or


[03/31/22 - 09:12 AM]
ESPN's Best First Quarter Viewership in Five Years, Up 40% in Prime Time
On the strength of the weekday studio show lineup, ESPN averaged 600,000 viewers from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. ET, up 20% over 2021 and the best since 2017.

[via press release from ESPN]

ESPN's Best First Quarter Viewership in Five Years, up 40% in Prime Time

Among Viewers 18-49, ESPN Tops all Cable Networks by Wide Margin

Long List of Studio Shows with Surging Audiences, Every Live Edition of SportsCenter up 9-27%

ESPN's total day viewership in the first quarter of 2022 was up 32% vs. last year to an average of 812,000 viewers (P2+), the network's best for the first three months of the year since 2017. The increase was even more pronounced in prime time - up 40% to 2.068M viewers.

In the target demo of adults 18-49, ESPN was up 23% in total day audience and led the second-place network by 74%. In prime time, ESPN's audience in the demo grew 36% and the advantage was more than double - up 111% -- the next closest competitor.

On the strength of the weekday studio show lineup, ESPN averaged 600,000 viewers from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. ET, up 20% over 2021 and the best since 2017.

Event Programming

· ESPN's 2022 got off to a hot start with strong performances from cable television's annually most-watched three programs - the College Football Playoff Semifinals and Championship - and Monday Night Football including the inaugural Week 18 doubleheader and the first-ever NFL Wild Card Playoff Game on a Monday night.

· In its first year, the NHL on ESPN averaged an audience 21% larger than last season's Wednesday night games in the quarter.

· The NBA on ESPN averaged 1.3M viewers, up 9% from a year ago.

· Men's College Basketball increased its audience 26% vs. the previous season. Champ Week was up 33% on ESPN/ESPN2.

· The last home game for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski drew an average of 4M viewers and was the most-watched regular-season game on any network in three years.

· Women's College Basketball soared 45% over last year's average audience. After two rounds, the NCAA Tournament audience is 15% larger than 2021.

· The Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20 kicked off the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship season and was the most-watched (average of 1.353M) event of the series on cable since 1995 (Grand Prix of Brazil, 1.74M)...until it was topped a week later by the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (1.445M). Both races aired on ESPN.

· The Australian Open men's championship was up 56% from the previous year and the most-viewed since 2017.

Studio Programming

· Every live edition of ESPN's flagship program, SportsCenter, was up double digits vs. 2021 (except for the 1 a.m. show, which was up 9%). The biggest increases were the 11 p.m. show (up 27%) and the 6 p.m. show (up 20%). The most-watched edition was the midnight program with an average of 550,000 viewers, up 12% from a year ago.

· Weekday afternoon's NBA Today averaged 311,000 viewers, up 32% from the time slot the previous season. It reached a new all-time high point on Thursday, Feb. 10, with an average of 544,000 viewers.

· NBA Countdown averaged 523,000 viewers, a 29% increase vs. 2021.

· The weekday morning show First Take was up 23% for its best first quarter since 2018. It set a show record for most-viewed show ever on Monday, Jan. 17, with an average of 918,000 people.

· The weekday morning program Get Up enjoyed its best first quarter ever, up 15% from last year. On Monday, Jan. 17, it garnered its biggest audience ever with an average of 658,000 viewers.

· Weekday afternoon's NFL Live recorded its best first quarter since 2016, up 31% from 2021.

· Around the Horn at 5 p.m. had its best first quarter since 2018, up 25% from a year ago.

· In its 21st year, Pardon the Interruption at 5:30 p.m. was up 12% and is ESPN's most popular weekday studio show, averaging 728,000 in the quarter.

-30-





  [march 2022]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[07/09/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers"
"Nightline" saw gains on the same week last year in Total Viewers (+3% - 663,000 vs. 644,000) and Adults 18-49 (+4% - 96,000 vs. 92,000).

[07/08/25 - 06:05 PM]
ESPN Formula 1 Coverage Enjoying Record-Breaking Season of Viewership
11 of 12 races held so far this season have had year-over-year viewership growth and seven of the 12 have set event viewership records.

[07/08/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 30: "Squid Game" Season 3 Leads Top 10 Globally, Climbs to No. 3 on Most Popular
Plus: "The Waterfront" maintained its Top 10 empire as the No. 1 English show in its third week with 5.6 million views.

[07/08/25 - 06:30 AM]
New AMC/AMC+ Epic Adventure Drama "Nautilus" Surfaces with 2.6 Million Premiere Night Viewers on Linear TV
The highly anticipated series premiered on Sunday, June 29 on AMC and AMC+, with new episodes premiering weekly on Sundays until the thrilling two-episode season finale on August 17.

[07/03/25 - 02:33 PM]
ABC News Same-Day Primetime Special "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" Is No. 1 in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54
Versus the competition in the time period, "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" outperformed NBC by +40% in Adults 18-49 (212,000 vs. 151,000) and +22% in Adults 25-54.

[07/02/25 - 06:44 PM]
Tyler Perry's "Divorced Sistas" Quickly Rises to Become BET+'s Most Watched Original Series in Platform History
Just halfway through the eight-episode season, existing subscribers and new fans of the show have boosted the drama series to the most-watched series premiere on BET+ in just three weeks.

[07/02/25 - 02:38 PM]
Hallmark Channel Earns #1 Most-Watched Network on Weekends Throughout June with "Passport to Love" Programming Event
"Passport to Love" helped elevate Hallmark Channel to be the #1 most-watched network on weekends throughout the month of June.

[07/01/25 - 12:01 PM]
Top 10 Week of June 23: "Squid Game" Season 3 Takes Over with Record-Breaking Global Debut at No. 1
"The Waterfront" was a Top 10 hit once more as the No. 1 series on the English TV list (11.6 million views).

[07/01/25 - 10:26 AM]
ESPN Formula 1 Viewership Notes After Austrian Grand Prix
ESPN's live telecast on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year's race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television.

[07/01/25 - 09:16 AM]
ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" Featuring the Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers Averaged 2 Million Viewers - Up 66% from Last Year's Comparable Game
The audience peaked with 2,304,000 viewers in the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.

[06/27/25 - 02:29 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Gears Up for Summer Rising Week to Week in All Key Measures
Wednesday, June 11, was the most-viewed day of the week among Total Viewers (2.164 million).

[06/27/25 - 10:31 AM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tops Late-Night in Adults 18-49 for Third Week in a Row
Winning three of five nights in Kimmel's final week before summer guest hosts, Thursday, June 19, was the show's strongest night among Adults 18-49 (0.35 rating).

[06/25/25 - 11:55 AM]
Prime Video Finishes Groundbreaking First Season of Exclusive NASCAR Coverage
According to Nielsen, NASCAR on Prime posted a season average of 2.16 million viewers (AMA P2+) across five events, and attracted droves of younger viewers to its live coverage.

[06/25/25 - 07:58 AM]
ABC News Primetime Special "Karen Read: The Verdict - A Special Edition of 20/20" Ranks #1 Across All of Broadcast and Cable in Adults 18-49
Plus: "Karen Read: The Verdict" placed No. 1 based on views among all titles on Hulu on Thursday (6/19), Friday (6/20) and Saturday (6/21).

[06/24/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week, and Claims Top Spot in Total Viewers for the 5th Straight Week
On Monday (6/16/25), "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (1.112 million) in 5 months.