Viewership has slipped for the new 6 PM ET SportsCenter, though not among younger viewers. In other news, the SEC Tournament semifinals did well for ESPN, and the World Baseball Classic was up big on Saturday night.
Viewership Down Slightly For New 6 PM ET SportsCenter
- The 6 PM ET edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter has averaged a 0.4 rating and 529,000 viewers since Michael Smith and Jemele Hill began hosting in February, flat in ratings and down 4% in viewership from the same period last year (0.4, 553K). Despite the slight dip overall, viewership has increased in the adults 18-34 demographic, up 1% among men and 15% among women in the age group. Streaming viewership has also increased 33% from 12,800 to 16,900.
Good Numbers For SEC Tournament Semis
- Kentucky-Alabama scored 2.2 million viewers in an SEC Tournament semifinal on ESPN Saturday afternoon, up 128% from Texas A&M 71, LSU 38 last year (984K) but down 7% from Kentucky-Auburn in 2015 (2.4M). Ratings were not immediately available. Later in the day, Arkansas-Vanderbilt pulled 1.9 million — off 6% from Kentucky-Georgia last year (2.0M) but up 12% from Arkansas-Georgia in ’15 (1.7M). Figures for Sunday’s final were still delayed as of late Wednesday night.
Second U.S. WBC Game Up Big From ’13, Down Big From ’09
- The United States’ second game of the World Baseball Classic, a loss to the Dominican Republic, delivered 977,000 viewers on MLB Network Saturday evening — up 70% from the second U.S. match in 2013 against Italy (576K) but down 63% from the second match in 2009 against Venezuela, which aired on ESPN in its Sunday Night Baseball window (2.6M). According to Sports Business Daily writer Austin Karp, it was the most-watched program in MLB Network history outside of the MLB Postseason.
(Numbers from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily 3.15, Austin Karp/Twitter 3.15)
