Have you ever watched ESPN’s First Take and thought, “What Stephen A. Smith just said is crazy! I’ve got a better take than that.”
It’s safe to assume just about everyone has had that thought cross their mind. Luckily, ESPN is debuting a program called First Take: Your Take (FTYT) via Facebook Watch that directly incorporates your takes. Set to debut on Monday prior to Super Bowl LII, FTYT will stream three days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Monday’s show will run as usual with traditional segments introduced by Smith, Max Kellerman and Molly Qerim. Wednesday and Friday is when everything changes. Viewers will be able to record their own take, upload it to Facebook and a select few will be packaged into the Wednesday’s show.
Friday’s show will then feature a lone viewer debating directly with one of the FTYT hosts.
“We really were striving for how do we do this in a way that has not been done before,” said ESPN’s Senior VP of Social Content, Ryan Spoon. “That is, uniquely ESPN and takes advantage of what the platform is really special at, which is the interactions. We wanted something to be interactive, recurring. We didn’t want this to be five shows then on to the next concept.”
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According to Spoon, the goal for the program, and reasoning behind using Facebook Watch, is to engage with their audience.
“This is successful if the community drives the week,” he said. “If we can get fans to be creative, to have fun, the Wednesday and Friday show will be really fun and surprising every week and I think if we do that this is something that’s really special.”
“I’m excited about this new venture,” Smith said in a statement. “Despite First Take’s success, this is yet another forward step in our venture to increase our audience, reminding all of them that ‘There Is No Success For Us Without You.’ Our latest attempt to build via social media should serve as an emphatic piece of evidence that the entire First Take family fully recognizes complacency is our ultimate enemy. We won’t allow it. So, yet again, here we come!”
“First Take: Your Take is ideally suited for Facebook Watch,” Dan Reed, Facebook Head of Global Sports Partnerships, said in a statement. “With its highly interactive and social elements, the show has great potential to spark conversation and bring people together. We’re excited to partner with ESPN to create such an active viewing experience for fans and look forward to seeing the Facebook community get the chance to debate the First Take crew.”
