ESPN3 Money Opportunity Waste?

[AppNation85]

Just stating this in case I have a point and someone in charge is reading this. Watching on ESPN3 (sorry I live in Europe), everytime there is a timeout it goes to a black screen with the ESPN3 logo and a message that says "Your game is in a commercial break"

Why not ACTUALLY show commercials during that black screen? It makes money and it's more entertaining for the viewer than a black screen. Yeah the money would probably need to be split between ESPN/App etc but it seems like a huge huge waste. You could be showing local commercials during all the football/basketball games and make some decent money.

If somebody knows the reason why we don't do that feel free to explain it to me.

[appmaj]

Ads are sold to the provider and directly from ESPN. Depending on the provider (Spectrum, Hulu, Sling, etc) you may see different ads or none at all.

[AppNation85]

Ads are sold to the provider and directly from ESPN. Depending on the provider (Spectrum, Hulu, Sling, etc) you may see different ads or none at all.

Interesting. Here in Europe I have access to a package directly from ESPN where I pay a couple bucks and I can stream every college game all year.

It just seems weird to me that advertising space like that is left unused.

[ncman071]

i cannot freaking watch the game....buffers every ten damn seconds

[Dmanuhone]

if you close it out and restart it usually get better.

[NewApp]

i cannot freaking watch the game....buffers every ten damn seconds

Yep, but not during the commercials. They never buffer.

[mtnjax]

i cannot freaking watch the game....buffers every ten damn seconds

I recently bought a Google Chromecast and I used it to watch the game from my phone today for the first time. Had no issues. I usually use my Xbox one, but this was way better

[appfanz]

I watch with a fire stick and the 3 games I’ve watched had apsolutely no buffering. Can’t tell you about today as I was at the game.

[AppfaninCAALand]

For the commercial breaks, apart from the Sun Belt spots and ESPN promos, I get a lot of the same commercials (including ones for local car dealers and grocery stores) that show up before Youtube and other streaming apps. I assume they are part of an ad buy with the internet provider.

I travel quite a bit for work, and I noticed this play out in other areas as well. When I log into a local Wi-Fi to watch the game, in some areas I will get no commercials other than the Sun Belt and ESPN spots, while elsewhere I will get local spots for that area. For example, I watched this year's Texas State game on hotel Wi-Fi in Fort Lauderdale and got the same South Florida car dealer ad in ever break.

As for the buffering, I've never had problems either through the Amazon stick or chromecasted thru my phone.

[MountaineerChemist10]

Very interesting. I use Sling TV w/Roku and see mostly ESPN & time warner commercials

[proasu89]

I watch with a fire stick and the 3 games I’ve watched had apsolutely no buffering. Can’t tell you about today as I was at the game.

The wife and I went to the Rock and had lunch and tried to watch the first half with the spinning wheel of death. Got home for the 2nd half and no buffering on the fire stick.

[clayton]

I get that blank screen with the logo a lot when watching Monday Night Football through Sling. National commercials play. Those are the ones ESPN sells. For some reason, Sling/Dish doesn't fill the inventory and that absolutely is a waste.

During App games, I mostly just get Sun Belt and school commercials. That means ESPN isn't selling that space, either. I assume because they make so much money (like $7 billion annually) from carriage fees, ESPN has not always cared about squeezing out every advertising dollar...especially in the digital space.

[NewApp]

First time I've ever heard anyone complain about not having commercials.

[hotrod2001]

Just stating this in case I have a point and someone in charge is reading this. Watching on ESPN3 (sorry I live in Europe), everytime there is a timeout it goes to a black screen with the ESPN3 logo and a message that says "Your game is in a commercial break"

Why not ACTUALLY show commercials during that black screen? It makes money and it's more entertaining for the viewer than a black screen. Yeah the money would probably need to be split between ESPN/App etc but it seems like a huge huge waste. You could be showing local commercials during all the football/basketball games and make some decent money.

If somebody knows the reason why we don't do that feel free to explain it to me.

At least you don't have to watch ads for the Addiction Network every five minutes.

[proasu89]

Just stating this in case I have a point and someone in charge is reading this. Watching on ESPN3 (sorry I live in Europe), everytime there is a timeout it goes to a black screen with the ESPN3 logo and a message that says "Your game is in a commercial break"

Why not ACTUALLY show commercials during that black screen? It makes money and it's more entertaining for the viewer than a black screen. Yeah the money would probably need to be split between ESPN/App etc but it seems like a huge huge waste. You could be showing local commercials during all the football/basketball games and make some decent money.

If somebody knows the reason why we don't do that feel free to explain it to me.

At least you don't have to watch ads for the Addiction Network every five minutes.

What happens now if I'm addicted to those ads?

[hotrod2001]

Just stating this in case I have a point and someone in charge is reading this. Watching on ESPN3 (sorry I live in Europe), everytime there is a timeout it goes to a black screen with the ESPN3 logo and a message that says "Your game is in a commercial break"

Why not ACTUALLY show commercials during that black screen? It makes money and it's more entertaining for the viewer than a black screen. Yeah the money would probably need to be split between ESPN/App etc but it seems like a huge huge waste. You could be showing local commercials during all the football/basketball games and make some decent money.

If somebody knows the reason why we don't do that feel free to explain it to me.

At least you don't have to watch ads for the Addiction Network every five minutes.

What happens now if I'm addicted to those ads?

That guy who says he used to crack cocaine is trying so hard to keep it together as it wipes away from him.

[ApexASU]

There is NOTHING good about ESPN3. I wish we still had App TV. SO much better, not all the crap talk from so called announcers who don't even know our QBs name.