ESPN has long ruled the kingdom of sports news. Ever since the network launched at the end of the disco era in 1979, it has been a staple in every dentist waiting room and hotel lobby and the main part of middle school boys’ afternoons everywhere. ESPN and its 12 sister channels — yes there are a baker’s dozen of ESPNs — and online presence have dominated the world of live sports news the same way CNN dominates in live speculation of events they actually know nothing about.
Sure, Fox Sports exists, and so does NBC Sports, but nothing compares to the original ESPN and the genius of Sports Center, which is literally guys talking about sports. What else could you want? No one needs long documentaries about players’ personal lives or docudramas about how hard it is to play baseball in the sun in the summer. Not that those types of programming aren’t important, but ESPN appeals to the lowest common denominator of all fans, whether die-hard or faking it just around playoff time.
But just like Daenerys Targaryen threatens King’s Landing all the way from Essos (wow, I’m cool), ESPN, too, has a threat looming. Not in the world of cable, but in the form of an app.
Via: applenapps.com
A game changer (all pun intended), 120 Sports is a new app and website that takes Sports Center’s formula of guys sitting and talking about sports and gives it the 2.0 upgrade to fit the way we actually get our news and entertainment. The app comes from Time, Inc. (Sports Illustrated) and has partnerships with the NCAA, NBA, NHL, MLB and PGA Tour, so it’s legit.
The name “120 Sports” comes from the whole premise of the app. News stories are presented not as written articles, but in two-minute (120 seconds in most cultures) video clips in the guys-sitting-around format, and it’s genius.
You can scroll through to find the video you want to watch and get insight on whatever you’re interested in without having to sit through an hour of golf analysis when all you’re looking for is NBA contract gossip. Each video is accompanied by related articles, photos and tweets. Videos are uploaded constantly, all day and everyday, at 6 p.m. EST. You can stream over eight hours of original live sports coverage and analysis.
Via: Chicago Tribune
All of the programming is available exclusively on 120 Sports and is not available on TV. Although this small-video format seems totally natural for sports coverage, it has the potential to completely change all news and talk programs.
It’s very obvious 120 is targeted toward men, but the format would translate seamlessly to a female-centered entertainment news app, providing the same news, gossip, analysis and shit-talking E! airs in two-minute clips and a large block of live programming.
The CNN app allows you to watch accompanying videos to stories, but these are videos produced for TV, not a mobile device, and they offer no more insight than the written article. Imagine a news network created exclusively for mobile devices with written articles and accompanying videos that include interviews, exclusive footage, expert analysis and whatever filler the 24 hour news networks employ, but strategically assigned to stories so it actually allows the reader to learn a bit more about the story.
Chelsea Handler and Netflix recently signed a deal for a late-night style talk show after she leaves “Chelsea Lately.” Perhaps this is the opportunity to take the late-night format to all hours of the day. Chelsea could upload monologues, interviews, comedy bits or even individual jokes, all of varying lengths, as separate videos all day long as she comes up with them, or she could stick to a new schedule (monologue at 2 p.m., sketch at 4 p.m., interview at 5 p.m., another sketch at 11 p.m.). The possibilities are endless.
120 Sports is not just an app — it’s an opportunity for absolute innovation in how we receive news and entertainment. It’s instantaneous, it’s social, it’s free and it’s the future.
Featured photo courtesy of: trbimg.com
