Ed Erhardt doesn’t do sports coverage for ESPN, but he’s managed to make a few interesting calls of his own in the two decades he’s worked there.

During his time as the head of ad-sales at the Walt Disney owned sports-media giant, ESPN has unveiled the “double box,” a split-screen execution that allows viewers to watch live action even as an ad unfurls on screen. He has pushed advertisers to accept a single audience measure that takes into account both streaming and linear viewers – a dynamic that has accounted for ratings gains at ESPN. Under his aegis, ESPN launched its own in-house creative agency. He also was the first TV executive to place a cable network into TV’s glitzy “upfront” week, previously dominated by broadcasters. After ESPN appeared there in 2007, other cable networks tried to follow.

Sports programming often serves as a first place for new TV-commercial formats to surface,...