ESPN.com now with fast video clips
ESPN is testing the use of video on the home page that's downloaded the night before, using a downloaded application/technology called ESPN Motion, according to this New York Times story: This should be especially attractive for ESPN's primarily young male audience of whom three-quarters connect over high-speed from work or university:
"Now the video will be more integral to the site over all, and not an appendage," said John Skipper, the ESPN executive vice president who looks after the Internet unit.
ESPN has been testing the service with users of its Insider premium service and will introduce it to its free users in the next few weeks.
...ESPN's new approach involves a big compromise: users have to download a small extra program. The download is short and painless, but convincing Internet users to do anything extra can be a struggle. Still, if only 10 percent of ESPN's more than 25 million users download the program, it will have an attractive audience for advertisers. Only a few thousand people look at ESPN's current downloadable clips on the average day.