ESPN has hired and extended its content strategy significantly with the hiring of Katie Feeney. As a recent Penn State graduate with 14 million followers across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, she’s just getting warmed up on those new golden opportunities. Feeney’s role will focus on producing sports and lifestyle content for ESPN’s main broadcasts and digital channels, aiming to capture a younger audience.
The announcement comes on the heels of ESPN’s evolving approach to sports coverage, which they describe as “a blend of on-site access, fashion, and culture,” as stated in their press release. The change is designed to draw in a younger, more diverse audience, but still adhere to sports journalism 101 principles.
ESPN has also joined with Feeney. They’ve added new digital commentators, including Omar Raja, founder of House of Highlights and a towering figure in the sports influencer economy. Raja’s youth culture-adjacent perspective is a welcome fit for ESPN’s ambition to incorporate popular online culture straight into their programming. He remarked on fan loyalty by stating,
“My hot take is that if your favorite teams aren’t all from the same city, you’re not a real fan.”
This feeling goes to the heart of the new way ESPN is trying to connect with its viewers.
ESPN’s new creator program is now in its third cycle. It provides a deeply transformational, year-long fellowship to civic-minded, socially conscious young creatives and influencers like Feeney and Raja. The centerpiece of the initiative is to develop a multi-platform talent pipeline that combines in-depth sports reporting with entertainment. The program signals ESPN’s commitment to nurturing a new generation of content creators who can bring innovative ideas to the network.
In other words, even with these changes ESPN is still very much walking that tightrope of being both a broadcaster and a journalistic outlet. Those who earn their salaries on the dollar-sucking network shield pro sports while its own resident reporters enforce relentless watchdog coverage of those same spectacles. This dual function begs some seriously important questions about where the line is between entertainment and the integrity of journalism. As numerous critics and friends of the world’s leading sports network can attest, ESPN is forgoing traditional journalism methods in favor of a new post-journalistic reality.
This expectation of a highly-curated, high-value content experience permeates recent content offerings from ESPN, evident in…The network’s current programming is a hodgepodge of player access, highlight reels, fan experiences, and TikTok trends. This strange mixed-up batch is generally referred to as “squirts of memebrain swill. Critics further suggest that pursuing this change leads media organizations to prioritize entertainment value over evident reporting, threatening the core values of sports journalism.
ESPN Lightning is firing new talent and creating a culture of innovation! They just inked their own $100 million, five-year deal with Stephen A. Smith! This deal allows Smith to double down on his already high volume and inflammatory tone. It further solidifies his personal role in shaping the larger strategy ESPN’s programming team is undertaking.
Additionally, the network has gained ownership of “Inside the NBA” from TNT, further beefing up its stable of basketball coverage. In a significant partnership move, ESPN has reached an agreement with the NFL that grants the league a 10% equity stake in the network. In exchange, ESPN would receive rights to the NFL Network and its widely-acclaimed RedZone channel.
That’s why ESPN, a leader in the connected TV space, has been making major investments, including in talent and strategic partnerships. This strategy is focused on maintaining its place in the rapidly-changing sports broadcasting landscape. The future of sports media is going to be more colorful, more fun, more culture, less sports. This profound turn is ably encapsulated by the network’s exhilarating new tagline, “Sports Most Fowl Ever.”