Ratings ticked up, but viewership for the ESPY Awards fell for a fourth straight year.
Wednesday’s ESPY Awards averaged a 2.6 rating and 3.87 million viewers on ABC, up a tick in ratings but down 2% in viewership from last year (2.5, 3.94M), and down 24% and 27% respectively from 2017 (3.4, 5.32M).
Ratings increased for the first time since the record-setting 2015 ESPYs, but viewership declined for a fourth straight year.
This year’s ESPYs ranks as the fourth-highest rated and fifth-most watched on record, with the caveat that the show aired on ESPN for most of its existence. Prior to moving to ABC in 2015, the show had not exceeded a 2.3 or 3.62 million.
It had a 0.9 rating in adults 18-49, even with last year and down 36% from 2017 (1.4). Ratings in adults 18-34 were also flat at a 0.6. For the night, it ranked second behind the CBS reality show “Big Brother” in both demos.
The ESPYs ranks as the highest rated and most-watched sports awards show of the past year, topping the NFL Honors on CBS in February (2.1, 3.42M) and the Heisman Trophy Presentation on ESPN last December (1.8, 2.93M). It more-than-tripled the recent NBA Awards on TNT (1.11M) and NHL Awards on NBCSN (200K).
ESPY Awards ratings, viewership, past two decades
[Numbers from ESPN, Nielsen via Programming Insider 7.12]
