Disney CEO says that ESPN’s new streaming app will incorporate fantasy and betting

Disney is all in on ESPN as a streaming destination

By Joe Allen Published February 5, 2025

ESPN

The streaming landscape has been around for more than a decade, but the world of sports streaming is still emerging. In a recent earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the company has a plan to win the war for sports fan’s attention through ESPN.

Iger said that he wants to make ESPN available “however the consumer wants it, wherever the consumer wants it.” The Disney head said that the plan to get ESPN in front of consumers involves giving them multiple ways to watch the app, whether it be as part of a cable package, on a standalone app that’s set to launch later this year, or as part of streaming bundles that are being built out by Disney’s rivals.

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Iger added that he’s planning to take advantage of the sports bundles, in particular, as a way to get eyes on ESPN. “We plan to take advantage of the emergence of these bundles, because it is a great way to distribute ESPN,” Iger explained.

In describing the new ESPN app that’s set to launch later this year, Iger said that the app would have a high degree of customization, and also that it would offer “some form of betting and fantasy,” although he was vague on the details.

“It’s pretty clear that young viewers, or young consumers, are leaning more and more into streaming experiences, both fixed televisions on walls and mobile devices,” Iger said. “The more ESPN can be present for a new generation of consumers with a product that serves them really well, the better off ESPN businesses. So flagship [the standalone ESPN app] is not really designed to preserve a business. It’s designed to grow a business in a market that’s evolving or changing right before our eyes.”

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Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…

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