Amidst Boatloads Of Criticism ESPN Has It's Strongest April Ever
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
There's no getting around the fact that ESPN is huge and it does in fact do a lot of things well. Even as Al Michaels was calling the people who yell on many shows that ESPN airs "gasbags", I found myself getting ready to punch the channel numbers into my remote. Mike Tirico at one point last night even tried to use the whole "you can change the channel, we're not the only game in town" line. The problem with that line is that it's completely false. They ARE pretty much the only game in town and I think these number prove that. ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN News all had their best April ever....
ESPN averaged 746,000 homes on a 24-hour basis, up 21 percent from April 2007 (617,000) and the most ever for the month. The network was boosted by larger audiences for the NBA playoffs, Major League Baseball and SportsCenter, as well as the addition of The Masters, which provided cable’s most-watched golf telecast in history.A 750K average over a full day is a ridiculous number for a cable channel and especially one that isn't News based (well non-Sports News I mean). I guess if it isn't broke then they won't be doing any fixing anytime soon.
ESPN2 averaged 255,000 homes, its best ever for April and up nine percent from last year (233,000). The network also set marks in Men 18-49 and 25-54. The live weekday morning lineup – ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning (6 – 10 a.m. ET) and FirstTake (10 a.m. – noon) – continues to grow its audience. That six-hour block averaged 201,000 homes, up 41 percent from April a year ago (143,000)
In April, ESPNEWS averaged a record 62,000 homes, up 11 percent from a year ago (56,000). It was the 24th consecutive month of household growth for ESPNEWS. The network debuted in high definition March 30 with a new set, graphics and music.
(Via ESPN PR)
7 Comments:
The Brilliance of the WWL: the lead story on the Tuesday 1 am Sportscenter was Alex Rodriguez going on the DL, ahead of the NBA & NHL playoffs. A grand total of 5 minutes spent on three NHL playoff games (I guess Melrose is paid by the minute). And before the NHL highlights, two REGULAR season baseball games were highlighted, and a friggin soccer game from England.
I only endured Sportscenter because I was out of town for work, and didnt have access to NHL network. Their highlight show (On The Fly) is pretty good.
jg-of course the A-rod injury leads, anything yankees related gets top billing! Would any other owner besides steinbrenner get any airtime at all for talking? Yet because its the yankees, it gets tons of air on ESPN. It's pretty sickening how much sucking up they do to both the red sox and yankees, and the mets to a lesser extent. I swear, how many times are we going to be subjected to one of those three times in prime time? How some variety fellas?
Anon I agree with your comment It is on of the reasons I rarely watch Sportscenter. I just think that the sports having their playoffs should get priority.
Hey there, AA. Just thought I'd ask you something. Did you listen to Dan Patrick this morning? In his hour 2 segment with Tom Verducci, he actually dropped "Awful Announcing" saying "would the new Roger Clemens story be something that Deadspin would cover or Awful Announcing and some of these other sites.."
Figured I'd let you know. He sounds like he defends the blogs and doesn't agree with how Buzz reacted. Just thought I'd let you know. It was pretty cool. If you want to dig up the link, I'm sure you can get it on his site and such.
ESPN Sportscenter is usually horrible and I now watch FSN Final Score. Prior to 2000 I would watch the CNN Sports Report with Nick Charles and Fred Hickman. ESPN hugely overemphasizes individuals and their showboating and hotdogging and does a horrible injustice to the concept of team sports and the necessity to sacrifice and conceal the ego and individualis. ESPN also does not provide coverage of sports it does not broadcast such as the NHL, the Mountain West Conference, and the CFL. They have way too much coverage and hype over the NBA and NFL which is quite annoying and wasteful. I know there are lots of others who look at the ESPN monster the same way. In essence, they have destroyed and ended sportsmanship and professionalism in sports.
There are many legit complaints about ESPN, but I would have to believe that their lack of coverage of the CFL isn't one of them. You can't be serious.
In light of ESPN's continued pursuit of excellence, they just put up a graphic claiming Sweet Lou has coached them to 202 wins and 87 losses during his one season + tenure with Chicago.