With Wall Street concerned that Disney’s sports network goliath, ESPN, may be negatively impacted from increasing operating costs and competition from Fox Sports 1, Disney CEO Bob Igor unleashed a barrage of upbeat statements about it during Thursday’s investor meeting in Bristol, CT, Forbes reports.
Igor asserted that he’s “going to continue to invest” in ESPN. Although the CEO did not reveal all of the revenue streams generated by the iconic sports channel he did reveal that its pay TV networks account for 32% of its revenues and 56% of its operating income.
ESPN President John Skipper added that the channel is a household name along with Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, and Disney. According to Deadline New York, ESPN is so popular that it is more recognizable (known by 88% of Americans) than the Olympics (83%) and Nike (81%).
ESPN execs contend that unlike other cable networks, ESPN advertisers are not undermined by viewers using the DVR option since 71% of its telecast hours are live and 96% of its viewing is live.
Executives also boasted that ESPN has a far-reaching hold on Americans and are able to connect with them on various platforms including internet, radio, smart phones and tablets. According to ESPN, they reach on average 64 million adults every day.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.