ESPN's 'SportsCenter' Gets a Mobile App

Coors Light Ad on SportsCenter App. (AdAge)

According to AdAge, ESPN is giving its digital property, ScoreCenter, a major makeover. The face-lift includes a complete re-branding of the app, once dedicated to just sports score announcements, and a major push to incorporate rich content, video and customized news / stats about your favorite teams. ESPN is branding its app under its famous and popular SportsCenter franchise and the content will be based on SportsCenter's general attitude and tone. The app will incorporate "interstitial ads that will pop up as people swipe between sections" making it feel like a "commercial break" between SportsCenter segments, according to Ryan Spoon, senior VP-product development at ESPN Digital Media. I would have to disagree with Mr. Spoon, however. People consumer digital and mobile content in a completely different way than they do live television. Those commercial breaks during SportsCenter are used to refill one's beer and grab a few snacks. An ad on your phone, especially a video ad, keeping you from seeing the content you actually want to see (and probably searched and intentionally sought to see) will feel annoying. ESPN will also have "bespoke, in-feed" ads which will, and I agree, feel more like a natural (and non-annoying) part of the SportsCenter mobile experience -- see Coors Light's example on the right.