ESPN

The dominant global sports media brand and a top-tier premium advertising destination, with unmatched live sports rights and audience scale across linear TV, streaming, and digital platforms.

ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is the dominant force in sports media, operating a portfolio of linear television channels, a flagship streaming service (ESPN+), a top-ranked sports news website, and a widely downloaded mobile app. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Bristol, Connecticut, ESPN reaches over 80 million U.S. households through its flagship cable channel alone, while ESPN+ has grown to tens of millions of subscribers. The brand commands unrivaled live sports rights across the NFL, NBA, MLB, college sports, UFC, and international soccer, making it the most valuable sports media property in the world. In the AdTech and media ecosystem, ESPN is a premium advertising destination offering brands access to one of the most engaged and demographically desirable audiences in media — live sports viewers. ESPN sells advertising inventory across its linear TV channels, streaming platform, website, and app, leveraging first-party data and audience targeting capabilities developed in partnership with Disney Advertising. Its integration into Disney's broader advertising infrastructure gives advertisers access to advanced audience segmentation, cross-platform measurement, and programmatic buying tools at scale. ESPN is currently in a period of significant strategic transformation. Disney has announced plans to spin off ESPN into a standalone publicly traded company, separating it from The Walt Disney Company. ESPN is also pursuing a direct-to-consumer flagship streaming product to complement and eventually succeed its traditional cable distribution. These moves reflect the broader industry shift away from linear TV toward streaming, and position ESPN to compete independently in the evolving sports media and digital advertising landscape.