This is an assignment Davin Runnerstrom completed for his Project and Portfolio II course on December 18, 2021.

1. Page 1
A Market Analysis for
ESPN+
Davin Runnerstrom
Full Sail University
Project & Portfolio II: Business and Marketing
12/18/21

2. Page 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This is a market analysis report for ESPN+, a sports streaming service owned by the Walt
Disney Company. The report contains an overview of the company and provides financial
information for ESPN+’s parent company, The Walt Disney Company, for the 2021 fiscal year.
The report includes recommendations on how ESPN+ can continue to be the number one sports
streaming service while increasing the number of subscribers and generating more revenue.

3. Page 3
OBJECTIVE
What products/services could ESPN+ add to make their streaming service more profitable?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The information used in this report is both qualitative and quantitative in nature and from
external and secondary sources on the internet and online databases. It was compiled during the
month of December 2021.
RESEARCH AND KEY FINDINGS
ESPN+ is a sports streaming service available in the United States. It is co-owned by the
Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). ESPN+ live streams sports
Photo: 1 Watch Live Sports with ESPN+

4. Page 4
such as soccer, boxing, tennis, college football and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
ESPN+ also provides access to exclusive articles and documentaries. The streaming service
currently has 17.1 million paid subscribers which is a year to year rise of 66% (Dixon, 2021).
With a 66 percent rise in subscribers in 2021, ESPN+ subscribers should continue to grow in the
years to come especially if it becomes available in other countries.
ESPN+’s parent company, the Walt Disney Company, is financially stable having a net
income of $1,995,000 in 2021 and a net profit margin of 2.96% (Yahoo Finance, 2021). Its stock
is currently trading for $148.76. Disney’s market index increased 47.2% over the past five years
compared to NASDAQ’s 194.96%.
ESPN+’s target market is men and women, households with children, and college
students located in the United States who like family friendly movies/content, sports, live TV
and are looking to replace cable TV with a cheaper streaming service.
ESPN+ is currently offered by itself as a monthly or annual subscription and as part of
the Disney Bundle with Hulu live TV. The bundle includes Hulu with live TV (with or without
ads), Disney+ and ESPN+. The Disney Bundle costs $72.99/month with ads and $78.99/month
for the ad free version. ESPN+ is set to join Hulu live TV and Disney+ in a new TV subscription
on December 21, 2021 (Chan, 2021). Everyone who has a Hulu live TV subscription will also
get Disney+ and ESPN+. The new bundle will cost $69.99 per month for the ad supported
version and $75.99 per month for the ad-free version.

5. Page 5
While Disney+ is available in 64 countries ESPN+ is only available in the United States
which prohibits sports fans from other countries from using the streaming service. ESPN+’s
competitor FuboTV is already available in the United States, Canada and Spain and will see a
rise in subscribers if ESPN+ does not become available internationally. If ESPN+ were to
become available internationally they would see an increase in subscribers as international sports
fans are becoming increasingly interested in American sports such as National Football League
football and soccer.
Disney, ESPN+’s
parent company, is currently
in discussions and
negotiations with the NFL
for the rights to their
product NFL Sunday Ticket
(Florio, 2021). The NFL
Sunday Ticket has been
with DirecTV for the last
several years and would be a significant add to ESPN+ if it were to be added to the streaming
service since it had 2 million subscribers in 2021 (Front Office Sports, 2021). ESPN+ does have
competition for the NFL Sunday Ticket in Apple, Amazon, and DirecTV. If ESPN+ hopes to
continue to lead all sports streaming services, it needs to add NFL football to its services.
Photo: 2 San Francisco 49ers versus NY Jets

6. Page 6
CONCLUSIONS
ESPN+ has continued to lead the sports streaming market by adding shows like, Man in
the Arena and Peyton’s Places, to the streaming service along with exclusive documentaries and
articles. But if they want to see an increase in subscribers, they need to become available
internationally. International sports fans currently have to use a virtual private network (VPN) to
use ESPN+. They also need to add NFL football to their streaming service as it is not a service
they currently provide. With international sports fans becoming more interested in the NFL,
adding this product to their service would increase revenue and the interest in ESPN+.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the research, I
recommend ESPN+ make their
streaming service available
internationally by January 2023 so
they can provide international sports
fans with an on the go sports streaming
service and increase subscribers. If
ESPN+ does not make it’s streaming
service available in other countries it
could lose a lot of international sports
fans to its competitor FuboTV, which
currently offers its streaming service in the United States, Canada, and Spain. International sports
fans are huge fans of soccer, a sport ESPN+ currently airs live games of, and are becoming more
Photo: 3 Sports Fans Singing

7. Page 7
interested in the NFL. By making ESPN+ available internationally a larger audience will be
brought to the streaming service and an increase in revenue will be generated.
I also recommend ESPN+ add NFL football games as a product on its streaming service.
The NFL Sunday Ticket had 2 million subscribers in 2021. With the large audience the NFL has
and its growing interest internationally ESPN+ could see a huge increase in subscribers if it
obtained the rights to the NFL’s Sunday Ticket or if it streamed local/primetime games on it
streaming service.

8. Page 8
REFERENCES
Dixon, E. (2021, November 11). ESPN+ passes 17.1m subs as Disney streaming service revenue
hits US$16.3bn for 2021. Sports Pro Media. https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/espn-
plus-streaming-subscribers-disney-q4-2021-financial-results/
Clara Chan, J. (November 19, 2021). Hulu to raise price of live TV subscription, add Disney+
and ESPN+. The Hollywood Reporter.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/hulu-live-tv-subscription-price-
disney-plus-espn-plus-1235050575/
Florio, Mike. (2021, November 11). Disney CEO says company is in discussions for NFL Sunday
Ticket. NBC Sports. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/11/11/disney-ceo-says-
company-is-in-discussions-for-nfl-sunday-ticket/
Front Office Sports. (2021, September 10). Amazon leading in talks for NFL’s “Sunday Ticket”.
Front Office Sports. https://frontofficesports.com/newsletter/fos-pm-amazon-pursuing-
nfls-sunday-ticket/
Yahoo! (2021, December 19). The Walt Disney Company (DIS) stock price, news, Quote &
History. Yahoo! Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DIS?p=DIS&.tsrc=fin-srch
Lee, F. (2021, February 7). San Francisco 49ers versus NY Jets [Photograph].
https://unsplash.com/photos/-0KtPR9DfpA
Daily, T. (2021, March 17). Stream live sports with ESPN Plus Via techdaily.ca [Photograph].
https://unsplash.com/photos/L0XCVroMsQg
Santos, Elio. (2019, June 3). Sports fans singing [Photograph].
https://unsplash.com/photos/kEL2_9L9QXM

9. Page 9