ESPN App

As a product owner and experience designer of video viewing experiences, I was charged with planning, writing requirements, and managing a team to create a better video streaming experience within the ESPN app.

ESPN launched ESPN+, their direct-to-consumer product on April 12, featuring new content, new live sports, and a completely redesigned interface.  I product managed many of the parts of the app which integrate with this new subscription offering - including the entire viewing interface - both browsing and watching experiences.

Serving sports fans: Anytime. Anywhere.

ESPN is globally synonymous with sports. As the top sports app in the App Store and the most well-recognized sports broadcasting brand, the ESPN App brings in over 20 million monthly active users, who collectively watch over a billion minutes of video content per year.

As one of the product managers focusing specifically on ESPN+, Disney's first direct-to-consumer subscription video product, I worked with dozens of stakeholders to produce a brand new video experience for sports fans. I had a large role in making sure that ESPN+ was advertised and accessible within the ESPN App, and was the lead product manager redesigning the main video experiences in the ESPN App, including the brand new Watch tab and the redesigned video player.

ESPN+

The Walt Disney Company owns ESPN, and the ESPN+ product was Disney’s first attempt to establish the tech stack and market fit for a subscription video product. The ESPN+ product was seen as a precursor to Disney+, which launched to much press and success, gaining more than 10million subscribers in the first 24 hours. ESPN+ offers exclusive live content and ESPN original content, including 30 for 30 documentaries and a number of premium shows produced specifically for ESPN+.

This project touched every department within ESPN, and I was one of the principle product people focused on ESPN+ within the ESPN App. As part of this role, I determined the logic and strategy behind where and when a user is introduced to and marketed ESPN+ within the ESPN App.

Press Release

ESPN+ Surpasses 1 Million Paid Subscribers 5 Months Into Launch

Watch Tab Redesign

As part of the ESPN+ product, it was a top priority to modernize and improve the Watch Tab in the ESPN App. This tab is where all video content is housed, and would be the window into the ESPN+ product for people hoping to access their subscription content or learn more about the product itself.

As the Product Manager focused on video inside the app, I led a team to visually and functionally align our Watch Tab with the browse interfaces of other popular video platforms, considering design patterns and discoverability within Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, etc. Some of the new features included autoplaying live content in hero carousels, and more engaging show and film pages for ESPN+ original content.

Video Player Redesign

With the new focus on streaming video that came with the launch of ESPN+, we wanted to align our player controls between the live and on-demand video experiences. This included introducing established conventions for other kinds of video content (continue watching for VOD content), as well as adopt some other video player innovations (double tap to skip 10 seconds forward).

My team and I redefined the viewing experience within the ESPN App, including a new system for determining what video comes next, and what the rest of your playlist would contain, based on the video that you chose to watch.