Jemele Hill

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Ratings News and Notes

  • With the controversy surrounding ESPN anchor Jemele Hill as she described Donald Trump as a “white supremacist” via several tweets on Monday, Sep. 11 and the White House twice suggesting for her firing, how did the uproar affect the ratings for her weeknight show “SC6” (6 p.m. SportsCenter)? The short answer: ratings relatively remained the same.

    For Sep. 12-15, 2017, “SC6” averaged 448,000 viewers. It fell 34 percent from its 5:30 p.m. lead-in, “Pardon the Interruption” (PTI) that averaged 676,000 viewers over the same period.

    For the seven dates that the 6 p.m. “SportsCenter” followed “PTI” on the ESPN flagship network pre-controversy — for Aug. 21-25 and Sep. 5-6 — the 6 p.m. “SportsCenter” averaged 454,000 viewers while “PTI” averaged 693,000 viewers. The 6 p.m. “SportsCenter” earned roughly the same retention from “PTI” on ESPN for the two weeks prior to Sep. 11 (65 percent retention) as for the week that involved the controversy (66 percent retention).

    Compared to the same week in the same time slots one year ago (Sep. 13-16, 2016), “PTI” was down 17 percent (676,000 viewers vs. 816,000 viewers) while “SC6” fell 20 percent (448,000 viewers vs. 562,000 viewers); Michael Smith and Jemele Hill were not hosts of last year’s 6 p.m. “SportsCenter”.

    The 6 p.m. “SportsCenter” retention from “PTI” for Sep. 13-16, 2016 was 69 percent. Going by the year-to-year compatible editions of pre-controversy 6 p.m. “SportsCenter”, it was down 10 percent (408,000 viewers for Aug. 24-25, 2017 vs. 451,000 viewers for Aug. 25-26, 2016),

    While it remains to be seen whether or not there will be drastic ratings erosion for “SC6” in the long-term, the immediate conclusion one can draw from the current “SC6” ratings — pre or post Hill’s tweets is that its ebbs and flows have so far been negligible over the past month and its ratings movements (ups or downs) are directly parallel to those of its “PTI” lead-in.

  • ESPN reassumed its Monday night position as the top network on television in all key figures on Sep. 11 with the Week 1 “Monday Night Football” doubleheader of New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Chargers at Denver Broncos — the latter game featured the infamous sideline report by Sergio Dipp that lit up social media.

    The two games averaged 10.68 million viewers and 5.26 million adults 18-49 from 6:55 p.m. to 1:21 a.m. Eastern. This was down 8 percent in total viewers (vs. 11.61 million) and down 9 percent among adults 18-49 (vs. 5.75 million) from the year-ago doubleheader of Pittsburgh-Washington and L.A. Rams-San Francisco on Sep. 12, 2016.

    The declines are even steeper when comparing to the Week 1 MNF doubleheader of two years ago — Philadelphia-Atlanta and Minnesota-San Francisco on Sep. 14, 2015 — down 23 percent in total viewers (vs. 13.92 million) and down 26 percent among adults 18-49 (vs. 7.1 million).

espnlogo

ESPN Top 25 (and Select) Programs

ESPN ratings for September 11-17, 2017
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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPN is up 20 percent (2,867,000 vs. 2,386,000) from one week earlier and down 15 percent (2,867,000 vs. 3,374,000) from the same week one year ago (September 12-18, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPN is up 14 percent (1,034,000 vs. 911,000) from one week earlier and down 12 percent (1,034,000 vs. 1,176,000) from the same week one year ago (September 12-18, 2016).

ESPN’s daily programs viewership averages for the week:

  • “First Take” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15 10 a.m.): 467,000 (271,000 adults 18-49)
  • “Outside the Lines: First Report” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15): 323,000 (198,000 adults 18-49)
  • “NFL Live” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15): 415,000 (236,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsNation” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15): 388,000 (240,000 adults 18-49)
  • “Highly Questionable” (ESPN, Sep. 13-15): 396,000 (229,000 adults 18-49)
  • “Around the Horn” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15): 465,000 (242,000 adults 18-49)
  • “Pardon the Interruption” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15): 688,000 (326,000 adults 18-49)
  • “Daily Fantasy Show” (ESPN, Sep. 11-12): 334,000 (221,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15 7 a.m.): 337,000 (198,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15 8 a.m.): 313,000 (172,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 11-15 9 a.m.): 361,000 (196,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 12-15 6 p.m.): 448,000 (271,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 12, 14 & 17 11 p.m.): 629,000 (363,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 11-12, 14 & 17 midnight): 1,137,000 (680,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter at Night” (ESPN, Sep. 12-14 & 17 1 a.m.): 484,000 (269,000 adults 18-49)

ESPN2

ESPN2 Top 25 (and Select) Programs

ESPN2 ratings for September 11-17, 2017
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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPN2 is down 42 percent (332,000 vs. 571,000) from one week earlier and down 13 percent (332,000 vs. 380,000) from the same week one year ago (September 12-18, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPN2 is down 43 percent (191,000 vs. 337,000) from one week earlier and down 26 percent (191,000 vs. 259,000) from the same week one year ago (September 12-18, 2016).

ESPN2’s daily show viewership averages for the week:

  • “Mike & Mike in the Morning” (ESPN2, Sep. 11-15): 211,000 (106,000 adults 18-49)
  • “College Football Live” (ESPN2, Sep. 13): 133,000 (55,000 adults 18-49)
  • “MLB Network’s Intentional Talk” (ESPN2, Sep. 11-15): 77,000 (39,000 adults 18-49)
  • “The Paul Finebaum Show” (ESPN2, Sep. 11-15): 114,000 (65,000 adults 18-49)
  • “Daily Fantasy Football” (ESPN2, Sep. 11-15): 75,000 (42,000 adults 18-49)
  • “Jalen & Jacoby” (ESPN2, Sep. 12 & 14 late night): 86,000 (53,000 adults 18-49)
  • “ESPN FC” (ESPN2, Sep. 17): 62,000 (38,000 adults 18-49)
  • “First Take” (ESPN2, Sep. 15): 119,000 (63,000 adults 18-49)
  • “NBA: The Jump” (ESPN2, Sep. 11): 105,000 (71,000 adults 18-49)
  • “Nacion ESPN” (ESPN2, Sep. 14): 103,000 (32,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 11-15 10 a.m.): 149,000 (75,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 11-15 11 a.m.): 147,000 (70,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 11 6 p.m.): 150,000 (80,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 14-15 7 p.m.): 122,000 (59,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 13 11 p.m.): 196,000 (146,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 13 & 15 midnight): 114,000 (65,000 adults 18-49)
  • “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 15 1 a.m.): 191,000 (112,000 adults 18-49)

ESPNU

ESPNU Top 25 (and Select) Programs

ESPNU ratings for September 11-17, 2017
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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPNU is up 6 percent (141,000 vs. 133,000) from one week earlier and down 2 percent (141,000 vs. 144,000) from the same week one year ago (September 12-18, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPNU is down 7 percent (67,000 vs. 72,000) from one week earlier and up 8 percent (67,000 vs. 62,000) from the same week one year ago (September 12-18, 2016).

ESPNU’s daily show viewership averages for the week:

  • “The Dan Le Batard Show” (ESPNU, Sep. 13-15): 24,000 (14,000 adults 18-49)

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research

About Douglas Pucci

Douglas Pucci is a contributor to Programming Insider and blogger at Son of the Bronx.