It seemed like months ago we heard a re-design for ESPN.com was imminent. Now they appear to finally be coming to fruition. The big rollout will take place on the 20th anniversary of the website’s debut on Wednesday April 1st. The network will also be launching a UK edition of the site with more international ones to follow.
Via ESPN:
Tomorrow ESPN launches a new ESPN.com, a website that has been re-engineered to delivera more personal, elegant and lively sports experience to fans with greater personalization and functional design across devices – anytime, anywhere.
Already the world’s largest sports website as measured by reach and engagement, ESPN will, for the first time, publish its flagship digital property in “editions” – launching in the U.S. and U.K. simultaneously, with multiple versions to roll out over the next 12 to 18 months.
The new ESPN.com is responsively designed to adjust to the user’s device and platform and its creation incorporates feedback from sports fans during extensive research and testing. The design is the result of a mobile-first approach that allows ESPN.com to deliver a consistent experience for sports fans on computer, tablet or handset.
Built on a completely new technology infrastructure and engineered to deliver sports content at real-time speed, the new ESPN.com will enable ESPN content groups to continue to serve fans with sports scores, news, and powerful storytelling in innovative ways.
One of the biggest features of the new ESPN.com will be personalization, what ESPN is calling ESPN Now. ESPN also says it’s taking a “mobile-first” approach to better reach the growing audiences on smartphones and tablets:
Notably, the new site debuts new levels of personalization and the “ESPN Now” section as central pillars to the user experience, alongside ESPN’s leading news, feature, analysis and commentary.
The ESPN Now section is powered by a dedicated editorial team, charged with capturing and curating a stream of up-to-the-minute sports moments and conversations as they’re happening. Content in ESPN Now includes short, snackable content including breaking news, must-see and in-game video, audio clips, social responses, insightful statistics from ESPN Stats & Info and more, all of which are easily shareable. First introduced in the ESPN App, ESPN Now provides a way to capture the immediacy of sports today, while maintaining the editorial standard required by ESPN.
The new site also introduces a powerful new personalization engine to the site, allowing each individual fan to always have direct access to the content that matters most in a dedicated way alongside the main news section and “Now.”
One has to wonder whether or not ESPN is bringing personalized customization into the fold as a response to the success of Bleacher Report and the Team Stream app. Even the self-proclaimed worldwide leader has to constantly be evolving and changing in order to keep up, or stay ahead of, the times.
Site re-designs are somewhat risky. They can go really well… or really poorly (just ask Yahoo Sports). We’ll all see what the new ESPN.com looks like tomorrow… unless it’s an April Fools’ joke and every link goes straight to that one Tim Tebow autotune.
[ESPN]