The hope is to double its viewing audience in an effort to drive traffic, which is good for its own ability to maintain dominance over the sports market. It's good for brands and marketers as well, not to mention ESPN's own branding potential, which is becoming more and more prominent in the online space, thanks to all of ESPN's recent initiatives. From citizen journalism to coverage of video games, ESPN's methods of engaging users currently has a distinct focus on the college crowd, and with that comes an emphasis on technology.
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Can ESPN's leadership on Internet distribution lead to a larger shift for the industry, and more importantly, should the cable companies and content owners apply the same methods to Internet distribution as they used for cable? I think a lot of that depends on the way in which our devices evolve.