It was a successful start to 2025 for ESPN’s Digital and Social department, as the network announced its January data on Monday. Across ESPN Digital, YouTube, and ESPN-branded social platforms, the network reported reaching 209.3 million unique users. That figure accounts for 75% of the United States adult population, according to recently released Comscore data.
These findings helped the ESPN App remain the top destination, attracting 29 million unique users during a month that featured the NFL playoffs, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, and the NBA and NHL regular seasons. The 29 million unique users represent more than the next seven non-ESPN apps combined and five times more than its nearest non-ESPN competitor in the Mobile Sports App category.
Additionally, ESPN Social recorded over 978 million engagements on social media, making it the number-one sports property for the 43rd consecutive month.
With the NFL and NCAA football seasons concluding in January, many sports fans were locked into ESPN’s television brands.
ESPN’s presentation of the College Football Playoff led all television viewership for the month, according to Nielsen’s monthly Media Distributor Gauge. The report showed that Disney (ESPN) accounted for 12% of all time spent watching television in January, marking the highest monthly share for any traditional media company since the report was first established in November 2023.
Typically, streaming platforms such as YouTube and Netflix dominate these rankings. However, Disney’s strong performance was fueled by the immense interest in the College Football Playoff, which aired on its broadcast platforms. The report states that these playoff games represented the seven highest-rated cable telecasts of the month. As a result, ESPN experienced an 84% increase in monthly viewership compared to December.
ESPN also broadcast the Saturday NFL divisional playoff game between the Texans and Chiefs, which was simulcast on sister Disney network ABC. The game drew an average of 32.7 million viewers, according to preliminary data, marking a 1% increase from the comparable Ravens-Texans game a year ago. It also became ESPN’s most-watched NFL game ever, a record dating back to 1987.
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