The New College Football Playoff Is Already Paying Dividends For Disney
While fans continue to debate the merits and construction of the new 12-team College Football Playoff, the new format is already paying dividends for Disney.
With more teams than ever having a real chance at making the postseason tournament, college football’s ratings have skyrocketed this year. For Disney, which airs games on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC, the playoffs are certainly something to be thankful for.


ESPN
Largely due to the new College Football Playoff format, Disney is on pace for its highest-rated college football season since 2016. The ratings boom comes at a time when consumers are continuing to cut the cord and make the switch to streaming.
Live Sports Continue to Deliver For ESPN
Even in this rapidly changing media environment, ESPN has continued to deliver strong results with live sports.
“College football is a key cog in our portfolio, not only the sports portfolio but also our Disney platform portfolio. From an ad sales standpoint and content standpoint, we’ve had unbelievable success,” Jim Minnich, senior vice president of Disney advertising revenue and yield management, told CNBC.


Image Credit: ESPN
With renewed interest in college football, evident by skyrocketing ratings, advertisers have flocked to ESPN.
“We’re actually more well sold in the championship game than we have been in years past,” Minnich said. “We’re ahead of pace than we were last year, and that includes the growth that was projected for CFP.”
The Path Forward For ESPN
Even as ESPN prepares to transition to direct-to-consumer production, the network has found continued success in live sports. To that end, Disney and the College Football Playoff signed a new six-year agreement earlier this year that will extend their partnership through the 2031-32 season.


Photo: CBS Sports
So far, it looks like the deal was well worth it for the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
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