First Take on ESPN: Average Audience up Double Digits, Reach Increases More Than 60 Percent
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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