Are those casuals that you want so bad ever going to donate? Are they going to buy tickets? Are they ever going to anything other than watch a game and forget about it an hour later, keeping in mind that they are likely older and not a part of the demo that FOX, ESPN, etc can sell advertising for. ESPN is much better off driving engaged fan bases to drop $10 a month so they can continue to pay the rights fees they do.
Your production comments are so off too but I see that that has been addressed above. There wasn't a single moment where there was a missing camera angle, you had two guys that regularly do games on ESPN linear networks announcing. The production was no different than anything other than ESPNs very top crew and those crews were going to be in Manhattan regardless of what Iowa State and Texas were ranked.
hahah... It's really not debatable which broadcast was better tcu or tex.... the TCU game with fran on the call was significantly better... but if you can't see that, I can't help you.
Brand is impacted by casual fans. If you don't understand how conference tv packages drive significant dollars ... can't help you either. But the reason for conference realignment has nothing to do with "ticket sales" or "donations".... it is about one thing:
TV Media Rights. Casual fans are the reason the b10 and sec lap everyone else in value.... they collected the "brands" that drive casual fan eyeballs.
I agree that streaming is the future. There are built in advantages to streaming. You completely missed my point on NCG -
my point was that NCG content on ESPN+ had unique camera angles to view the game that is one ADVANTAGE not fully captured yet by streaming. That is one example. Others:
1) Start early, show the teams in warm ups, show player introductions, have a pre-game show for all games starting at 6, 7, 8, etc. talking about what is going on in college bb.
2) While players are warming up, talk about games going on in conf, tell people Kan vs. KSU is on ESPN, talk about what's happening there, etc.
3) Game ends... don't cut away, watch the players exit, band playing, fans reactions, player on court interviews, coach post game presser, recap action going on around the B12, around college basketball, etc. why cut away like you need to jump to another game? you can have a studio broadcast going all night that as games end you can cut back to ... shows highlights of other games, etc. then when coaches, players come out for pressers, cut back to the stadium.
There are VERY simple things that could be done to take advantage of the
built in advantages streaming has over linear channels that are not being done yet and have very little cost to espn.
I have no issue with ESPN+ as a platform. I think it is good for what it is and similar platforms
are absolutely the future. Pretending that the quality is as good as linear programing is not being objective. Saying that fans with hulu can access content with no problem, is ignoring the fact that most people use other platforms (Youtube TV, Cable, etc.) and
any platform restrictions reduce reach. This is something Yormark actually mentioned in his comments on the media deal... basically said streaming is a key part of the future, but currently you need to have linear platforms for brand & reach...
Bottom line, I tune into espn+ when I have something to watch there. But I use YouTube TV. I am not even going to know a game is on if it's on espn+ unless i am looking for it.. i'm just changing back and forth between games on YouTube TV. That will change when platforms are upgraded and all streaming content is available in a single app (note Hulu only solves espn+ but not sports content on appletv, prime, peacock, or NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube in 2023).
So, yes, we are going to have content on espn+. No issue there. But what games are on espn+ (or any streaming platform) absolutely matters to the B12 long term. Making sure that top content has maximum reach is very important as the B12 battles to be the #3 conference in terms of brand and media value.
The more casual fans watching your content the better for future negotiations.