Going live has had little effect on the viewership for ESPN’s SportsCenter.
Since September, ESPN has averaged 419,000 homes for live editions of SportsCenter from 9 AM-3 PM, up 2% from the 411,000 homes the network averaged for taped reruns of SportsCenter and other miscellaneous programming in the same timeslot a year ago.
The flat numbers are being pinned on a “decrease in viewing by young males — our core audience — who have been watching news programming (hurricanes, economy, presidential election).”
Since the 2008 Presidential Election, SportsCenter ratings are up 2% among men 25-54; in the previous eight weeks, ratings had been down 4% in that demo.
