Since Move to ESPN, Audience is Younger and More Diverse
Since First Take moved to ESPN on Tuesday, Jan. 3, the show’s audience (P2+) has increased 12% and its “reach” – the total number of people who watch the show – is 63% larger. Also, the audience profile is younger and more diverse than when it aired on ESPN2.
On ESPN, First Take – weekdays at 10 a.m. ET and hosted by Molly Qerim with Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman discussing each day’s most topical issues in sports – has averaged 445,000 viewers, up 12% from 397,000 for the show on ESPN2 in same time period a year ago (January 3 – April 28, 2017 vs. January 5 – April 29, 2016). In the key Men 18-34 demographic, the increase is 17%, from 94,000 impressions to 110,000.
In addition, the show’s reach was up 63% for the first three months of 2017 (reach is calculated in three-month increments): 26 million people tuned in to the show in January-March 2017 vs. 16 million a year earlier.
Not only are more people watching, the audience is younger and more diverse.
- The average age has dropped one year, from 42 to 41.
- The African-American composition of the audience now stands at 53%, up from 46%.
| First Take Helps ESPN’s Overall Daytime Success
· In weekday daytime viewing among national cable sports networks (M-F, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.), ESPN’s measured networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Deportes) garner 62 percent of the audience (P2+), rising to 72 percent among P18-34. · Focusing on multi-sport networks, the numbers rise to 80 percent and 86 percent, respectively. · Also, in 2016 ESPN was the No. 1 cable network in weekday daytime among M18-34, M18-49 and M25-54. |
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