ESPN was pleased to see that their strong start to 2022 continued in May. Coming off the heels of it’s largest Q1 viewership numbers since 2017, May was just as strong.
The network announced that due to large audience increases for the NBA, NCAA Softball, the PGA Championship and Formula One, it finished its strongest May in seven years. ESPN was also buoyed by the return of the NHL Playoffs to it’s channels.
ESPN says they averaged 742k viewers (P2+) on a 24-hour basis. That is up 34% from last year’s May. In prime time, the network was way up and saw an increase of 76% from last year, averaging 2.17M viewers. That number marks ESPN’s strongest prime time since 2018.
The network also says they led all cable networks in total day viewership among persons 18-49 in May (April 24 – May 28).
The biggest grabber of viewers was the NBA Playoffs which averaged 5.55M viewers for the network. That’s more than three times (up 204%) the audience of May 2021. ESPN also boasted the most-watched game in this year’s playoffs on any network – Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston defeating Miami, with an average audience of 9.87M fans. It was ESPN’s best NBA audience since 2018.
ESPN’s first NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2005 provided a big boost too. The network’s coverage averaged 1.2M viewers, which represents an 81% increase versus NBCSN’s coverage in May of 2021.
NCAA Softball was a strong participant as well. The sport averaged 636k viewers (up 18% over 2021) and was the strongest for the month on ESPN since 2015.
The Thursday audience of the PGA Championship drew 1.5M fans and was 23% larger than a year ago. It was also the biggest on any network for that round since 2002. Friday’s second round averaged 2.1M viewers, a record for ESPN and the best on any network since 2009.
Formula One continued its upward trajectory in the United States. The inaugural Grand Prix of Miami on ABC attracted the biggest audience in U.S. television history for a live F1 race – 2.6M viewers. The Grand Prix of Spain on ESPN2 averaged 1.1M viewers, up 32% from last year on ESPN. For seven races this year to date (five on ESPN), the series is averaging 1.4M persons. That is an increase of 45% from the same point a year ago.
Also bearing fruit for the network is SportsCenter. Every edition increased its audience over 2021 (except the 1 a.m. show), led by the midnight show growing 83%.
Get Up and First Take also recorded their best month of May ever and were up 9% and 31%, respectively.
This Just In was up 27%, NBA Today was up 59% and NFL Live was up 11%. For the latter, it was the best May since 2016.
The longtime pairing of Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption from 5-6 p.m. had their best May since 2019 with increases of 17% and 11%, respectively.
