859 am: The theme to this year’s ESPN Upfront is “Always On”. It is taking place at the Minskoff Theatre in NYC, home to The Lion King
906 am: Video from backstage at ESPN’s Upfront.
914 am: You never know what you will see at the ESPN Upfront.
On the escalator at ESPN up front pic.twitter.com/Fx4ftzCjdx
— Josh Krulewitz (@jksports) May 13, 2011
919 am: Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser have each signed multi year extensions to continue co hosting Pardon the Interruption on ESPN.
922 am: ESPN is spending time at the Upfront discussing their World Cup coverage. This includes Soccer Stories which premieres on ESPN tonight.
925 am: ESPN is launching a new initiative to measure ad effectiveness across TV, digital, print, and radio.
928 am: John Skipper talks about the strength of ESPN. He mentions the deep bench of sports rights and new programming initiatives ranging from the College Football Playoff to Nate Silver’s 538.
931 am: An interesting fact that supports ESPN’s claims of reach; 11 million people spent an average 78 mins using the SportsCenter app in April
933 am: Scott Van Pelt just revealed that he has filmed a new “This is SportsCenter” ad featuring Metallica.
937 am: ESPN is very proud of their new SportsCenter set. I believe it was scheduled to premiere at the end of May, but reports indicate it is now scheduled for the end of June. (after the NBA Playoffs?)
940 am: ESPN’s prodigal son Keith Olbermann reveals that ESPN2 is the number 2 sports network (second to ESPN).
944 am: Veteran NFL Reporter Jim Trotter is joining ESPN. Will have TV debut on NFL Insiders next Monday.
952 am: Carmelo Anthony gets a huge response as he takes the stage with the hosts of ESPN2’s First Take
955 am: As the ESPN Upfront presentation celebrates the World Cup, E:60 examines the working conditions in Qatar in preparation for their World Cup (when ESPN doesn’t have the rights).
1000 am: Kenny Mayne takes the stage to talk social media. ESPN accounted for 20% of TV related tweets last month. I wonder what that number would be if you included other Disney owned networks.
1004 am: ESPN is premiering FastShare. Users can now share embedded highlights with one click.
1013 am: The most disturbing image from the upfront award goes to this picture of ESPN’s Mike Golic
We think Matt Harvey may have something to say about @ESPNgolic and his photoshop skills. #ESPNUpfront pic.twitter.com/9SEeKdf6rC
— ESPNadsales (@ESPNadsales) May 13, 2014
1022 am: Tim Tebow takes the stage. He is the face of the SEC Network which ESPN is launching this August.
1033 am: The ESPN Upfront ends with a celebration of The Lion King. Thanks for joining us.