ESPN is a popular broadcasting show that millions across the world watch and tune in into their favorite sports teams. But recently, ESPN has been focusing on fitting in with the generation to promote their company. EPSN has always used social media to promote their business, but recently fans have noticed a sudden uprise in their videos during 2024-25 featuring memes, highlight clips, and soundbites. Fans suspect that ESPN is trying to be more into the generation to persuade more younger fans to watch or binge into their program, or they will lose a whole generation.
Many companies are using the strategy to make their company more millennial to bring in younger fans, and EPSN is a perfect example. Also, they are using younger broadcasters like Katie Feeney to bring a more millennial outlook on the company. Younger fans consume information using short, simple videos, and ESPN used that info to make videos for younger fans. But recently they have been posting off topic videos about celebrities and not what people want to see, which is sports highlights.
The main reason ESPN is getting a lot of attention and growth is their attention to including everyone. They consist of Spanish, English, College Sports, and many more varieties of sports. It’s a perfect way for everyone to tune in, however some fans aren’t pleased with the transition of the “niche” style.
Recently, ESPN has been posting upcoming celebrities on their TikTok account and their opinions on different sports views, instead of highlights or sports news. For example, LeBron James’s appearance on famous streamer Kai Cenat’s stream sparked many heads on why ESPN was posting it. ESPN sees the love LeBron gets and posts him as much as they can from the infamous LeBron meme.
“With this in mind, ESPN is trying to create content through the lens of storytelling centered around individual athletes and their unique stories, much to the delight of younger audiences” (ksl.com). This shows ESPN uses its viewers’ liking and makes short simple videos to their liking. Although this marketing strategy may seem beneficial for some, other fans might disagree because of the neglect of older fans. Some say ESPN is starting to forget about older fans since they are so focused on the new generation, they forgot about the other side of the fan base.
TikToks are simple ways where viewers can watch short, simple videos that are entertaining or factual, and many ESPNS fans would like to watch quick videos that hold a lot of info. However, ESPN uses its videos for unneeded pop culture videos that are only for younger viewers.
I have recently seen many ESPN videos on TikTok that don’t relate to the sports ideas they usually post. Although ESPN is smart to try and get newer fans to support them, they also must balance that with pleasing their older fans. Not everyone wants to watch celebrities talk about sports. I also don’t approve of the way ESPN is focusing on social media rather than actual sports investigations just because we are in a generation with social media doesn’t make it right to only focus on that. Leave a nice balance between the two to make everyone pleased.
