marketing

People in L.A. and New York better get ready for a sea of ESPN red on their morning and evening commutes.

Walt Disney Co.’s is backing the Thursday launch of its sports media unit’s direct-to-consumer streaming app with a major advertising campaign aimed at captive audiences in their cars and on the railway tracks.

The aggressive four-week push is aimed at telling consumers that ESPN — long one of the pillars of the cable television business — will be available for the first time without a pay TV subscription.

The service, a major initiative since ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro took over the Disney unit in 2018, is a response to the growing number of consumers who are bypassing cable and satellite for streaming video platforms. The trend has decreased the number of pay TV homes receiving ESPN, which is a major source of revenue for the company.

ESPN ad on a Cadillac SUV used for Lyft.

(ESPN)

Consumers can subscribe to the new ESPN streaming app for $29.99 a month. Households already paying to receive ESPN channels through cable or satellite can sign up at no additional cost, enabling up to five people to stream the service on mobile devices and internet-connected TV sets.

“We designed our campaign exactly as we designed our product, which is to serve sports fans anytime, anywhere,” Jo Fox, executive vice president of marketing for ESPN, said in a recent interview. “So we want to make sure we are showing up in as many places as possible.”

The advertising campaign that starts Thursday will feature Lyft-operated Cadillac SUVs wrapped in the company logo and the promotional campaign’s tagline “All of ESPN. All in One Place.”

The vehicles will be concentrated in high-traffic areas near sporting events in Los Angeles and New York, where the U.S. Open tennis tournament will soon begin. The ESPN brand name and logo will also appear on the Lyft app and maps.

Mass transit users won’t be left out, as ESPN will take over the E Line of the New York City subway that travels from the World Trade Center to Queens. The exterior of the train cars will be covered with logos while more specific ad messages will appear on the inside.

The public address announcements at the Spring Street subway station — located near Disney’s downtown Manhattan headquarters — will be delivered by ESPN’s voluble $20-million-a-year man Stephen A. Smith, the co-host of “First Take.”

Signage will also take over electronic screens in New York’s Moynihan Train Hall and Port Authority Bus Terminal and billboards along L.A.’s Sunset Boulevard and adjacent to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

ESPN’s campaign will go beyond the major media centers on the coasts. The streaming service will be featured on TV screens in the home entertainment sections in 4,000 Walmart stores across the country.

ESPN also has a deal with Samsung, which will offer free yearlong subscriptions to the streaming service to customers who purchase a QLED 4K TV at Best Buy or Samsung.com. Best Buy stores will feature the ESPN app in stores as well during the promotion.

ESPN has already been touting its streaming service on air and in paid TV media buys with commercials featuring actor and WWE star John Cena. Cena will soon be an ESPN fixture as the streaming service becomes the new home of major WWE events such as WrestleMania and Royal Rumble, starting in 2026.

The ESPN app will include a number of features that will complement the live sports offerings. Fans will be able to create their own personalized “SportsCenter,” which will use artificial intelligence to provide a short personalized highlight program geared to the user’s favorite teams and events.

NBC Sports pioneered the customized highlight show on its Peacock streaming platform during the 2024 Summer Olympics, using the voice of Al Michaels. The voices of ESPN “SportsCenter” hosts will be used on “SportsCenter for You.”

The app will also offer stats, betting, commerce and fantasy sports information alongside the live game coverage shown on ESPN channels.

AMC Networks, known for series such as “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead,” is partnering with AI startup Runway to use AI tools for marketing and developing its TV shows.

Runway’s AI technology will help AMC Networks ease access to standout scenes and generate pictures for promotional use.

The tech will also be used to speed up “pre-visualization” during development, which is when studios use images to come up with the look of a show before filming takes place.

Runway also said AMC Networks is exploring AI to be used for honing special effects ideas.

“As we explore the transformative potential of AI across our business, we see powerful opportunities to enhance both how we market and how we create,” said Stephanie Mitchko, the executive vice president of global media operations and technology at AMC Networks, in a statement.

“Our objective is always to use every tool at our disposal to help our creative partners fully realize the stories they want to tell,” Mitchko said.

Entertainment companies have been exploring how to use AI in their processes, which supporters say can help reduce costs and allow creatives to test bold ideas without as many financial constraints.

Last year, Runway announced a partnership with Lionsgate, in which Runway will create a new AI model for the studio to help with behind-the-scenes processes such as storyboarding. The company’s technology has also been used in series like “House of David” on Amazon Prime Video, according to Variety.

“We’re building the foundations for a new era of media — the way content gets made and green-lit is changing rapidly, and that’s impacting everything from production timelines and methodologies to distribution models and marketing tactics,” said Cristóbal Valenzuela, co-founder and CEO of Runway in a statement.

AI remains a controversial topic in Hollywood. Some creatives and unionized workers have expressed concerns about how AI could reduce jobs. Writers have complained that AI models are being trained on their scripts without their permission or adequate compensation.

Tech industry executives have said that they should be able to train AI models with content available online under the “fair use” doctrine, which allows for the limited reproduction of material without permission from the copyright holder.

AI filmmaking technology is advancing rapidly, such as with Google’s unveiling new features in its Veo 3 text-to-video tool and its Flow editing software. But experts say that artificial intelligence companies need to license content from professional studios in order to take the tools to the next level.