Kevin Krim, president and CEO of measurement and analytics company EDO, noted the deal brings nearly yearlong programming and significant ad inventory to ESPN. And though Paramount is doing away with the pay-per-view model for UFC, ESPN could also offer a different strategy to WWE and new ad opportunities.
“They’ll attract millions of people to every program, but they also have this idea of the special events, the premium, playoff-type events,” Krim told ADWEEK about ESPN’s WWE rights. “And while those have always been subscription-only and pay-per-view, and therefore no real advertising except maybe some product placement integrations, there’s an opportunity for real innovation there. They can control ad breaks all they want. It’s an open field.”
Hedging your bets with bundles
Amid all the disruption in the sports streaming landscape, with rights moving from one publisher to another, companies and leagues are taking calculated risks.
For instance, though ESPN is letting its deal with Major League Baseball expire at the end of the 2025 season, Fox has MLB through 2028, and the new ESPN and Fox One bundle means viewers seeking anything from NFL to MLB—or Fox’s upcoming coverage of the FIFA World Cup—could find that programming across both companies within one streaming plan.
Meanwhile, Peacock reportedly had the opportunity to match ESPN’s bid for WWE, but the streamer, which is adding NBA in the fall through NBCUniversal’s upcoming 11-year deal with the league, chose to refrain. However, there’s always the opportunity that Peacock gets in on a new sports bundle partnership, as the streamer has been open to bundles previously.
Amid rising sports rights costs, experts say bundling is an attractive option for streamers and consumers alike.
“The number of streaming platforms is creating a challenge for consumers in the number of services that they can afford,” said John Fortunato, a professor of communications and media management at Fordham Gabelli School of Business. “Bundling services is one of the ways that platforms are using to navigate this economic environment.”