After a significant cord-cutting period that saw it lose customers and effect it’s overall content strategy, ESPN has made an aggressive play to help distribute their non-televised content.
Via press release yesterday, the World Wide Leader has announced it has bought a 33% stake in Major League Baseball’s technology arm with hopes of ramping up its streaming distribution nationally.
"“Our investment in BAMTech gives us the technology infrastructure we need to quickly scale and monetize our streaming capabilities at ESPN and across our company,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “We look forward to working closely with BAMTech as we explore new ways to deliver the unmatched content of The Walt Disney Company across a variety of platforms.”"
BAMTech, which before the transaction had been part of MLB Advanced Media, has been in front of the digital streaming trend for years and that has helped the company’s valuation reportedly climb over the $3 billion dollar threshold. Buying a 1/3 stake will cost ESPN a reported $1 billion.
This has been the year of bets on streaming. Earlier this year, Yahoo launched a beta in partnership with the NFL to live stream a game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills. The effort was well-received as the bid for the content for 2016-17 was won by Twitter, who also agreed to a deal with the NBA in July to create content around games, first reported by The Outside Game.
ESPN3, ESPN’s current live streaming platform, has tried to cut its teeth with regional, televised content for diehard fans of smaller college teams and sports. It will be interesting to see if that content can be monetized, especially considering the number of other applications making huge strides in engagement and popularity like SnapChat and Facebook Live. While content is king, distribution is what drives it and ESPN is hoping BAMTech can deliver the necessary numbers.