ESPN needs to keep an eye on Yahoo!
by Paragon SC on Aug 2, 2011 6:00 PM PDT
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PrintI am not thrilled to link to him but Clay Travis makes some interesting observations on Yahoo!'s meteoric rise...
With yesterday's announcement that Yahoo is rebranding Sporting News radio and taking it over as its own radio network, YahooSportsRadio, which will now be the third largest sports radio network in the country, it suddenly hit me: Yahoo Sports is ESPN's biggest rival in the world of sports media.
Taking over the radio station is a brilliant move that comes on the heels of seven other equally brilliant moves that have combined to position Yahoo Sports as the true rival of ESPN for the second decade of the 21st century.
Don't believe me? Let's dive in and I'll tell you how Yahoo did it.
First, some details on why I believe Yahoo is the rival of ESPN. Yahoo Sports attracts more unique visitors every month than ESPN.com does. How many is Yahoo bringing in? Try 45 million uniques a month. That's an insane number.
The sports battlefield of the future is not going to be fought on television screens, it's going to be fought based on website eyeballs melding with television devices into a conglomeration of the two. I'm going to write later in the week about why I think ESPN's competitive dominance will die in the coming next two decades, but for now just know that website readership, I believe, is a more important metric than television numbers. Now let me just sketch out the moves that occurred to make Yahoo Sports the primary rival to ESPN by the start of 2010.
1. Yahoo dominated fantasy sports.
No Internet site better understood the coming dominance of fantasy sports.
I could write -- and would love to -- an entire article on the brilliance of Yahoo Sports hitching its ride to the dominant sports addition of the era, fantasy sports. It was the first time any company really stole a march on ESPN. Anyone who played fantasy sports prior to Yahoo -- and I was one of them -- remembers struggling to tally up the scores week after week. It was mindboggling, boring, and riddled with errors.
I still remember the nirvana like moment in 1999 when I discovered Yahoo Sports fantasy site. There was nothing else that could match it and there still isn't.
I've played for 12 consecutive years with their products and they absolutely own this market. Since that time they've been the best at employing experts, integrating content, assuring ease of use and maintaining their status as the go-to destination for fantasy on the Internet.
This was step one on Yahoo's rise.
Yahoo! got in through the back door.
As Travis goes on to detail the next big move was to hire Dan Wetzel.
Wetzel has broken some stories, written controversial pieces and even got thrown off of the Reggie Bush story because he blurred the lines of journalistic ethics.
Still, even with all of that, Wetzel and fellow writers kept everyone's attention.
Yahoo! doesn't have the same millstone around their neck that ESPN does. ESPN needs their business partners to keep putting a solid product on the field. If ESPN had the same sort of investigative arm that Yahoo! does...that takes no one hostage, ESPN would have some very upset business partners.
You need to look no further than the the Cam Newton mess. Yes, Schlabach and friends broke one aspect of the story but for the most part Yahoo! has been in front of of the story....eating ESPN's lunch
Now, I am not saying that ESPN is journalistcally incompetent, but it can't be a comfortable for them to break a story that could nail one of their big names, thus hurting their product.
ESPN pick and chooses their battles...see one Bruce Feldman.
Color me crazy, but this sort of suicide from within is the start of the down fall.
Anyway, I thought Travis' article was thought provoking and a nice respite of his constant Lane Kiffin bashing.
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If you won't say it, I will
ESPN is journalistically incompetent. They are an entertainment network owned by an entertainment conglomerate run to sell the products of their business associates. There is no serious regard for journalism at the network, and anyone who believes ESPN has journalistic integrity needs to talk to me about a bridge in Brooklyn I’ve got for sale.
I know it’s tangential to the point you’re making here, but as you started to touch on, what would ESPN do if they did some digging that might affect their business partners? Well, the University of Texas is now officially a business partner of ESPN, with the forming of the Longhorn network. If you expect any level of reasonable, fair or unbiased “reporting” about Texas, the Big XII (10), or really any major college athletics, then perhaps you also turn to Fox News for political coverage.
The level of conflicting interests and business partnerships between ESPN and sports in general makes it impossible to take them seriously as any sort of journalistic entity with integrity. As long as people realize exactly what they are – a media and entertainment conglomerate designed to promote the interests of their parent company and their business partners – then you can more accurately assess their place in the sports world. Unfortunately, their marketing department has so strongly ingratiated the name ESPN into the minds of the general public to be synonymous with everything sports related, people just make the assumption that their “sports reporting” is genuine as well.
As long as you understand the bias of the source, then you can better process it and determine its value. The problem is ESPN is often viewed as a “pure” source of sports “news,” while this couldn’t be further from the truth.
In any event, Yahoo! isn’t without their own biases and problems as well, but being able to identify and understand them is the key.
Yahoo! is a brand that constantly keeps it's eye on the prize
The principals at Yahoo! are very, very intelligent- savvy, and modern. They will forever refuse to yield any ground regarding their many endeavors into recruiting new subscribers to it’s content. And that includes this new radio absorption.
Right On! FightOn09. I mirror your exact sentiments on both the ESPN & Fox News commentary. (good one)
And Clay Travis. He’s been hilarious lately. I’ve especially enjoyed his remarks on the new Vol A.D.-hire. He’s been self-deprecating in his fanaticism regarding the U. of Tenn. and he seems to have softened his stance Lane- in other words, he’s been blaming the UT hire-ups for being complicit in the way they handled Coach Kiffin. He still doesn’t like the man, that much remains the same. But, it seems he now realizes that Lane isn’t the Devil and that UT fans have to look in the mirror. (i’ll not say he’s ‘refreshing’, but i’ll say he’s tolerable- for now)
I agree with both of you guys BUT
Thank God for Fox to balance out CBS, NBC, ABC, CRNT, MSNBC, CNBC, The New York Times, etc. etc. etc. There are about 50% of the population on the other side.:)
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again
-R. Zimmerman
Fox doesn't balance anyone out.
Thats what like to say, but they are pretty much a world into itself.
Back to ESPN vs. Yahoo! The milestone around ESPN’s neck is that they have gone “all-in” with making ESPN the subject and the story. And it’s starting to back fire. Last year’s stupid ESPY’s had their lowest ratings ever.
Deadspin just did a post about how an ESPN.com reporter wrote a story about how ESPN plans to cover a Heisman trophy candidate whose school purchased billboard time just across the street from ESPN’s campus promoting said candidate.
Like many over-educated nerds, I do enjoy, from time-to-time, my post-modern irony. However, that ESPN covering ESPN storney was a little to meta for even me.
Besides, I have found myself going to Yahoo more and ESPN less and less. As Paragon points out, Yahoo! seems much less restrained by their business partners and interests.
That's your opinion.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again
-R. Zimmerman
Well yes I can see what you are writting about Para and it will probably happen.
I have really never liked ESPN (to much eastern sports crap) when Fox was still going after the market 96—2006 I thought we would have a good rep for the west coast, but after the dodger pitcher and hot reporter stunt they seemed to stop expanding and now they have closed up almost everything (sports grills, sports shows and 12 hr of reporting—never got to the 24hr) Espn is still the only dog in the race. I get the Yahoo thing but they have no TV coverage and when they start how will they fit in, computer geeks never do well in communicating in public.
Who--What--Slim Shady----the ncaa is after all the BS they are lying out----and just remember they will rewrite history every seven years after the fact. Tennesse will get off with nothing on the violations, but that really doesn't matter they suck anyway.
by so.cal.native1952 on Aug 3, 2011 7:28 PM PDT reply actions
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