For the largest global sporting event, ESPN created arguably the largest global content offering yet. Thirty two countries from around the globe will vie for the most prestigious sporting award, the FIFA World Cup — and ESPN is there to give fans of every stripe, the most up-to-date coverage, analysis and ways to interact with FIFA and its global audience. Certainly, ESPN is setting an almost impossibly high bar on how network event coverage will be measured in the future.
The international sports network provides rich and engaging content on nearly all mainstream platforms — giving users almost unlimited access on platforms they’re already using. ESPN’s complete coverage ensures all fans can full immerse themselves in FIFA, anytime, anywhere. If you’re away from your computer and want to get live stat updates, check out ESPN’s iPhone app, or if you’re at your computer and want to see what your friends are saying about the game or want to paint your face in your team colors, check out ESPN’s Facebook page, or, watch live coverage and add your own commentary at ESPN3.com. Regardless of where you get our FIFA fix, ESPN has you covered.
Mobile: Anytime, Anywhere
World Cup match times can be inconvenient for those not in the African timezone. That’s where mobile comes in. On your way to work, in a meeting, at lunch, or any other time you might be away from your computer or TV screen, ESPN has you covered. In fact, ESPN’s mobile app is incredibly comprehensive and offers premium features for die-hard footballers.
In the iPhone app store, the ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup app offers live streaming (on select phones and providers), live scores, tournament stats and tables, news and analysis from ESPN and ESPN soccernet, profiles of all 32 teams with map-enabled features, FIFA’s team rankings, group news and profiles and a fantasy bracket predictor where users can test and choose next year’s World Cup champions. And that’s all for free.
Within the app, users can purchase premium features for $7.99. Premium content includes live ESPN radio streams of all 64 matches, near real-time video with analysis, customizable news alerts, live play-by-play analysis, detailed stats and field visualizations of every game. For die-hard footballers, the enhanced features are well worth the $7.99.
Social Networking: Setting an Impossibly High Bar on Facebook
ESPN’s content-rich Facebook apps are a confluence of news, information, friend and fan networks, multimedia games and personalized FIFA badges. ESPN’s Facebook page illustrates best-practices on how brands communicate, engage and entertain Facebook users. The page has an astounding 360,000 fans with approximately three hundred comments per update and an upwards of 1,300 “likes.” The wall is only the first quarter of the game. The GameFace, Team Selector and Matches apps enable passionate fans to immerse themselves in ESPN’s World Cup culture:
GameFace enables fans to paint favorite team colors over profile images; Team Selector allows users to choose teams to follow and delivers up-to-date news and commentary from the World Cup (complete with professional video that can be re-posted to fan walls); and Matches gives users the chance to view upcoming games and friends in their network that are going to watch it.
Website: Live from ESPN3
The FIFA World Cup will have more live coverage than any sporting event ever, writes AP. ESPN brings nearly all of that live coverage from your TV to your computer screen. ESPN3.com, formerly ESPN 360, is broadcasting 54 of the 64 games live and free. The other 10 will air live on ABC. Despite lack of 10 games, ESPN expects worldwide online traffic for the World Cup to double or triple that of 2006.
Outside the live video player, users have access to incredible amounts of information. Users get up-to-date stats of teams, players and matches; live chat in 140 characters or less (thank you Twitter); a bracket game called Pick’Em and an ESPN World Cup shop. With these features you can rally for your team, give your own play-by-play commentary, choose your favorite teams in the Pick’Em game and even buy a soccer ball similar to the one on the field.
ESPN has blown how we traditionally view network coverage out of the water. Comparing the digital experiences of the 2010 World Cup to the 2006 World Cup, Josh Kosner, senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Digital Media, said, “Things have changed utterly.”
“This is going to be the biggest and most powerful demonstration of this, and it’s just the start,” Kosner said. “It’s the play book, it’s the blueprint for what’s coming.”
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How could the ABC announcers for the RSA-Mexico game complain about the offsides call on the called-back Mexico goal — don’t they know that TWO defensive players must be between the offensive player and the goal?
I think ESPN have done a great job.