What’s the easiest way to launch a new show? Spin it off an existing one, of course. For their latest podcast, ESPN is leveraging the First Take brand to create a weekly edition of the show featuring only women.
First Take, Her Take launches on Wednesday, January 20th, and the show will have one episode per week. It will feature a trio of women doing the whole First Take thing – Charly Arnolt, Kimberley A. Martin, and Chiney Ogwumike.
Here’s more from the ESPN release.
On Wednesday, January 20, ESPN Podcasts will debut a new weekly offering, First Take, Her Take, with format similar to ESPN TV’s weekday morning discussion show, First Take. The new podcast will feature three prominent women in sports – ESPN’s Charly Arnolt, Kimberley A. Martin and Chiney Ogwumike – discussing the biggest sports stories but also providing insight into their unique backgrounds and personalities as they delve into other topics about their lives and culture.
If this is a success, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this podcast was expanded to more than just once a week, and possibly had its name changed down the road to differentiate itself from ESPN’s most popular daily show.
This isn’t the first spinoff of First Take. Back in 2018, ESPN launched First Take: Your Take, a Facebook Watch show that featured videos from fans, with one fan each week actually debating one of the hot take artists.
I don’t watch sports debate shows because I prefer my takes rational rather than reactionary (and because I live on the west coast and I’m not waking up early for this shit), but they clearly cater to a not insignificant part of the viewing audience. I’m curious whether or not one show a week will tamper down some of the overreactions and bring more sensible takes to the table, or if it will just feel stale in the First Take format and eventually evolve into something completely different in the coming months.
[ESPN]
