ESPN broad casting is the radio and television broadcasting service which is focused on sports and sporting events/ activities.
The broadcasting service was initiated in the 1970s and since them it has come a long way down the road to success. The ESPN network has had a huge impact of the sports world by providing it more exposure and increasing the influx of talent into the field. The ESPN channel has a reach that amounts to 110 million household all across the world. The channel is an international tribute to sports which covers all the major sporting events taking place in the world.
Information and programs based on key sports champions as well as sponsored events are also reported on by the channel. The ESPN regional channels however tend to provide the viewers with a much more personal and regionalized service. Through the regional channels EXSPN covers the district and the regional sporting events like college football and basketball championships etc. This has provided for the diverse target audience of the channel. The target audience for the channel has been identified as viewers with an interest in sports who are between 15 to 54 years of age.However this range can differ according to the different regions and the inclination towards sports.
ESPN initially started as a relatively simple television broadcasting network. However now it has become as empire of networks operating more than 40 businesses under its company umbrella. The main strategic operations of the company pertain to ESPN Wireless services, ESPN radio and ESPN magazine and channels. One of the most popular channels of ESPN is the ESPN Star Sports.
ESPN Star Sports is a channel which was made as a joint venture between ESPN and Star TV.The channel offers customized broadcasting in five international languages through out Asia. The key programming provided by the channel pertains to Cricket, Formula One, The English Premier League as well as Wimbledon, NBA and UEFA Champions League. “"Before ESPN, sports wasn't cool," says Joseph Greisen, vice president of STL Sports Inc.
, a sports marketing firm based in Los Angeles. "Over the past twenty-five years, sports has become something for the in crowd, and that crowd pays a lot of money to be there.Everybody is shelling out a whole lot more money today for sports. And a lot of that is due to the popularity of ESPN.
"” (‘Sports Remade’, 2007) ESPN as contributed to the field of Sports by creating a communication portal for the industry. The people who were interested in sports initially has to hear snippets of the records and scores through the local radio channels and read about them in the newspapers. This was especially true for those people who were not affluent enough to get access to tickets for the sporting events.However with the advent of ESPN in 1979, the audience for the sports as well as the sports world saw a medium of communication through which the audience would interact and relate to the sporting events even if they were unable to access tickets for the sport.
This increased the opportunities available to the audience as well as the sporting industry. The audiences were now able to access information about their favorite sports and follow the events in a more real time manner. They had ready information being delivered to them through ESPN about the sporting events and the latest scores.This made access to the world of sports very easy and feasible for the spectators.
The sports world and industry also benefited through the existence and emergence of a channel devoted to sports. This provided them with an opportunity to interact with the audience. The sporting committees were able to establish long term relationship with the audience by providing them special offers through the medium and customizing the content placed on the medium according to the audiences’ taste. This aided the sports industry to improve its promotional efforts for the sports and elate the reputation of the previously unknown sporting events.The sporting world and industry also was able to identify an increased source of revenue and earning through the utilization of the service provided by ESPN.
ESPN provided the sports the sports related industries medium through which to interact with the target audience. They were now able to directly access the audience for their sports on a larger, national and international scale. This increased the target market and made it possible for them to provide sports related products and service to the audience.The advertisements that were placed through ESPN were highly effective as they were able to reach directly to the audience. Sports leagues now get paid billions of dollars to televise their games.
Major corporations shell out millions to sponsor major events. And employees all over the country are rewarded every day for a job well done with tickets to see their favorite teams. ” (‘Sports Remade’, 2007) This increased the profitability of the sports like baseball, tennis, basketball, soccer, rugby as well as cricket. The audience was willing to pay any amount of money now to watch the team play live in action due to their established relationship with a specific team and sport.The sponsorship of the sports and corporation for the sports provided the spots industry another source of income.
Aside from this the sports industry was also able to establish itself as a responsible corporate and public service citizen by partnering with the corporations and providing the target markets and their communities with infrastructure to developed their sporting skills as well as have new source of leisure and sporting activities. This was provided through public service and promotion programs advertise and broadcasted through the medium of ESPN.Due to the international nature and the diverse characteristics of the broadcasting service provide by ESPN the broadcasting company was able to provide a medium of leisure and entertainment to an increased and diverse audience. At the time of its emergence the source of entertainment for people of the middle class family were few and far between. The easy availability of the service through radio and television as well as the low costs for thee service made it possible for sports enthusiast as well as other people who had restricted incomes to participle in the sporting events as well.
In an interview the ESPN network president George Bodenheimer was reported to have said that “Nobody attracts more men than we do. We've got a product and we know how to cater to advertisers' needs. The merchandising opportunities we provide, whether it's working with Home Depot, Wal-Mart or Dick's Sporting Goods, we want to partner if you want young men. ” (Hampp, 2007) This was true as the main target population of the network was the male population however with changing times and the evolving environments the sporting world also saw an increase in the fields pertaining to women sports.The women viewer for sports as a result also increased. This provided for an increased target market for the sporting industry.
The increased access to a wider population as well as the diverse nature of the target population provided by the ESPN network aided the sporting industry in indulging and developing in more sporting events which were diverse in nature as well to cater to the diverse characteristics of the population. “ESPN has had tremendous impact on college athletics and how our society views sports.Before ESPN, there was no thought about having the non-revenue sports on TV. ESPN has had an immeasurable impact on funding these Olympic-type sports and has greatly enhanced the evolvement of women's sports, certainly at the collegiate level.
Several decades of young girls have seen their role models achieving on television. ” (Martzke & Cherner, 2004) ESPN was also able to affect and change the world of sports by making the sporting industry provide a highly personalized and customized service through its broadcasting medium of communication.The ESPN network president George Bodenheimer also mentioned regarding the service provided to the sports enthusiast through ESPN that “it's really easy. We've never overestimated fans' demands for sports product, and we've never overestimated how passionate people are about sports.
We saw long ago we've got to take our product with them and that our mission was to take sports fans where they want to go. ”(Hampp, 2007) The increasingly customized service pertaining to broadcasting of regional as well as international al sporting events and the promotion of diverse sports made increased the market for the sports industry.Regional sports industry flourished and boomed overnight as the population was fast tuning into ESPN to attain more information pertaining to their favorite sports. Aside form this the diverse and customized services provided by ESPN as well as the national sporting industry increased the interest in the advice regarding sports,. This was because they were able to establish relationship with the sports as well as participate and view sports which were made convenience according to their circumstances.
However the most important factor which aided the sports world was catering and showing the sporting events to a much larger audience which was available to them than ever before. Aside form as highlighted above the presence and development of ESPN from a simple regional channel to a national and then an international sports broadcasting channel increased the exposure of the sports world as well. Prior to 1979, before the launch of ESPN the population who was interested in sports was constraint to checking the scores out in the brief news reports.However when ESPN was launched as a dedicated channels to sports the audience was now able to access information about sports anytime they wanted. This was made more interactive and possible through the gradual integration of the internet communicative technology with the televised broadcasting service.
“While ESPN executives were initially ridiculed for starting the first all-sports television network, ESPN was obviously an entity ahead of its time. It may have taken a few years to catch on, but thanks to ESPN, sports is no longer simply a hobby.It's a passion. It's a pastime.
And, maybe most importantly, it's a business. ” (‘Sports Remade’, 2007) The field of sports received increased exposure through the televising and broadcasting of the various sports and sporting events to the increased market. With the development and the growth of ESPN the sports industry also grew it. It became international in nature where the competition did not simply cater to the national championships but international world cups.This integrated the different sporting industries in the world to make them to form a cohesive industry targeting the audience and the population of the world on a global scale. The increased exposure of the sports to the population through mass media also made them to be more interested in the sports.
The increase in exposure of the audience and the world population to sports triggered the spectators to be part of the action and the sports itself. The parents of families both form middle income based as well as affluent households started to invest in their children as prospective athletes and sportsmen.This increased the amount size talent pool available to the sporting industry. They were able to access talented players from the regional teams and train them further in order to make them world class athletes and champions.
This increased the relevance the world of sports had for the audience making sports a new form of investment instead of simply an entertainment. Aside form this through the popularity of sports, many sports celebrities arose who become famous due to their skills as well as due to their personality and persona on and off the limelight.These sports champions typically rose form the middle class population of the world and were able to make their claim to fame though their skills. The audience was better able to relate to these champions’ as they were exceptional at their game and were also closer to the audience in terms of their background and associations.
On the whole however the profitability and the opportunities present for the sporting industry grew exponentially through the broadcasting medium provided by the ESPN network.This helped change the environment and bring more liberation for women in the field of sports as well. They started to participate in the sporting events and specific championships, on a global as well as on the regional and national basis were organized for the, this helped the sporting world identify a new target market and audience for the industry. Initially however the influence and the participation of females in the sporting industry was outright rejected by the predominantly male spectators and sportsmen,.However, by displaying their skills through the medium of television and broadcasting the female population I the sporting industry also started to make a niche for itself.
In the world of today however sports is considered synonymous with ESPN. ESPN has become the global source of information and entertainment provider for all sporting events around d the world. The ESPN network has now also penetrated into the virtual world of internet and has increased the opportunities available for the sporting industry as well as the sports enthusiasts.Moreover as a result of the public communication and interaction medium provided by ESPN, many new sports and games have been identifies.
This has lead to diversification and globalization of the sports industry making it a multi billion dollar market for investors as well as for those participating in it. Through research and analysis of information pertain to ESPN and its growth as well as the changes that have taken place in the sporting industry, I have been able to identify that ESPN has been apple to greatly influence the sporting world by making it a universal entity.The increased amount of communication place between the industry and the audience has made the sporting industry more popular. Aside form the sponsorship and affiliation efforts that have been made possible through the promotion on the ESPN medium has enabled the sporting industry around the world to be more profitable. There have also been increased opportunities for the people interested in sports to pursue formal career as sport athletes.The increased scope of the ESPN network has been able to make the sporting industry which was operating previously on a regional and national basis to become more integrated and organize sporting events in an international and global scale.
This has increased the audience and the participating sportsmen for the events to be global and multicultural in nature as well. The changing dynamics of the industry and the evolution of the sporting world have made the sporting industries around the world to be more lucrative and profitable for all those involved.
