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ESPN Viewership Dropped in Q2

umfan said:
Could it be due to NBCSN and CBSSN gaining traction with viewers?
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It could be, but spitballing on what SBJ article noted about the NBA playoffs--the Stanley Cup playoffs had Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles teams in the mix late. I could buy NBCSN's growth, as they own the hockey audience. Better channel placement (didn't DirecTV, Dish, and a national cabler move them closer to the ESPNs?) had to help too.

CBSSN doesn't subscribe to the TV numbers, and I can't imagine they had any must-see sports property.
 
No, no must see, but I'm sure some ESPN viewers were peeled off to watch AFL. This wasn't a huge amount, by any means, but perhaps enough to have impacted ESPN's ratings.
 
umfan said:
No, no must see, but I'm sure some ESPN viewers were peeled off to watch AFL. This wasn't a huge amount, by any means, but perhaps enough to have impacted ESPN's ratings.
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Yes, because the mighty Arena League is big enough to make a dent in ESPN's ratings! Seriously, I'm not sure anyone watches the Arena League even locally...
 
The problem with ESPN lately for me; too little actual live sports, too much blabbing about them with their hours upon hours of studio shows and SportsCenter, along with overexhaustion about their obsessions over LeBron and Tebow. I think there's a sense of fatigue among sports viewers who are looking for actual sports and out of frustration, looking for something else. Not helping has been a few of their baseball games ending up in rain delay studio show hell either, and them getting mostly San Antonio sweeping out everyone with their NBA playoff coverage (while TNT got some great Eastern Conference series) didn't help either. Some viewers may just prefer the hardcore analysis of NBA TV, NHL Network and MLB Network or their favorite sports site, and getting their information there rather than the Worldwide Leader.

But another unknown factor too? Some viewers are probably watching ESPN on their phones, through the XBox, or the Apple TV with the "Watch" app, and Nielsen isn't counting those viewers in.
 
mrschimpf said:
But another unknown factor too? Some viewers are probably watching ESPN on their phones, through the XBox, or the Apple TV with the "Watch" app, and Nielsen isn't counting those viewers in.
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but E$PN is still getting their subscriber fees since you can't use WatchESPN without a cable subscription or the cable subscription of someone you know
 
nomadcowatbk said:
but E$PN is still getting their subscriber fees since you can't use WatchESPN without a cable subscription or the cable subscription of someone you know
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I do know that, but some of those more apt to use the app, or those who hate the normal ESPN commercial loop just use the app instead; those aren't counted by Nielsen in the channel ratings.
 
Ken said:
Plus you got MLB Network which i watch more for baseball highlights instead of waiting thru sportscenter.
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This. It shouldn't be all too surprising that ESPN is affected by niche programming, just like all other general interest broadcasters. "Sports" itself used to be a niche, but now there are channels dedicated to all 4 major team sports, online streaming, and even more importantly, the local regional sports networks, all of which have extended, detailed focus on the local teams in their market.

For a few years, the "put the radio show on TV" was an interesting niche, but now even regional sports nets have some version of that. Plus the extreme commercial load doesn't translate well on TV.

The only ESPN program I watch these days is the Sunday morning Sports Reporters. Even after 20+ years, that show gets treated like dirt, with a single airing early on Sunday AM (630AM PT), no online video, no on-demand options with cable, and an irregular schedule (ESPN this week, ESPN2 the next, then ESPN, then back on ESPN2 but earlier than usual). I tape it, and it's a nice 22-minute digest of what's the East Coast sports experts think is most important in the sports world.

I've tried watching E:60, but have rarely made it through an entire episode. I have no problem watching entire hours of Real Sports on HBO, even when they cover topics in which I have minimal interest, but the E:60 storytelling/writing just falls flat. Maybe its their "fan-dom" or the incessant ridiculous always-on ticker that flashes and whirls across my screen, telling me about a soccer match that happened 18 hours ago.

The 30-on-30 film series are extremely well-done. I won't watch them on ESPN though. I usually catch them when Comcast loads them on-demand, free of the scrolling clutter and commercials.
 
Morgan Wick said:
ESPN usually takes down the ticker for E:60 and 30 for 30, don't they?
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Only the night of the original airing. You catch it on other nights you get it with the ticker. Thankfully many of them eventually get on Netflix too.

The only show I pay attention on ESPN is Outside the Lines, but that got diluted a little on the day of the Boston bombing as every network dropped everything while ESPN went forward for an eternity about a debate involving Kobe's injury the Friday before. They could only mention it at the end of the half-hour and after some more "who cares it's April" blabbing with College Football Live, finally went to the story full-time; the death of ESPNews at the hands of overairing SportsCenter is really hurting ESPN as a sports news operation.

E:60 has the most dragging writing among any newsmag show. They take minutes with backstory before they get to the meat of the story and most of it feels like they can't seem to get out of the glurge hole they get into around the time of "My Wish" week on SportsCenter.
 
mrschimpf said:
Morgan Wick said:
ESPN usually takes down the ticker for E:60 and 30 for 30, don't they?
Click to expand...

Only the night of the original airing. You catch it on other nights you get it with the ticker. Thankfully many of them eventually get on Netflix too.
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I've seen at least some 30 for 30 reairs without the ticker...
 
OTL Weekly is pretty much the only thing I watch, and even then its normally only if its a story I care about and Bob Ley is hosting
 
This week (August 5th-12th), "Sportscenter"'s ratings will likely increase substantially, thanks to the suspension of Alex Rodriguez and reports that college football star Johnny Manzell took money for signing autographs, in apparent violation of NCAA regulations.

But that would only be a short-term spike.
 
With every broadcast channel getting a sports network, I think ESPN should change to the ABC Sports Network.
 
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