• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 2, 2025

Are light TV viewers still a thing for advertisers and TV networks? Talk to Walt Disney.

Early in December, Disney decided to place an ESPN “tile” on Disney+. ESPN and Disney hope more "casual” sports fans take a look every now and then at ESPN’s programming.

To help pull in some of these extra viewers, Disney is developing two sports studios that cater to just those sports fans. The first will be a daily “SportsCenter” just for Disney+ subscribers, which will air live on Disney+ at a set time and then accessible via on-demand viewing.

Earlier this month for its “Monday Night Football” ran a special “Simpsons” telecast. Disney is also including some women's sports programming.

This comes as Disney is prepping a full-fledged ESPN “flagship” service next year -- the complete cable TV network-centric ESPN content.

For years, advertisers have tried to wrap their heads around getting the attention of so-called “light” TV viewers. These are the viewers who see much less advertising and as result, will buy less -- or none -- of their products and services. Traditional results show that the lightest viewing quintile only contributes 2% to 3% of all TV viewing.

Disney's effort is not specifically focusing on this aspect -- just more viewers who watch a wide range of programming.

Disney wants to offer a full TV experience, which it hopes will help raise subscriptions for Disney+ and its other products, for a more complete streaming platform.

This is why Disney started the “Disney Bundle” from the get-go back in 2019: Packaging Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.

Disney has been attempting to replicate the traditional pay TV of sorts -- a cable TV experience -- in offering a broader selection of programming.

In an interview with CNBC, Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN, says its research shows “very little overlap between watching Disney+ and ESPN linear [cable TV].”

Disney is not alone in trying to expand the reach of its original endemic streaming services with a greater variety of content: Paramount+. Max and Peacock are looking to do the same.

Incremental gains for streamers’ ongoing evolution are likely to remain a major focus.