While we’ll always pine for the SportsCenter anchors of our youth, it seems like the show is back on the right track following a stellar year in 2023. Every single edition of the show saw year-over-year growth from 2022 into 2023, the largest being the 1 a.m. ET edition, which saw a growth of 22 percent from 2023 to 2022.
SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt, which airs at midnight E.T. or immediately following live games, led the way with an average viewership of 741,000 per episode, a four percent increase over 2022. Like many ESPN programs, it ended the year with a strong December, averaging 963,000 viewers for the month, a 30 percent year-over-year increase. This included an audience of 2.7 million for the Dec. 30 edition that followed the controversial ending of the Detroit Lions/Dallas Cowboys game.
In addition, all editions of SportsCenter saw year-over-year increases in viewership among younger viewers in the Persons ages 18-49 demographic. The 2 p.m. edition, which debuted in September, averaged 290,000 viewers in its first four months. You can view metrics provided by ESPN for each edition of SportsCenter below:
| Edition | 2023 Avg. Viewers | 2022 Avg. Viewers |
| 7 a.m. | 255,000 | 233,000 |
| 6 p.m. | 446,000 | 444,000 |
| 11 p.m. | 469,000 | 444,000 |
| SVP | 741,000 | 710,000 |
| Midnight (non-SVP) | 408,000 | 406,000 |
| 1 a.m. | 411,000 | 338,000 |
| Weekend AM | 437,000 | 420,000 |
