It’s been over a month since FS1 launched its new daytime programming lineup. Colin Cowherd’s The Herd continues to hold down noon to 3 p.m. ET. Nick Wright’s First Thing First was extended by one hour, now taking 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET. And, of course, Fox solicited the services of Barstool Sports to fill its morning hours, initially airing Wake Up Barstool from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET, before re-airing the show from 10 a.m. to noon.
Despite the fanfare surrounding the move, Wake Up Barstool has yet to catch on in traditional television ratings. Whereas The Herd can regularly draw six-figure audiences, FS1’s new morning show has frequently delivered audiences fewer than 10,000 viewers.
Cowherd says the Barstool crew is still learning TV and finding their footing. In a recent interview with Derek Futterman of Sports Media Watch, Cowherd explained why he wouldn’t fret too much about the lackluster ratings so far.
“Barstool just started out, and I’m prepping when they’re on the air. I see what they look like, but Barstool’s made their bones on digital and podcasting, so now they’re transitioning to TV, and TV’s hard,” Cowherd said. “And also on television, it’s got to look the part, so TV, there’s a lot of elements to it. It’s, ‘Does it look big?’ For instance, [ESPN’s] Get Up looks big. I could turn the sound down on Get Up and the production quality, it looks big, so it takes a while to tweak all these shows. My look has been refined through the years, same with First Things First.
“So Barstool is brand new, and they’ve already made some tweaks to it, and I think it’ll be fine. The more Big Cat’s on it, the better. He’s obviously a big personality,” the longtime FS1 host concluded.
Cowherd might be getting to one of the problems with Wake Up Barstool‘s format with his answer. Each day is a different cast of characters. The company’s biggest stars, Dave Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat” Katz, only appear once per week. And while some of the show’s regulars like T-Bob Herbert and Brandon Walker have come into their own, Wake Up Barstool could certainly use a bigger dose of its superstars, as Cowherd suggests.
It’s also important to acknowledge that the show has been a success in metrics outside of traditional ratings. Wake Up Barstool‘s social engagement is undoubtedly higher than its predecessors on FS1, which is likely just as important to Fox Sports as linear ratings. Beyond the hard numbers, there’s also a halo effect that Fox Sports enjoys simply by way of being associated with the Barstool brand.
Eventually, if the morning show’s ratings don’t improve, could there be changes? Sure. Maybe Fox can convince Portnoy and Big Cat to appear more often. At least, that’s what Colin Cowherd would suggest. And he certainly has a track record of success in these ventures.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.