Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

ESPN is establishing a global vision through many means.  ESPN's newest service they're trying to push hard to their target market is "watch ESPN app".  Of course, ESPN's primary market is domestic in America; however, ESPN is pushing for global recognition via a Nokia app.  ESPN's mission statement is to serve sports fans wherever they are consuming sports.  Therefore, in order to successfully fulfill their statement they must extend their service worldwide.  Their new Nokia App which is supposed to launch in 2012, will be available in 190 countries.  With the ESPN Hub, sport fans can access sports news, scores and stats from their mobile devices.  Also the app will include ESPN analysis and video clips for select sports and uses the device's GPS to find local sports information and can be personalized for users to set their favorite sports and teams.  For ESPN, growing their business, especially their mobile business is a priority, and will allow ESPN to create a bigger global market.
This is a video from Lauren Johnson, ESPN's editorial assistant on Mobile Marketing about the launch of their Nokia app.


Lauren Johnson on ESPN's Nokia app


More about ESPN's international mobile market is:

• Available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German and Japanese on every major mobile operating system. 
• ESPN Mobile offers content via: mobile web, mobile messaging, mobile operator deck and applications on smart phones including iPhone, iPad, RIM, Android and Nokia.

ESPN's global business in a nutshell:

• TV: 46 networks in over 200 countries with 16 languages available(Cantonese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Malay, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish).
• Radio: Broadcasting in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Bahamas.  ESPN radio offers live events, sports news, information and sports talk.
• Online:  ESPNsoccernet.com, ESPNCricinfo.com, ESPNScrum.com (English /Spanish),ESPNF1.com (English, French, Japanese), ESPNdeportes.com (Spanish), ESPN.co.uk,ESPN.com.br (Portuguese), ESPNSTAR.com (27 ESPN STAR Sports territories in Asia),ESPNSTAR.com.cn (China), ESPNSTAR.com.hk (Hong Kong), ESPNSTAR.com.tw (Taiwan),ESPN.com.au (Australia), TSN.ca (English / Canada), and RDS.ca (French / Canada).

Since 1998, ESPN's global vision has grown to:

• (12) HD services, from 0
• (1) 3D network, from 0
• (48) international television networks, from 20
• (13) international SportsCenter editions, from 0
• (18) websites, from 1
• (7,000) employees worldwide, from 1,900

In a whole, ESPN in my opinion has a good grasp on their global vision.  However, that's never enough.  ESPN continues to be innovative and push the envelope for their global market, with such ideas as their new Nokia app, ESPN seems to be fulfilling their mission statement, worldwide!