ESPN Touts the Speed of Live
ESPN Touts the Speed of Live 05.17.2016 Kicking off day two of network upfronts, ESPN kept the Hamilton love coming, opening and closing their with performances by stars Leslie Odom and Daveed Diggs (video above). This served to book-end ESPN's message: that the live element of their programming is what gives them an edge over the rest of TV. "Live performance, like sports, makes our hearts beat faster," ESPN President, global sales and marketing, Ed Erhardt said, according to Deadline. "This is the universal power of live. It causes all of us to reconsider things we thought we knew. [Hamilton] has been called revolutionary. And it has caused ongoing debate about what is and is not working. That's why it's time to challenge, rethink and reconsider how we market, how we measure, how we engage our customers. ESPN embraces this revolution." Change is in the air at ESPN, who have seen ubiquitous screen presences like Skip Bayless, Curt Schilling, Mike Tirico and Bill Simmons depart or get shown the door in recent years. Sean McDonough, who's replacing Mike Tirico in the Monday Night Football booth, wasn't the only one to spread the ESPN gospel. Sports stars like Brett Favre, Bryce Harper, Chris Paul and Noah Syndergaard were in attendance. Erhardt and company were excited to announce the launch of "The Undefeated," a new ESPN website. At 7 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the network unleashed a roadblock on every U.S.-based network, all of which played The Undefeated video. That's a fitting name for the network in at least one respect, as a sheepish Scott Van Pelt came onstage to announce that his midnight Sports Center audience includes more men between 18 and 34 than Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon or James Corden.
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