attends ESPN The Party on February 5, 2016 in San Francisco, California.

While its universe may be shrinking thanks to cord cutters, ESPN is seeing a silver lining with the people who still have the network in their homes. The Worldwide Leader says in the first five months of 2016, ESPN leads its fellow networks in key demographics especially in the key demographics that are big with advertisers.

In primetime, ESPN is number one in cable among the 18-34 age group, males 18-34, the overall 18-49 demographic as well as men 18-49 and men 25-54.

Its second in cable after Fox News in households and in the overall cable audience.

Next, it ranks first in both broadcast and cable in the men 18-34 age group and first in cable in the 18-34 demo, 18-49 group, men 18-49 and men 25.-54.

ESPN has certainly had plenty of live sports in the first five months to attract viewers including the College Football Playoff National Championship, NFL Wild Card Playoff, college basketball, Australian Open, MLB and the NBA Playoffs.

And it looks forward to the summer which includes NCAA Championships in baseball and softball, Euro 2016, Wimbledon, the MLB All-Star Home Run Derby which has done well for ESPN throughout the years and for the first time, the NFL Hall of Fame preseason game.

So as ESPN is losing subscribers, it hopes to hold on to what it currently has by continuing to air live events that can bring eyeballs to the TV.

[ESPN]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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