ESPN Tests Interactive TV Platforms - Brief Article

Brandweek, Feb 5, 2001 by Jennifer Owens

ESPN, the cable sports network based in Bristol, Conn., rolled out its first major interactive TV test last Saturday. Participating in the ITV trial run were 3.2 million homes with enhanced programming capability that came from three service providers: Wink, Commerce.TV and RespondTV.

The four-hour, Saturday evening test involved two ESPN shows--NHL SuperSkills and The Winter X Games--and three advertisers--Anheuser-Busch, Dodge and Nike, which each tried out a different branded approach with the enhanced pop-up screen technology supplied by the three providers.

According to Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN and ABC Sports customer marketing and sales, Dodge offered a request for more information on Dodge trucks; Nike offered a $10 off coupon at Nike stores; and Anheuser-Busch encouraged viewers during NHL SuperSkills to pick an MVP for yesterday's All-Star Game.

Throughout the test, symbols for features, such as prompts for more information, were displayed on viewers' television screens. Each viewer could then access the offers using their remote controls. The tests were available to some Adelphia, Charter, Comcast and Susquehanna cable subscribers, as well as to DirecTV subscribers.

"I think it's very elegant, very simple, very clean," Erhardt said of the Anheuser-Busch approach. "And it will give AB a sense of that kind of promotion and vote... and what kind of response you get."

This isn't the first time ESPN has ventured into the interactive television space. Last November, the cable network worked with Wink, available in 2.5 million homes nationwide, to put together an ad test with Visa in which viewers were asked to predict the winner of a game. Viewers were then prompted to sign up on ESPN.com.-through their PCs, where they became eligible for a prize drawing. "We got almost 20,000 people to respond to that from Wink homes," said Erhardt.

Of the service providers in this test, Wink is based in Alameda, Calif.; Commerce.TV, in Braintree, Mass.; and RespondTV, in San Francisco. "From an ESPN/ABC point of view," Erhardt said, "we want to partner with as many of these types of companies as we can in the early stages, because we hope to learn both programming- and advertising-oriented information from each type of test."

Overall, he said, the test targeted the highly desirable 18- to 34-year-old male demographic. "We see this [testing] as taking a leadership role," he said. "We see the fact that ESPN has fans as opposed to viewers, and we believe sports is going to be a driver in the interactive television business."