{"id":1858,"date":"2025-11-25T02:12:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T02:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/?p=1858"},"modified":"2025-11-28T00:52:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T00:52:01","slug":"fox-one-surges-past-espn-unlimited-in-direct-to-consumer-subscriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/sports-media\/fox-one-surges-past-espn-unlimited-in-direct-to-consumer-subscriptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox One Surges Past ESPN Unlimited in Direct-to-Consumer Subscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1g7jtus r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Fox One and ESPN Unlimited both launched as standalone direct-to-consumer streaming services on August 21, 2025. Three months in, new data from <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.antenna.live\/insights\/state-of-subscriptions-preview-sports-officially-enters-its-streaming-era\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Antenna<\/a> shows Fox One has taken a clear lead. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1g7jtus r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">As of the end of October 2025:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Fox One: 2.3 million paid subscribers<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">ESPN Unlimited: 1.7 million paid subscribers<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1g7jtus r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">The shift happened quickly. Fox One entered October trailing ESPN Unlimited, but added roughly 1.2 million net new subscribers during the month\u2014more than doubling its base from 1.1 million to 2.3 million\u2014and overtook the leader in sports.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1g7jtus r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">These figures reflect only direct and Amazon Prime Video Channels sign-ups; they exclude bundles with traditional MVPDs (<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Multichannel Video Programming Distributor<\/span>) and, for ESPN, do not include existing Disney Bundle or Hulu subscribers who migrated without incremental payment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Why FOX pulled ahead<\/h3>\n<ol dir=\"ltr\" start=\"1\">\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Broader content bundle<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Fox One is not purely a sports service. In addition to Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network, it includes Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Weather, and Fox Soul\u2014appealing to households that want sports plus news and general entertainment in one app.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">ESPN Unlimited, by contrast, is sports-only: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, and the newly added ESPN Plus library. It does not include any of Disney\u2019s general-entertainment or news properties.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Significantly lower pricing <\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Fox One: $19.99\/mo or $199.99\/year <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">ESPN Unlimited: $29.99\/mo or $299.99\/year<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">That $10\/month gap (33% cheaper) is a major factor when consumers are picking one \u201cskinny sports\u201d service.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Dominant distribution through Amazon Prime Video Channels<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Approximately 60% of Fox One\u2019s sign-ups have come through Prime Video Channels, a frictionless add-on for the 200+ million Prime members in the U.S. ESPN Unlimited is not currently offered as a Prime Video Channel.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>The bigger picture for Disney<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1g7jtus r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Disney\u2019s total \u201cnew-money\u201d DTC sports subscribers since the August 21 re-launch actually stand higher when you include the lower-tier ESPN Select (the re-branded ESPN+):<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">ESPN Unlimited (full linear bundle): 1.7 million <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">ESPN Select (sports streaming only, no linear channels): 1.3 million<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">\u2192 Combined: ~3.0 million new or upgraded paid sports accounts<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1g7jtus r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-b88u0q r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">What\u2019s next?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1x3r274 r-p1pxzi\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">The real test comes in January. Both services will carry NFL playoff games, but Fox One\u2019s package at $19.99 includes:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">America\u2019s Game of the Week (most-watched regular-season window)<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">An NFL Wild Card and Divisional playoff game<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">The NFC Championship Game<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1g7jtus r-1x3r274\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/sports-media\/brian-windhorst-is-the-latest-coat-of-lipstick-on-espns-nba-countdown-pig\/\" target=\"_self\">ESPN<\/a> Unlimited counters with Monday Night Football, its Wild Card and Divisional game, but at a $10 higher monthly price.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1x3r274 r-p1pxzi\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">Both companies continue to collaborate rather than only compete: a joint \u201cFox One + ESPN Unlimited\u201d bundle is available for $39.99\/month ($399.99\/year)\u2014essentially the two services for the price of roughly 1.3\u00d7 ESPN Unlimited alone.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Bottom line<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1x3r274 r-p1pxzi\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">For now, Fox One\u2019s combination of broader content, sharply lower pricing, and Prime Channels distribution has driven faster subscriber growth than the sports-only, higher-priced ESPN Unlimited. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1adg3ll r-1x3r274 r-p1pxzi\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1x3r274\">The NFL postseason and potential college football playoff expansion in 2026 will decide whether that lead holds.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fox One and ESPN Unlimited both launched as standalone direct-to-consumer streaming services on August 21, 2025. Three months in, new data from Antenna shows Fox One has taken a clear lead. As of the end of October 2025: Fox One: 2.3 million paid subscribers ESPN Unlimited: 1.7 million paid subscribers The shift happened quickly. Fox [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5665,"featured_media":1860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[276,267,274,264,271,238],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-1858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acc-network","category-espn","category-fox-sports","category-news","category-sec-network","category-sports-media","tag-featured"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5665"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1858"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1861,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions\/1861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}