ESPN has made huge investments in talent in recent years to further separate itself from the pack of competitors trailing the Worldwide Leader in Sports. And in 2025, the gap only grew.
Bristol is looking back on 2025 as one of the most impactful and successful years in company history. And at the forefront of that success is their daily studio lineup with stars new and old leading the way.
The highlights from the ESPN announcement show ratings growth across the board. Among the most notable is that the trio of Get Up, First Take, and The Pat McAfee Show all set ratings records, scoring their most-watched years at the network. Of course, the success also comes as ESPN canceled Around the Horn, which was a part of that lineup for many years.
But ESPN’s success goes beyond its core daily shows, as SportsCenter posted gains all throughout the day, and NFL Live and NBA Today also rose in viewership. Finally, the mainstay of Pardon the Interruption secured its most successful year since 2019.
- The 7 a.m. SportsCenter delivered its most-watched year since 2019, up 5% year-over-year (YOY).
- Get Up, hosted by Mike Greenberg, recorded its most-watched year ever, averaging 424,000 viewers, up 10% YOY. The show has recorded four straight years of YOY growth.
- First Take, featuring commentator and executive producer Stephen A. Smith, also had a record-setting year, averaging 517,000 viewers, up 6% YOY.
- The Pat McAfee Show posted its most-watched year since the daily show debuted on ESPN in 2023, finishing up 8% YOY (linear and digital).
- The 2–3 p.m. SportsCenter delivered its best performance since it began in 2023, finishing up 20% YOY.
- NBA Today, hosted by Malika Andrews, delivered the best NBA daily studio performance since 2018, up 16% YOY.
- NFL Live, hosted by Laura Rutledge, posted its best year since 2016, up 18% YOY. When accounting for football season only, NFL Live also posted 18% YOY growth, including increases in key demos such as youth (P2-17) and amongst females, growing 78% and 48%, respectively.
- The 5 p.m. SportsCenter delivered four straight months of year-over-year growth to close out 2025, up 10% vs. last year.
- PTI, ESPN’s most-viewed weekday studio show, averaged 679,000 viewers – its best year since 2019, up 5% YOY.
- The 6 p.m. SportsCenter delivered its most-watched year since 2015, up 16% YOY.
- The 11 p.m. SportsCenter posted its best year since 2019, up 17% YOY.
- SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt had its best year since 2022.
- The 1 a.m. SportsCenter was up 11% YOY.
Jimmy Pitaro and company certainly have to be happy with these results. Of course, the caveat is that sports viewership has been the biggest benefactor of Nielsen’s new Big Data measurement system. But most of those games have been centered on live sporting events. The fact that ESPN is seeing growth universally for its daily lineup as well is highly encouraging.
And what’s most important is that this viewership growth comes at a time when ESPN is coming off its most transformative year ever in 2025. The company has struck an equity deal with the NFL, launched its DTC streaming service, and had to battle through a major dispute with YouTube TV. You can certainly have your qualms with some of ESPN’s decision-making, especially when it comes to a content perspective, but there’s no doubting that from the business side, they seem to be on their way to a soft landing (as long as everything promised goes according to plan) through one of the most complicated environments in sports and media history.
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