ESPN -- Making Changes from a Position of Strength: Upfront News and Views

Venue amp160Minskoff Theater between W 44th and 45th Streets close to Times Square and home of the longrunning The Lion King stage musical amp160It wouldn39t be an ESPN breakfast event without team mascots and cheerleaders guiding guests up the street escalator to the main lobby amp160Freddie the Atlanta Falcon and the Brooklyn Nets39 Brooklynettes squad did the honors this year amp160More mascots and cheerleaders were all over the lobby as attendees picked up breakfast appetizers or exotic juice combinations amp160Inside the theater a rare sight no logos on the stage or ESPN personalities delivering game summaries or commentary from a mezzanine area stage right or left amp160DJ Dilemma played tunes as the crowd settled in offering a quotgood morning good morningquot salute every 1015 minutes amp160Grade 35 JacksPresentation amp160Anyone expecting a fastpaced tightly edited sizzle reel showing off ESPN39s diversity of coverage and talent at the top may have been initially stunned or shocked by the opening few minutes The curtain rose on a solo trumpeter bathed in a white spotlight playing for a few seconds then joined by more Sugartone Brass Band musicians and dancers grooving to a New Orleansstyle jazz tune normally associated with Big Easy funerals amp160Was this a mock march to a burial after recent suggestions this organization has a dark future ahead more subscriber advertiser and affiliate defections under a skinny bundle environment amp160Nope The performers soon clarified they were headed for the burial of advertising prosperity amp160quotPlease tell us why we39re hitting our KPIs and sales still suckquot someone on stage cried out amp160Thanks to the quotvoicequot of Morgan Freeman actually Frank Caliendo doing a spoton impersonation of him the darkness on stage vanished replaced by fluffy clouds quotEverything is going to be all rightquot the voice boomed quotWelcome to the ESPN Upfront where advertising feels like heavenquot amp160Out came the mascots and cheerleaders to second that thought amp160It was left to ESPN President John Skipper to offer the future vision in full amp160quotLet me be up front about the Upfrontamp8221 he saidamp160 amp8220We39re making changes from strength ESPN is indispensable for fans and therefore indispensable for distributors We are in every new package Sling Sony Vue YouTube TV and now Hulu at our highest economics and with 100 penetrationquot amp160Moreover giving awardwinning newsmagazine E60 a dedicated Sunday morning hour earlier this month and expanding SportsCenter39s quotRight Nowquot updates into halftime and postgame segments in the months ahead demonstrated quotan unmatched commitment to sports journalismquot Skipper continued amp160More than 50 ESPN playbyplay commentary and anchor people were recognized onstage later on see photo below then for the first timeamp160mingled with attendees minutes after the finaleamp160 Grade 45 Jacks for taking a risk with the opening minutes4 Jacks for the overall presentationNews amp160After nearly two decades cohosting Mike ampamp Mike in the Morning with Mike Golic on ESPN Radio then simulcast on ESPN2 Mike Greenberg will headline his own threehour ESPN morning program starting January 1amp160 He39ll operate from Manhattan with several cohosts and a mix of sports and entertainment topics each morning amp160When Greenberg makes his move NFL Live host Trey Wingo will team with Golic for a new radioTV simulcast in the current Mike ampamp Mike time period that will continue on ESPN2 for a short while then move to ESPNU amp160The current SportsCenter 710 am eastern time format on ESPN will eventually move to ESPN2 with Sage Steele as lead anchorperson amp160Another new ESPN wrinkle for 2018 will be a noon hour teamup of recurring Around the Horn contestants Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre amp160January 2 is the proposed start date for this weekday series amp160In other news tidbits versatile playbyplay caller Beth Mowins will do an NFL Monday Night Football game for the first time on September 11 teaming with former NY JetsBuffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan for the second game of MNF39s seasonopening doubleheader amp160Mowins will be the first woman to headline a nationallytelevised NFL game and the first woman to call any NFL game in three decades amp160Separately next January39s college football championship game will have its firstever halftime show with a music superstar performance Grade 35 JacksHost amp160Skipper was mostly nononsense in both tone and delivery getting solid support from Greenberg and a variety of other network notables from anchorperson Scott Van Pelt to the pro and college football talent lineup amp160And once more SportsCenter anchorperson Kenny Mayne pictured at top cracked up the crowd with his appearance as quotthe angel of advertisingquot complete with big white wings Check out thisamp160video of Mayne in actionamp160 Meantime Jemele Hill and Michael Smith coanchors of The Six demonstrated yet again that they inform and entertains in a class by themselves amp160Grade 35 Jacks for overall hosting 5 Jacks for Mayne who thanks to Jimmy Kimmel39s absence from ABC39s event last week may take the title of Upfront Week crown jesterStar Time amp160Sugartone stayed on stage to open and close various segments throughout the presentation Guests at this annual event can always count on a few sports superstars to come by unannounced beforehand amp160The 2017 lineup included tennis champ Serena Williams justretired NBA allstar Paul Pierce the aforementioned Rex Ryan and pro basketball rising star Joel Embiid who engaged in a fun interview with pop star Kelly Rowland amp160Grade 4 JacksCuisine amp160A mix of breakfast munchies plus those fruit juice combos amp160Best eat cinnamon apple muffins Best drink applekalepineapplespinachmint juice as long as one stopped before reaching the pulp at the bottom amp160Worst eat nothing comes to mind Grade 25 Jacks Note Cuisine ratings do not factor into the final Jacks scoreData Insightamp160 ESPN39s collection of linear channels and digital platforms averaged 210 million viewers per month throughout 2016 amp160More than 100 million viewers a month observed the content on digital Grade 3 JacksInnovative Opportunity amp160Buying ESPN and ESPN2 ad time under a quottotal live audiencequot format where live linear digital and outofhome viewing independently verified are taken into account on a 247 basis amp160Brand safety would be guaranteed amp160Grade 35 JacksOverall Grade amp1604 Jacks Memorable in a number of ways starting with an opening sequence that will be one for the debate tableOur Jacks rating systemamp160 5 Jacks amp8211 Excellent 4 Jacks Very Good 3 Jacks amp8211 Good 2 Jacks amp8211 Fair 1 Jack amp8211Poor 0 Jacks Don39t go thereClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160amp160

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ESPN -- Making Changes from a Position of Strength: Upfront News and Views

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Simon Applebaum

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