ESPN Ratings: ‘Around The Horn’ Scores its Best Week in Five Months; ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ Up Double-Digits in Demos

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Ratings News and Notes

• “Sunday Night Baseball” averaged a 1.1 U.S. household rating across 26 telecasts, up from a 1.0 rating in 2016; its total live audience – television plus streaming – was up 8 percent, averaged 1.762 million viewers, compared to 1.625 million viewers in 2016.

  ESPN also saw ratings growth for “Sunday Night Baseball” in multiple demos, including adults 18-34 (0.4 vs. 0.3), adults 18-49 (0.5 vs. 0.4) and males 25-54 (0.8 vs. 0.7). (Source: ESPN)

• As the Major League Baseball regular season draws to a close, coverage of seven games across on ESPN and ESPN2 from Sep. 19-20, 22 and 24 averaged 624,000 viewers and 231,000 adults 18-49, down 10 percent from the year-ago week (Sep. 20-21, 23 & 25, 2016: 692,000 viewers/257,000 adults 18-49 for six games on ESPN/ESPN2).

• With the reactions from Week 2 of the National Football League regular season as well as previews for Week 3 action, the ESPN daily program “Around the Horn” averaged 525,000 viewers and 276,000 adults 18-49 for Sep. 18-22. This is the show’s best weekly 5-day average since Apr. 24-28 (530,000 viewers/295,000 adults 18-49) which was also the week of the 2017 NFL Draft.

ESPN Top 25 (and Select) Programs

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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPN is down 11 percent (2,542,000 vs. 2,867,000) from one week earlier and down 23 percent (2,542,000 vs. 3,320,000) from the same week one year ago (September 19-25, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPN is down 12 percent (906,000 vs. 1,034,000) from one week earlier and down 14 percent (906,000 vs. 1,057,000) from the same week one year ago (September 19-25, 2016).

ESPN’s daily programs viewership averages for the week:

• “First Take” (ESPN, Sep. 18-22 10 a.m.): 462,000 (273,000 adults 18-49)
• “Outside the Lines: First Report” (ESPN, Sep. 18-19 & 21-22): 311,000 (166,000 adults 18-49)
• “NFL Live” (ESPN, Sep. 18-19 & 21-22): 407,000 (215,000 adults 18-49)
• “NBA: The Jump” (ESPN, Sep. 19 & 21): 340,000 (191,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsNation” (ESPN, Sep. 19 & 21-22): 359,000 (222,000 adults 18-49)
• “Highly Questionable” (ESPN, Sep. 18-22): 425,000 (247,000 adults 18-49)
• “Around the Horn” (ESPN, Sep. 18-22): 524,000 (276,000 adults 18-49)
• “Pardon the Interruption” (ESPN, Sep. 18-22): 707,000 (329,000 adults 18-49)
• “Daily Fantasy Show” (ESPN, Sep. 18): 316,000 (208,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 18-22 7 a.m.): 303,000 (173,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 18-22 8 a.m.): 291,000 (168,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 18-22 9 a.m.): 326,000 (189,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 18-22 6 p.m.): 414,000 (230,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 21 11 p.m.): 393,000 (188,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 18, 21-22 & 24 midnight): 1,247,000 (675,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter at Night” (ESPN, Sep. 19-21 & 24 1 a.m.): 399,000 (241,000 adults 18-49)

ESPN2 Top 25 (and Select) Programs

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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPN2 is up 32 percent (437,000 vs. 332,000) from one week earlier and up 64 percent (437,000 vs. 266,000) from the same week one year ago (September 19-25, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPN2 is up 7 percent (204,000 vs. 191,000) from one week earlier and down 24 percent (204,000 vs. 268,000) from the same week one year ago (September 19-25, 2016).

ESPN2’s daily show viewership averages for the week:

• “Mike & Mike in the Morning” (ESPN2, Sep. 18-22): 189,000 (85,000 adults 18-49)
• “College Football Live” (ESPN2, Sep. 19 & 21): 114,000 (62,000 adults 18-49)
• “MLB Network’s Intentional Talk” (ESPN2, Sep. 18-22): 77,000 (46,000 adults 18-49)
• “The Paul Finebaum Show” (ESPN2, Sep. 18-19 & 21-22): 118,000 (70,000 adults 18-49)
• “Daily Fantasy Football” (ESPN2, Sep. 18-20 & 22 5 p.m.): 69,000 (39,000 adults 18-49)
• “Jalen & Jacoby” (ESPN2, Sep. 20 late night): 46,000 (27,000 adults 18-49)
• “ESPN FC” (ESPN2, Sep. 24): 56,000 (15,000 adults 18-49)
• “Outside the Lines: First Report” (ESPN2, Sep. 20): 135,000 (87,000 adults 18-49)
• “NFL Live” (ESPN2, Sep. 20): 181,000 (110,000 adults 18-49)
• “NBA: The Jump” (ESPN2, Sep. 18 & 20): 145,000 (80,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsNation” (ESPN2, Sep. 18 & 20): 160,000 (90,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 18-22 10 a.m.): 137,000 (65,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 18-22 11 a.m.): 131,000 (71,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 18 6 p.m.): 124,000 (68,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 18-19 & 21 7 p.m.): 156,000 (82,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 18-20 & 24 11 p.m.): 148,000 (81,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 19-20 midnight): 142,000 (90,000 adults 18-49)

ESPNU Top 25 (and Select) Programs

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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPNU is down 8 percent (130,000 vs. 141,000) from one week earlier and up 73?percent (130,000 vs. 75,000) from the same week one year ago (September 19-25, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPNU is up 4 percent (70,000 vs. 67,000) from one week earlier and up 9 percent (70,000 vs. 64,000) from the same week one year ago (September 19-25, 2016).

ESPNU’s daily show viewership averages for the week:

• “The Dan Le Batard Show” (ESPNU, Sep. 18-22): 28,000 (18,000 adults 18-49)
• “The Paul Finebaum Show” (ESPNU, Sep. 20): 20,000 (7,000 adults 18-49)

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research