Before you know it, the current college football and NFL seasons will be over. And that’s usually the moment where sports-centric streaming services start to panic.
That’s likely a significant reason ESPN launched its new Always in Season marketing campaign on Friday.
“The new campaign – ‘Always in Season’ – is meant to showcase why it’s always time for ESPN, whenever and wherever fans are, because when one sport ends, another begins on ESPN,” read a press release.
As Matthew Keys at The Desk noted, seasonality has historically posed a significant challenge for streaming services focused on sports fandom.
“Fubo, a cable-like streaming service that shares common ownership with ESPN, generally sees higher interest just before the start of the NFL’s regular season, on account of its offering of live football games from ESPN, CBS, NBC, and Fox,” wrote Keys. “Fubo’s subscriber count tends to drop between the first and second quarter of each year, once football season ends and the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, known as ‘March Madness’ begins.”
According to a 2024 report by Ampere Analysis, interest in NFL games on broadcast TV stations and networks like ESPN drives a 77 percent annual increase in sign-ups for virtual multi-video programming distributors like Fubo and YouTube TV. The flip side is that, traditionally, some of those same subscribers leave the service after the season ends, leading to churn.
ESPN’s new campaign is designed to remind fans of major sports and leagues that its direct-to-consumer offerings extend beyond the NFL and college football. ESPN Unlimited, which launched in August on the cusp of football season, currently costs $30 per month. The hope, naturally, is that consumers who signed up for Monday Night Football and a bevy of college football action will be convinced by the value of having access to over 47,000 live events, including NBA games, NHL games, WWE events, women’s sports, and sports-related programming, and not cancel their subscriptions until March Madness or even next football season.
“Always in Season represents the purpose and promise of what we do at ESPN — every day is game day, every day is SportsCenter day, every day is ESPN 30 for 30 day,” said Jo Fox, the Senior Vice President of Marketing at ESPN, in the release. “There is always a reason to watch ESPN, no matter what sport is in season. Each day, there’s another moment, matchup, or reason to be a sports fan — and we’re here for all of it.”
ESPN Unlimited is seen as a critical part of the company’s evolution into the digital and streaming space. According to data from research firm Antenna, ESPN Unlimited gained approximately 3 million subscribers between its August 21 launch and the end of October. 1.7 million of those subscribers have signed up for the ESPN Unlimited plan, while 1.3 million have purchased the ESPN Select plan (formerly ESPN+). These estimates do not include customers who were already subscribed to ESPN platforms through a Disney bundle or a traditional pay TV service.
ESPN Unlimited access will soon be made available to YouTube TV subscribers as well.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.