Brian Windhorst was a guest on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina discussing that moment when he dropped some knowledge on how First Take works.
He began by talking about one of the reasons he presented his story the way that he did on First Take was because the first segment of that show is unconventionally long.
“The ‘A’ block of First Take, I’ve been on it when it’s gone 25 minutes before,” Windhorst said. “It’s not usually scripted out to that. It’s got air”.
Windhorst then got into the analytical way ESPN builds that programming.
“Most ESPN shows, specifically the morning tv shows, first off you’re not getting three straight minutes of talking on one topic and you’re certainly not getting it on the Utah Jazz. I don’t say that with any animus,” Windhorst said.
Instead, he would explain, the network gathers data on what viewers are responding to in order to create a daily show like First Take.
“The ESPN shows, the topics are curated by data analysis. What you’re seeing is a product of what you’re watching as a collective,” said the NBA Insider. “I’ve been at ESPN for twelve years now and one of the big differences from when I started to now is just how much analysis they have, the producers and the decision makers have on what people are watching and they respond to.”
Windhorst quipped that if people don’t like what they are seeing, perhaps look over your fence.
“For anybody that complains about what they are seeing, they can only look to their neighbors because that’s what their neighbors want to see”.
