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ESPN’s much-discussed streaming service finally has its launch date.The network announced Wednesday that its direct-to-consumer service and enhanced app will debut Aug. 21. The announcement coincided with Disney’s quarterly earning report.This week’s expanded deals with the NFL and a new partnership with WWE provides ESPN the more inventory and offerings, which it hopes will bolster the company in a landscape that is divided among cable, satellite and streaming. Will the ESPN service result in more subscribers? According to Nielsen, streaming usage surpassed broadcast and cable combined in U.S. television usage for the first time. Streaming was at 44.8% compared to linear’s 44.2%. When Nielsen started keeping track in May 2021 linear was at 64% compared to streaming’s 26%.The ESPN DTC will start out with around 25 million subscribers as those currently getting ESPN+ will migrate to the new platform. Many of those though are cable and satellite subscribers who get the service through deals with their provider. ESPN is hoping that more cord cutters will pay up to $29.95 per month since it will offer all the ESPN networks ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+ and ACCNX as well as being able to bundle NFL Network and NFL RedZone through a deal with NFL+ Premium.Trying to determine how many of the DTC service subscribers are cord cutters will be more difficult though. Disney announced during its earnings call Wednesday that it will stop releasing ESPN streaming subscriber metrics beginning next quarter.ESPN was in nearly 100 million households in 2013. Over the past 12 years due to cord cutting and streaming, that number has dropped to 60 million. Over the next two years, that is expected to decrease to fewer than 50 million. What do the NFL and WWE deals mean for ESPN’s market footprint? Live sports remains valuable property, but the NFL is the beachfront house.For taking over NFL Network, which had also been steadily losing subscribers, ESPN gets three additional NFL games along with another outlet to air Monday night games when there are more than one, as well as the ability for its app users to get specialty highlights of their favorite players or teams. There will also be ways to access stats, betting and fantasy sports info on the app while watching games.The WWE premium live events (they’re no longer called pay-per-views) also makes sense when ESPN takes over from Peacock next year. After all, the E in ESPN stands for entertainment. As Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria pointed out when it started carrying “Monday Night Raw” earlier this year, the WWE has a multigenerational and loyal fan base that will flock to whoever carries the events.The WWE deal applies only to the U.S. though. Netflix has the rights for overseas. Can all of this turn around ESPN’s financial outlook? It does carry some risks. ESPN had $4.3 billion in revenue last quarter, an increase of 1% from last year, but the operating profit decreased 7% to $1 billion due to increased rights fees.It is paying the NFL an average of $2.7 billion per year while the NBA 11-year deal that begins this upcoming season averages $2.6 billion per year. The five-year WWE deal will average $325 million per year.This also comes at a time when the network opted out of its $550 million contract with Major League Baseball beginning next year and appears to be out of the running for Formula One rights. ESPN pays $75 million to $90 million per year under its three-year deal, but Liberty Media, which owns F1, is seeking at least $120 million for the next contract, which begins in 2026.ESPN needs more than cable and satellite subscriber affiliate fees, which is also why it is launching a DTC product to gain more revenue. The past two years, it was been involved in prolonged negotiations with DirecTV and Spectrum before reaching deals. How can viewers get the ESPN streaming service? If cable and satellite subscribers already get ESPN+, they will automatically migrate to the new service. For cord cutters, there is an offer where they can get the ESPN unlimited plan with Disney+ and Hulu for $29.99/month for the first 12 months. AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports Joe Reedy, AP Sports Writer
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E-Commerce
Actress, singer, and fashion icon Zendaya can add another line item to her résumé: shoe designer. On co-created its new Cloudzone Moon model with Zendaya and her stylist, Law Roach. It’s an update to the Swiss athletic apparel brands existing Cloudzone silhouette, which it released this year, and part of Ons fall/winter 2025 collection. Its the latest design to spring from a multiyear partnership with Zendaya that On announced last year. [Photo: On] Stylish and minimalist, the Nike-esque Cloudzone model is On’s all-day shoe made with “CloudTec,” the companys trademarked name for its soft midsole design. The style also has forefoot padding and a breathable mesh upper. Think of it as athleisure for your foot. This “footleisure”-forward sneaker has also had a few iterations since launch: Zendaya wore the shoes in her April campaign for the brand, and On collaborated with NYC-based lifestyle brand Kith for a pair in February. The new Moon iteration has a tan base with red laces and red on the sole; there are also gray and black colorways. [Photo: On] Like Zendaya’s spring/summer 2025 campaign for On, which featured its own trailer for a fake sci-fi movie, the creative behind the brand’s new season is highly produced. Photographer Emily Lipton shot stills of Zendaya wearing the shoes paired with the collection’s bodysuit, jacket, and shorts on a set that looks otherworldly. A companion film was directed by Bardia Zeinali, who’s directed ads for Calvin Klein and H&M, and music videos like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” and Tate McRae’s VMA-nominated “Sports Car” and “Just Keep Watching.” [Photo: On] On saw nearly 43% year-over-year growth in the most recent quarter with revenue of more than $807 million, according to data from PitchBook. The company says apparel is one of the major reasons why. Net sales of apparel nearly doubled in the first three months of the year, cofounder Caspar Coppetti said on an earnings call in May, and there’s more to come. CEO Martin Hoffmann said On has a “highly performance-driven product pipeline” in the works for the rest of the year. As apparel companies have leaned more and more into athleisure, they have also leaned into marketing their products as a lifestyle choice rather than an athletic one. That means signature sneakers arent just for basketball players anymore. Theyre for Zendaya, too.
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E-Commerce
Stocks are rising on Wall Street Thursday, even as President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs take effect on dozens of countries.The S&P 500 added 0.6% and is flirting with its record, which was set late last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 182 points, or 0.4%, after a half hour of trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.Worries are still high that Trump’s tariffs are damaging the economy, particularly after last week’s worse-than-expected report on the job market. But hopes for coming cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve and a torrent of stronger-than-expected profit reports from big U.S. companies are helping to overshadow the concerns, at least for now. Lower interest rates can give the economy and investment prices a boost, though the downside is that they can also push inflation higher.The Bank of England cut its main interest rate on Thursday in hopes of bolstering the sluggish U.K. economy.The U.S. tariffs that took effect Thursday morning were also already well known, as well as lower than what Trump had initially threatened. Some countries are still trying to negotiate down the tax rates on their exports, and continued uncertainty seems to be the only certainty on Wall Street. All the while, the U.S. stock market faces criticism that it’s climbed too far, too fast since hitting a bottom in April and left prices looking too expensive.The latest reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed, meanwhile, which left Treasury yields relatively stable in the bond market.One said that slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. That could be an indication of rising layoffs, but the number remains within its recent range.“There is nothing to see here!” according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “These are not nearly recession readings.”A separate report said that productivity for U.S. workers improved by more during the spring than economists expected. That could help the U.S. economy grow without adding more pressure on inflation. And that’s particularly important when Trump’s tariffs look set to increase prices for all kinds of things that U.S. households and businesses buy.On Wall Street, Apple helped lead the market amid hopes that its massive size can help it navigate Trump’s economy. Its stock rose 3.1% after its CEO, Tim Cook, joined Trump at the White House on Wednesday to say it’s increasing its investment in U.S. manufacturing by an additional $100 billion over the next four years.Trump also announced a 100% tariff on imported computer chips, but he added “if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge.”“Large, cash-rich companies that can afford to build in America will be the ones to benefit the most,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “It’s survival of the biggest.”DoorDash climbed 3% after the food delivery app topped Wall Street’s profit expectations for the latest quarter. It attracted new customers and saw the total number of orders increase.Duolingo, the language-learning app, soared 31.8% after it crushed Wall Street’s expectations. The company said its subscription revenue grew 46% over the same period last year.They helped offset a drop for Eli Lilly, which fell 13.9% even though the drugmaker reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Analysts said some investors were disappointed with results that Lilly provided for a late-stage study of its potential pill version of the popular weight-loss drug Zepbound.Intel slipped 1.7% after Trump called for its CEO to resign, while accusing him of being “highly CONFLICTED,” though he gave no evidence.In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.Stocks climbed 0.2% in Shanghai and 0.7% in Hong Kong after China reported that its exports picked up in July, helped by a flurry of shipments as businesses took advantage of a pause in Trump’s tariff war with Beijing.Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.6%. Toyota Motor’s stock fell after it cut its full-year earnings forecasts largely because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but Sony rose after the entertainment and electronics company indicated it’s taking less damage from the tariffs than it had expected.In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.22%, where it was late Wednesday. AP Business Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed. Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
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