• by Wayne Friedman , 7 hours ago

Looking for more sports fan engagement for advertisers and brands, Walt Disney’s ESPN is starting up "ESPN Fan House," a new fan-centric hub.

The platform aims to foster “a new class of participation-based sponsorship.”

Publicis Sports will be the first agency to work with Disney Advertising. Publicis Sports is a full-service sports marketing and media agency within Publicis Groupe.

ESPN Fan House intends to find closer interactivity for fans through live polls, trivia, sweepstakes, merchandise, and brand integrations, wherever fans interact with sports -- at home watching TV or streaming platforms across social and digital platforms, or at onsite events.

The platforms can deliver rewards directly to fans via digital wallet integration -- where it is available -- helping to extend brand efforts beyond a game’s broadcast.

ESPN Fan House's initial efforts will begin this fall with college football.

Rita Ferro, president of global advertising for Walt Disney, said in a release: "The scale and frequency of college football creates an unmatched platform for sustained fan connections — each game week is a new opportunity to deepen that relationship.”

Last year, Disney says ESPN networks had their most-watched college football regular season since 2011 -- averaging 2.2 million Nielsen-measured viewers per game. ABC posted its best season since 2006, averaging 6.9 million viewers.

The ESPN Fan House platform was developed by Flowcode, a technology platform specializing in QR code generation, direct-to-consumer (D2C) marketing and audience analytics.

During the most recent TV/streaming upfront presentations to advertising and brand executives last month, many networks groups had emphasized the importance of "fandom" -- the highly dedicated, active community of viewers who are passionate about a specific show, franchise or network.  

Analysts believe these "superfans" can drive word-of-mouth marketing.