This past December, Disney launched an ESPN hub on Disney+ in the United States, offering sports content within a single-app experience. 

With a ESPN+ subscription, viewers can access to more than 30,000 live sports events each year, which also includes games and events from MLB, WNBA, college sports, tennis, golf, and more, plus a library of on-demand replays and acclaimed original content and studio programming that will now be available through Disney+ to eligible bundle subscribers. 

Standalone Disney+ subscribers also have access to a curated selection of live sports events, studio shows, and ESPN Films from ESPN+.

Later this year, Disney is going to be launching a new direct-to-consumer version of ESPN, which is currently going by the codename, ESPN Flagship.  This is going to be a premium sports package offering all of ESPN’s content via streaming, as currently, ESPN+ doesn’t include everything on the linear channels. 

During a recent question-and-answer session at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden was asked about ESPN’s recent expansion on Disney+ and the upcoming launch of ESPN Flagship later this year.

I’ve seen a little bit, it’s incredibly exciting. The new features that they’ll bring to market with the launch of Flagship, I think are really going to blow people away.

From a Disney+ perspective though, sports is the biggest, most successful form of entertainment right now. It’s obviously having the ability, we launched a few months ago an ESPN tile on Disney+ for standalone subscribers. And it’s of enormous value to these subscribers. It’s over 3,000 hours of long-form programming, the 30 for 30s.

Disney hasn’t announced too much information on ESPN Flagship yet, nor about the future of ESPN+, but during the Q&A, Dana did potentially reveal that ESPN Flagship is going to replace ESPN+ in the Disney Streaming Bundle.

When Flagship launches, and again, through having content for subscribers on Disney+ to engage with, we’ll have the opportunity to entice and convince subscribers to upgrade into the trio that will then include Flagship. And we think that will truly unlock the power of this portfolio of content across every genre. And that’s all going to be enabled through technology.

Earlier this week, Disney+ launched an all-new original series called “SC+” which highlights each day’s top sports moments, stories, insights and exclusive commentary in a more concise and streamlined format.  Dana shared some thoughts on the new show with those in attendance:

And then yesterday, we actually launched something I’m very excited about, which is SC+. It is a daily sports center show produced by SportsCenter and ESPN. It is going to help us I think to include people who are casual sports fans in this conversation that is obviously dominating cultures around the world and again a daily touch point for sports on Disney+, a reason every day to open the app to check out what are the top 10 moments in sports and then allow the algorithm to surface to those subscribers other content that they’re going to engage with. So very meaningful to us.

She was also asked if consumers are embracing ESPN On Disney+, to which she replied:

Yes, absolutely. We’ve seen not only an uptick in being able to upgrade those subscribers right now into our trio bundle, which is Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, but we’re also seeing increased engagement with that type of content.

Roger’s Take:  One of the biggest battles for any streaming service is competing for attention, and Disney+ has struggled to do so with adults, but with the addition of Hulu and ESPN content, it’s shifted from being a family-friendly service to a general entertainment platform.  Being able to watch everything from the Disney bundle in one place was naturally going to help increase engagement in Disney+ and it will likely continue to do so, especially when ESPN Flagship launches.

I think ESPN Flagship is going to replace ESPN+ since it doesn’t make sense to offer a mid-tier offering, and Disney needs to simplify things for customers. Too many options don’t help, and hopefully, we will get a unified Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN Flagship as an optional add-on. 

Have you checked out ESPN on Disney+ yet?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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