ESPN and NHL Reunite
After an absence of 16 years, the National Hockey League is returning to ESPN. The signed seven-year rights agreement will begin with the 2021-22 season. ESPN will produce 75 regular-season game telecasts each year that will be carried exclusively on the streaming services ESPN+ and Hulu. It’s the largest commitment of exclusive games to a streaming service ever made by a major sports league. ESPN+ will also absorb NHL.TV and effectively become the NHL’s out-of-market streaming package, where fans can watch more than 1,000 games that are not televised in their area.
The NPD Take:
- Sports are starting to move to streaming, further reducing the value of the cable TV bundle.
- Following the WWE, another targeted service, NHL.TV, is taking advantage of the larger reach offered by a bigger streaming provider. Expect more of this to come.
Disney+ reaches another milestone
Disney+ streaming service has surpassed the 100 million subscriber milestone since it launched in Q4 2019. The surge — fueled by hits such as “The Mandalorian” and “WandaVision” — has encouraged the company to spend more on growing its streaming businesses. In December, Disney unveiled an aggressive plan to ramp up programming for the service to 100 new titles a year. The success of Disney+ comes in stark contrast to other parts of Disney’s business that the pandemic has grounded for the last year including the closures of Disneyland Resort, parks, cruise lines and movie theaters. Despite the setbacks, Disney’s stock has doubled since the pandemic started in large part to Disney+.
The NPD Take:
- This is great news for the future of Disney’s direct-to-consumer business and bad news for up and coming SVOD services as Disney becomes another one of the staples.
- This underscores the imperative to reach scale rapidly before viewers decide on their go to services, making others expendable.