While ESPN garnered considerable buzz for announcing the creation of a new 3D television network later this year, the company's broadband video service is gearing up for a big six months.
Executives at ESPN360.com are hopeful that the ramp-up to the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament followed by the FIFA World Cup in June will help continue a growth trend for the service.
In the next few months, ESPN360.com expects to see heavy usage because of major events that take place during the day, when fans are able to use high-speed Internet connections at the office to watch games. Many World Cup games are expected to take place in the early afternoon to most Americans, while much of the conference championship action for college basketball also takes place during the day.
"It's the displaced fan aspect that really makes ESPN360 shine," ESPN360com Vice President Damon Phillips said. "We have a very good lineup of events coming up....most of these events take place during the workday, so if you don't have a computer at your office, ESPN360 really becomes your way to watch games. "
About 60 percent of ESPN360.com's content is exclusive to the service and not available on television. However, most of the upcoming college basketball and World Cup games will be simulcast from broadcasts on ESPN or ESPN2.
ESPN360.com is available to subscribers of many high-speed Internet providers, and has boosted its distribution in the past year from 24 million to 50 million homes, thanks to new deals with Comcast, Cox, Charter and several other companies. Meanwhile, the number of viewing hours has outpaced the growth in distribution, Phillips said He declined to discuss per-game viewership numbers, but said there were 7.2 million hours consumed during college football season, a 265 percent rise over 2008. He also said there has been strong response for international cricket and five-fold increase in viewership of the Australian Open tennis tournament over last year.
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