ESPN App • December 2023

Satisfying the Need for Sports Betting Content on the ESPN App

CONTEXT

How is the ESPN App setting itself up for success in the age of online sports betting?

ESPN has always prided itself on being the worldwide leader in sports. While that has been the case for over four decades, recently the explosive growth of sports betting has thrown the sports media leader for a loop.

In response to the growing demand for sports betting, ESPN recently rolled out the ESPN BET App to compete directly with the likes of FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM.

For this case, I wanted to understand how the original ESPN App could….

  • Address the growing demand for sports betting

  • Create synergies to enhance the appeal of the ESPN BET App

Note the primary focus of this case study will be about how the ESPN App can be improved. I mention the ESPN BET App periodically to address the potential synergies between the two platforms.

ESPN App

ESPN BET App

If the ESPN App could provide more features friendly to sports betters, then they would see a spike in DAUs.

ORIGINAL HYPOTHESIS

PRODUCT DISCOVERY INSIGHTS

Over 75 critical comments about the ESPN App were posted on the subreddit page r/sportsbook. Based of these comments, the main complaints of the app are as follows….

Analyzing Subreddit Comments

Lack of Features: Users feel the app lacks certain features that other sports apps offer, such as live odds, detailed betting information, and comprehensive score tracking.

User Interface: The user interface is less friendly compared to other sports apps, making it difficult to locate the necessary information to make an informed bet.

Advertising Complaints: Banner ads are disruptive in the user flow and the sensitivity of the app to accidental clicks, leading to redirection to the App Store/Google Play.

Current Product Layout

Disruptive banner ads

Limited matchup information

Sparse betting information

Sports Betting screen has generic articles with limited stats

The Market

What are the other sports news apps doing?

theScore

theScore has implemented a beautiful user interface that breaks down the key stats of every matchup. The app makes it easy to compare teams in its side-by-side format as shown in the far right screenshot.

Yahoo Sports

Yahoo Sports also provides side-by-side comparisons of each team by stat line.

There is also a promoted mini section sponsored by Yahoo Sportsbook and BetMGM, highlighting key information for sports betters.

CBS Sports

Another example of providing side by side stats for each team. CBS Sports even includes more advanced sporting metrics on its home matchup screen including the Spread, Moneyline, and Total Over/Under.

  • These apps provide easy to view side-by-side team statistics

  • There is additional content relevant to sports betters

  • The user interface is cleaner and more intuitive relative to the ESPN App

Competitor Takeaways

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

Rapid Industry Growth

Research shows the global sports betting market is set to almost triple in the next 20 years.

Demographics

Market research shows that the majority of sports betters are white men.

Income varies, but almost half make over $100k in salary.

70% of betters are less than 55 years old.

Customer Persona

Demographic Information

  • Name: Jeff

  • Gender: Male

  • Age: 32

  • Location: Boston, MA

  • Income: $140k

  • Pain points: finding important sports stats for betting

  • Motivations: win money, enhance entertainment value

  • Persona: educated postgrad frat bro

  • Job type: finance, sales, technology

Use Cases of ESPN App

  • Stay up to date with the day’s biggest sports headlines

  • Check live scores

  • View upcoming games and league standings

  • Watch expert reactions and hot takes on the biggest stories

  • Obtain advanced statistics to make informed sports bets

Social Sports Fanatic

How does a sports better on the ESPN App find game information to make an informed bet?

USER JOURNEY

BIG TAKEAWAYS

BIG TAKEAWAYS

From this research, we can conclude a few things:

  • The sports betting industry is expanding rapidly and has a strong outlook in the coming years

  • The primary target audience consists of affluent young white men

  • Other sports news apps recognize the importance of providing organized sports data that is useful for sports betters

THE PROBLEM

The ESPN App does not provide enough advanced statistics in an organized manner for users to make informed betting decisions. 

Provide sports statistics in an efficient and organized manner that sports betters will use to make informed betting decisions.

THE GOAL

Implementing these changes will increase DAUs.

What should be included in the MVP?

MVP DEFINITION

The MVP should include the necessary information for sports betters to feel confident in their picks.

  • There should be a section of the app where users can access the information needed to make an informed gambling decision.

  • With endless sports statistics available, it’s critical the most important statistics are featured front and center to avoid information overload.

  • When making a judgment call, users need to be able to view the same statistics for each team.

User Stories

A major decision is deciding what statistics to include in the MVP. It’s critical only the most useful sports statistics needed to make an informed bet should be displayed.

When deciding what statistics to include, I took into account a variety of existing sports statistics to compare against. The table on the right displays the attractiveness of each statistic based on its usefulness for sports betters, the amount of sports overlap a single stat has across different sports, and the amount of effort needed to roll out the statistic from a development perspective.

To calculate the attractiveness of each statistic, I used the following equation:

Total = (Usefulness * Sports Overlap) / Effort

FEATURE PRIORITIZATION


Among all the statistics included, the ones highlighted in green are the ones to be included in the MVP. These statistics had total attractiveness scores greater than 4 points. The statistics that scored 4 points or less did not provide enough usefulness for sports betters and/or were not relevant across enough different sports.

Extended Gamecast section with the most vital matchup stats for quick and easy side-by-side team comparisons

FINAL SOLUTION

Scroll down past the ESPN BET icon to access more matchup stats

Colored bubbles highlight which team has the edge in each statistical category for easy side-by-side team comparisons

Consoldiation of only the most important statistics betters need to make an informed pick

What risks would ESPN face by extending the Gamecast section?

RISKS & TRADEOFFS

Conflict of interests between news and gambling

  • The ESPN App is first and foremost a sports news source that broadcasts and reports on athletic events.

  • By emphasizing betting statistics, that can call into question the objectivity of ESPN as a reputable news source.

Cannibalization of the ESPN BET App

  • Betters who might have gone to the newly launched ESPN BET App could instead stick to the ESPN App.

  • There could be an overlap of features, which in turn could cannibalize the ESPN BET App which is seeking new users upon its recent release.

  • Potential mitigation strategy - the design of the newly proposed Gamecast section could serve as a promotion for the ESPN BET App. A deep link could be utilized to take users from the ESPN App directly to the App Store/Google Play to download the ESPN BET App.

Time & resources it’ll take to build, launch, and maintain the extended Gamecast section

  • Extending the Gamecast section to the UX adds another layer of complexity to maintaining the ESPN App. We have to ensure the new feature is delivering a positive user experience.

  • Committing to the extension the Gamecast section means fewer resources can be dedicated to adding other new app features.

MEASURING SUCCESS

A/B Test Metrics

NORTH STAR METRIC

ESPN App Daily Active Users

If we are solving for the pain point of limited and disorganized team statistics by extending the Gamecast section, we should see an increase in ESPN App Daily Active Users.

SECONDARY

These secondary metrics will help us determine the effectiveness of the new feature and potential areas for improvement.

Percentage of Users Who Scroll Down to the Extended Gamecast Section

  • What percentage of users scroll down and see the extended Gamecast section?

Average Amount of Time Spent on Section

  • What is the average amount of time a user spends looking at the new section?

  • How much time do users spend on the Gamecast section compared to before the new section was added?

Change in the Number of Bets Placed on the ESPN BET App

  • How many more bets are placed on the ESPN BET App compared to before the new Gamecast section was added?

Change in the Number of Views of Additional Team Information

  • How many more views are the pages of each individual team getting?

    • This includes full team schedules, individual player stats, news feed, league standings, etc.

COUNTER METRICS

Considering the extended Gamecast section will provide additional information for users, we want to ensure we’re not unintentionally hurting other core metrics. To monitor this, we will track:

Decreased Download Rate of ESPN BET App

  • Are users overly satisfied with the stats on the ESPN App and therefore not interested in downloading the ESPN BET App?

Decreased Video Watch Time

  • Are users spending less time watching ESPN commentator clips to spend more time analyzing matchup stats?

Decreased Rate of Tickets Purchased

  • Are users prioritizing time spent analyzing game stats instead of searching for game tickets through ESPN’s partnership with Vivid Seats?

Decrease of Advertising Views/Clicks

  • Due to the extension of sports content on the Gamecast screen, are fewer users scrolling to the very bottom where the advertisements are seen and clicked on?

A/B Test extended Gamecast section

LAUNCH & GTM STRATEGY

To ensure we are definitively increasing DAUs, we will be testing this feature. We will A/B test our MVP with a small group of existing users within our target user segment. 

Versions: 

  • Control: Current ESPN App users without access to the extended Gamecast section (Start at 90% of audience)

  • Variant: ESPN App users with access to the extended Gamecast section (Start at 10% of audience)

Primary Metric: % Daily Active Users of Test Cohort

We will be starting the A/B test variant at 10% of our target audience so that we can iterate without affecting the majority of users in this audience. 

If the results of the A/B test are positive (primary measure of success achieved and no negative side effects) we will roll out extended Gamecast section to all users in the United States. Eventually, we would roll out the MVP to all users internationally.

From there, we will begin improving the overall Gamecast experience by executing additional features on the roadmap.

Note: If our A/B test results are negative, we will investigate potential causes, iterate, and consider re-running the experiment.

  • Provide more advanced statistics for each specific sport (horse racing, NASCAR, cricket, etc.)

  • Extend Gamecast to have a reserved fantasy section - could be used to promote ESPN’s Fantasy Sports app

  • Odds makers - display the predicted final result and how it’s changed over time based on injury updates, change in the forecasted weather, etc.

  • Implement a live chat for users - Utilize AI to gather the sentiment of fans’ comments to generate a predicted game spread

  • Give users the ability to customize what stats appear in the extended Gamecast section

  • Add a forward button to let users forward the key stats from the Gamecast section to friends or to publish in chat forums (ex: Sportsbook Subreddit)

  • AI driven game power predictor - take into account all game stats to have a definitive game prediction on the final score, player stats, etc.

  • Activate the ESPN BET logo to take users to the App Store to download the app

What could be rolled out down the road?

FUTURE ITERATIONS

Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

SUMMARY

If ESPN wants to dominate the sports landscape, it’s critical they adapt with the times and provide more resources for avid sports betters.

History has shown no matter how dominant a company is within a particular sector, the inability to adapt and innovate could result in decreased relevancy. ESPN needs to assert itself not only as the worldwide leader in sports, but also the worldwide leader in sports betting.

As I learned with the competitor analysis, other sports news app have adapted with the times quicker than ESPN. This is the time for the ESPN App to build off what apps like theScore and Yahoo Sports have done and become the go-to option for sports betting information.

Thanks for reading!