FS1 has seen one of its most successful months in recent memory on the back of World Cup viewership. The week of June 15 was the cable network’s most-watched in its history by total-day audience, averaging 885,000 viewers across its dayparts. But it appears as if that success did not rub off on the network’s new morning show, Wake Up Barstool.
According to a report by Austin Karp in Sports Business Journal, Wake Up Barstool averaged just 19,000 viewers on FS1 in the month of June, keeping in line with the show’s soft television ratings that began last September when it debuted. Get Up, the show that airs in the same hours on ESPN, averaged 426,000 viewers, a staggering 2,142% better than Wake Up Barstool, per SBJ.
The underwhelming viewership is particularly notable given FS1’s success throughout the rest of the month. Historically, major live sporting events, like World Cup matches, can have a halo effect on a network’s other programming, even lasting through the overnight hours and into the next day. No such momentum appeared to hold for the 8 a.m. ET episodes of Wake Up Barstool.
The show has failed to capture any sort of loyal audience on linear television since its debut at the beginning of last football season. In its first week on the air, Wake Up Barstool averaged 16,500 viewers on FS1. Of course, Wake Up Barstool is unique in the sense that it is also available in full on YouTube, where episodes generally earn between 5,000 and 20,000 additional views.
To be abundantly fair to the show, it did technically earn 2,500 more viewers on average in the month of June than it did in its inaugural week last September. But it’d be quite the stretch to call that improvement a success, especially considering the potential viewership windfall live World Cup matches could’ve provided.
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.