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US sports media giant ESPN plans to broadcast more than 500 live shows across its digital and social media platforms in 2020.
That figure, according to Digiday, is up on the 400 digital shows ESPN aired last year and more than double the number in 2018. Having announced the hire of House of Highlights founder Omar Raja at the start of January, ESPN is entrusting the 25-year-old to build out its digital community.
Raja fronts the new Hoop Streams weekly basketball show which ESPN airs on its Twitter, YouTube, and ESPN App outlets, as well overseeing the SportsCenter Instagram account. The broadcaster admits that its previous social media strategy was essentially repurposing its linear content, but with the hire of Raja and the increase in social-specific output, such as its pre-game college football show on Twitter, it is changing tack.
Senior vice-president of digital and social media content at ESPN, Ryan Spoon, told Digiday: “These shows are different than the shows we do on TV.
“If you think about what we did leading into college football, the social shows are often very relaxed. I put capital ‘fun’ in front of the tone we want to see. They’re about driving interest and enjoyment around it.”
ESPN’s social media video viewership has increased dramatically over the past year, according to Tubular Labs. Across YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, ESPN received 2.2 billion video views in December 2019, a 58 per cent increase on December 2018.
ESPN also added 794,800 followers across its various Instagram accounts in December 2019, with Tubular Labs data showing a significantly faster-growing follower base on that platform than its other social media channels.
Omar Raja’s arrival from House of Highlights to increase digital emphasis.
US sports media giant ESPN plans to broadcast more than 500 live shows across its digital and social media platforms in 2020.
That figure, according to Digiday, is up on the 400 digital shows ESPN aired last year and more than double the number in 2018. Having announced the hire of House of Highlights founder Omar Raja at the start of January, ESPN is entrusting the 25-year-old to build out its digital community.
Raja fronts the new Hoop Streams weekly basketball show which ESPN airs on its Twitter, YouTube, and the ESPN App outlets, as well overseeing the SportsCenter Instagram account. The broadcaster admits that its previous social media strategy was essentially repurposing its linear content, but with the hire of Raja and the increase in social-specific output, such as its pre-game college football show on Twitter, it is changing tack.
Senior vice-president of digital and social media content at ESPN, Ryan Spoon, said: “These shows are different than the shows we do on TV.
“If you think about what we did leading into college football, the social shows are often very relaxed. I put capital ‘fun’ in front of the tone we want to see. They’re about driving interest and enjoyment around it.”
ESPN’s social media video viewership has increased dramatically over the past year, according to Tubular Labs. Across YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, ESPN received 2.2 billion video views in December 2019, a 58 per cent increase on view in December 2018.
ESPN also added 794,800 followers across its various Instagram accounts in December 2019, with Tubular Labs data showing a significantly faster-growing follower base on that platform than its other social media channels.
