebrand across ESPN.com and the ESPN App in the women's digital infinite. This effort is a continued priority for the Stats & Information Group (SIG), with many teams helping on the initiative. Fans tin can now observe what they want readily available within the walls of ESPN, keeping them informed and engaged directly within our products, with the coverage only ESPN can deliver. Paired with world-class streaming, editorial and live-game feel, ESPN is the pre-eminent digital destination for WNBA and women'southward college basketball fans.
ESPN launches ESPN+ MAS, a new section of ESPN+ with content for, and most, Hispanic and LatinX athletes and fans. It includes more than 1,300 alive events, 100 30 for 30 documentary titles and at least 1,000 hours of studio shows.
ESPN and the Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association (CIAA) announced a multi-year, multi-platform media rights agreement, enhancing ESPN's higher sports portfolio and coverage of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) with the add-on of the conference's men'south and women'due south basketball tournaments. ESPNU volition carry both the Men's and Women's Basketball Championship Games; all 22 games of both tournaments volition be available on an ESPN platform.

Innovation

In September, ESPN announced the ESPN Border Innovation Center and the iii founding partners, global professional services and innovation visitor Accenture; Microsoft, a leader in engineering and digital applied science; and Verizon, one of the world's leading providers of 5G applied science. The aim is to collaborate with other leaders in engineering science and with Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED) to explore how new technologies like 5G, Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) and mobile edge computing (MEC) can enable new ways for fans to feel sports. The ESPN Edge Innovation Center will include cardinal partnerships in the categories of technology, consulting, connectivity and hardware.
Monday Nighttime Football game with Peyton and Eli (aka, the "ManningCast") debuted on ESPN2 as a complement to the traditional MNF telecast with onetime quarterback greats Peyton and Eli Manning. An instant hit, reaching as many every bit an boilerplate of nearly 2 million viewers, the duo watches the game and talks football with guests ranging from celebrities and sports stars from the NFL and other sports. To date, information technology has registered the vii biggest audiences ever for an ESPN alternate telecast (since 2014).
In addition to Peyton and Eli, artistic use of alternate telecasts as a way to abound the audience continues to exist a focus, ever since the 2014 BCS Championship. In MLB, "StatCast" alternate telecasts, which debuted in 2018, were produced twice for Sunday Nighttime Baseball game, for the Domicile Run Derby and a Wild Card game. In a first, ii NFL games this year – the Wild Card game in January and the MNF opener in September – were supplemented by an analytics and betting-focused give-and-take show alongside the traditional telecast. In April, the same approach was used for an NBA contest. In Baronial, as was first done during the 2019 Niggling League Earth Series, a Sunday Nighttime Baseball game was accompanied by a "KidsCast" on ESPN2. The telecast featured young aspiring sportscasters including sometime LLWS star Mo'ne Davis. An NBA game in May was paired with Marvel's Arena of Heroes on ESPN2 which weaved elements of an original Marvel story and characters into the alive action with 3-D virtual characters, animation packages and customized graphics.
In Oct, MNF debuted the Line-to-Gain-Virtual-Plane on a pyloncam at a disquisitional goaline play in the last infinitesimal of the Buffalo-Tennessee game.

The Undefeated

Over the terminal five years, The Undefeated has enjoyed incredible growth, driven past the tremendous work done past the stellar team. Today, The Undefeated is the premier multimedia platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture, as well every bit fashion, music, and the arts, and poised for further expansion within Disney. From a compelling website to best-selling children's books, to music albums, to powerful television documentaries, to identifying and developing fresh voices that appear on every ESPN screen, the Undefeated has claimed the clear high footing in thought leadership that has served fans and ESPN then well. The Undefeated'southward unique insights, voices and evolving storytelling have served equally a model for how ESPN can accomplish fans in new ways.
In 2021, ESPN'south race, sports and culture platform forged ahead with multi-dimensional storytelling most the Black experience
The Undefeated powered and led the January launch of ESPN's Black History Always, a companywide content commitment to produce and highlight Black stories beyond the traditional Blackness History Month of Feb.
The Undefeated partnered with ESPN+ to launch The Undefeated on ESPN+ in February, a twelvemonth-round home on the manufacture-leading sports streaming service for stories at the intersection of sports and the Black feel. The Undefeated on ESPN+ is the exclusive home for the "Black History Always Specials," a series of new, original short films available on the 29th of each month. A Love Letter to Black Women kicked off the series in March. Other titles included I Run with Maud: A Promise. A Motility (October), Long Live Seven: The Bryce 'Simba' Gowdy's Story narrated past Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (November) and more than.
The Undefeated on ESPN+ debuted Why Non The states – an eight-part, all-access docuseries that captured the distinct culture, experiences, and challenges of an HBCU athletic program through the coaches and student-athletes' eyes. The starting time flavor, Why Not United states of america: N Carolina Central University Men'south Basketball game premiered in February, followed past Why Not Us: Florida A&Thou University Football in Oct.
Online, TheUndefeated,com featured the industry's most comprehensive coverage of sports and pupil life at Historically Blackness Colleges and Universities. Highlights include Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders coaching the Jackson State Tigers; The Undefeated HBCU Band Rankings and profiles; the fifth form of the Rhoden Fellows; and more. Additionally, The Undefeated commissioned and published enterprise projects such as the definitive profile of Anderson Paak's family, the high schoolhouse basketball game squad that took a knee joint in Oklahoma, America's homicide crisis, commentary on the firing of Raiders coach Jon Gruden and more.
Projects beyond The Walt Disney Visitor further established The Undefeated as a multi-platform unit of measurement for Black stories:
- - 2 television specials in February – The March on Washington: Keepers of the Dream on National Geographic and available adjacent day on Hulu, and A Room of Our Own on ESPN.
  - An ESPN 30 for 30 podcast The Male monarch of Crenshaw in August examined rapper Nipsey Hussle's bear on on the sports globe.
  - The Undefeated and Disney Music Grouping Hollywood Records released two volumes of Music For The Movement featuring old songs reimagined past young artists from this generation. Volume Two, Black History Always, was released in February, and Book III Liberated was released in June.

espnW

Throughout the year, espnW.com showcased and supported big events and cultural moments, including the WNBA's 25th season with a await at 25 milestones; a Cover Story (a multi-platform, in-depth journalism franchise) on Layshia Clarendon of the Minnesota Lynx, the league'southward commencement openly non-binary player; an examination of the league's fiscal outlook; and coverage of the Tokyo Olympics with pieces such as profiles of Diana Taurasi, Suni Lee and Rose Lavelle.
Throughout the twelvemonth, espnW.com showcased and supported big events and cultural moments, including the WNBA'due south 25th flavor with a look at 25 milestones, a Cover Story on Layshia Clarendon, an examination of the league's fiscal outlook and coverage of the Tokyo Olympics with pieces such as profiles of Diana Taurasi, Suni Lee and Rose Lavelle.
espnW continues to abound on social platforms, with its social handles growing thirty% year over year, at present up to 1.3M total followers.
The 12th annual espnW: Women + Sports Elevation returned to an in-person format in Oct at The Club at Torrey Pines and was livestreamed for a virtual audience. Speakers included Halle Berry, Sarah McLachlan, Gabby Thomas, April Ross, Nicole Lynn, and more. The Elevation had approximately 200 attendees on-site, 187,810 full views beyond platforms (+14% from 2020), 475,403 total minutes watched (+xi% from 2020), and over 432M potential impressions on social.

Corporate Citizenship

This year, equally announced in 2020, ESPN devoted threescore% of its youth sports grants to Blackness and African American communities, for a total of over $1 one thousand thousand.
ESPN launched the Render to Play Fund, which was created to support and inspire Black and Brown youth who have been challenged the near during the pandemic. The fund will use sports to center health, wellbeing and systemic solutions to the center of community recovery across the United States.
ESPN continues to fundraise for the V Foundation, raising over $15 million for cancer research in fiscal year 2021. Overall, ESPN has raised over has raised over $142 million for the V Foundation.
To aid fight the Covid-19 pandemic, and together with the CDC and Ad Council, ESPN ran a series of PSAs beyond its platforms encouraging sports fans to become the vaccination. Additionally, ESPN'southward headquarters in Bristol, Conn. served as a vaccination site for the surrounding community.

Owned Events

Hosted past actor Anthony Mackie, The ESPYS returned to an in-person ceremony in New York Metropolis. The show honored the return to sports, also as inspiring stories of service and perseverance from the sports earth.
Aspen, Colo., hosted the X Games Aspen for a 20th consecutive year while the summer effect returned after a year away and was held at sites in southern California, albeit without fans. Across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC in that location were double-digit viewership increases, and usage on @XGames social and digital media enjoyed triple-digit growth. In December, the get-go-always X Games in Japan were announced, to be held in Chiba in April 2022 with Skateboard, BMX and Moto Ten competitions over three days at ZOZO Marine Stadium.
ESPN Events debuted new events in 2021, the Boeing Scarlet Tails Classic college football game in Baronial honoring Tuskegee Airmen, and December'south Wasabi Fenway Basin in Boston, while returning to a total 18-game college basin schedule. The annual flavour-opening State Farm Champions Classic basketball doubleheader featuring Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State was too renewed through 2025.

-thirty-

Media Contact: Dave Nagle ([email protected])

garciareaked.blogspot.com

Source: https://espnpressroom.com/us/espn-inc-2021-in-review/