That’s right.
An all-sports channel totally focused on serving one audience: women.
ESPN has cracked the code when it comes to extending its brad to sub-audiences. By 2020, I’m predicting the launch of espnBB, programming rich in shuffle board, darts and other sports easy on the joints for aging baby boomers.
But I digress.
Here’s the line that caught my attention from the mouth of Laura Gentile, vice president of espnW:
“Storytelling is important to women”
While she doesn’t come out and say woman like storytelling more than men, she goes on to imply this very point:
“Which is why more women than men watch the Olympics where the coverage tends to focus on the personal journeys of the athletes.”
Really?
Are you telling me the story of Eddie the Eagle and his ski jumping exploits only captured the imagination of female watchers?
I can’t imagine gender determining who watches Michael Phelps wolf down 10,000 plus calories as part of his training regimen.
Because storytelling is important to men too.
To bring attention to the cause, I hereby dub this movement MENS (men enjoy new stories).
As the first official act of MENS, I’m asking the men of America to boycott espnW.
Ms. Gentile will rue the day she played the gender card in storytelling.