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The network also said Watch ESPN, the authenticated TV Everywhere app introduced last year, is now in 40 million homes. ESPN predicted that figure would double by 2013. "Whether we televise the game or not, there is an audience consuming it via ESPN platforms," said Sean Bratches, exec VP-sales and marketing. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, Mr. Bratches said. ESPN is working with companies including Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft to further expand the offerings. "Young males spend more time consuming media" on Xbox than playing video games," he said. ESPN is making content for these digital platforms, reviving the "30 to 30" franchise with "30 for 30 Shorts," which will roll out monthly on Grantland, the sports-plus-pop-culture site created by sports journalist Bill Simmons. To visualize just how advertisers can partner with its various digital platforms, ESPN presented three case studies from partners Gatorade, Goodyear and Diageo. Gatorade partnered with ESPN across multiple screens in an effort to embrace female athletes and moms, an audience that ESPN is making a concerted effort to tap into with espnW. This includes "Nine for IX," a series of nine documentary films about women in sports in celebration of Title IX's 40th anniversary.

Mr. Coe says the agency's Tumblr commerce platform has two service levels: one designed for small businesses and the other for brands. For the former, Coexist and Stripe would take a roughly 6% cut of sales transacted through the platform, but the service would be free to use. In the case of brands, he's envisioning something more custom where Coexist might develop a Tumblr blog for an event like Fashion Week and then power a pop-up store where Tumblr followers could buy limited-edition goods that had been unveiled that week. The service's first taker is Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, which has 10 stores in Ohio and Tennessee and sells to wholesalers like Dean & Deluca and Whole Foods but shipped more than $1 million of product through its website last year. Its Tumblr account launched last week, and items for sale are marked with a yellow dot, including a $32 ice-cream-sandwich collection.

Unlike Conde's exchange, though, Hearst Digital Media's platform is not aimed at increasing sell through on its sites; the company will continue to partner with select display and video ad networks to unload its unsold ad inventory. Rather, the new "audience exchange" (as Hearst is calling it) will let advertisers who are making upfront buys with Hearst's direct sales team target specific groups of consumers across Hearst Digital Media's 25-plus online brands, which include web and mobile sites for Seventeen, Elle, Good Housekeeping and Esquire.