Viewership up 31% over September 2016

In September, ESPN’s First Take enjoyed a 31% increase in overall viewership over the previous year, averaging 461,000 viewers (P2+, Nielsen). The month also saw an increase of 70% for men 18-34 compared to the same month last year (124,000 vs. 73,000).

First Take – ESPN’s weekday morning studio debate show featuring commentators Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman with host Molly Qerim – airs weekday mornings from 10 a.m. – noon ET focusing on the most compelling and entertaining topics of the day from the world of sports. Since First Take moved to ESPN on Jan. 3, the show’s audience (P2+) has increased 16% vs. the same time last year.

September included six days on the road with stops in Dallas to preview the Cowboys’ home opener, Los Angeles and Las Vegas leading up to the highly anticipated Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez middleweight championship unification bout.

In addition, First Take’s audience was triple that of Undisputed on FS1 – 461,000 vs. 150,000. The ESPN show’s advantage among men 18-34 was again nearly quadruple that of Undisputed with an average of 124,000 impressions vs. 32,000 for FS1.

Fans Turn to ESPN for All-Star Guests
With no surprise, the top day for viewership this month was Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 4) with 796,000 viewers tuning in for an update on Ezekiel Elliot’s legal issues. Rounding out the top three days for the month showed fans turning to First Take for all-star guests. On Tuesday, Sept. 12, 672,000 fans tuned in to watch guests Magic Johnson and Snoop Dogg from Los Angeles and on Monday, Sept. 18, 548,000 fans tuned in to watch surprise guest Kyrie Irving in the studio discussing his trade request from Cleveland and not informing LeBron James.