ESPN's Scott Van Pelt this week is celebrating the anniversary of his midnight "SportsCenter" show, and the longtime fixture in Bristol seems to be pleased with the results of the program thus far. Viewership has climbed during the first eight months of '16, and the program is drawing a young audience (39.5 median age). While Van Pelt said he is not in competition with other late-night shows, the audience for his program also is scoring better among males 18-34 than any of those shows on cable or broadcast TV. Social and digital also have been highlights for the program, with fans getting plenty of play on Periscope, Facebook and Twitter. With today marking the one-year anniversary of the launch, Van Pelt took some time to discuss the show, including when he finds time to sleep with a newborn at home and the perks of flying solo at midnight.
Q: So, have you been getting any sleep these days?
Van Pelt: Less than usual. I used to be a guy who, uninterrupted, could easily sleep a good 10, 12 hours. I don’t sleep any more. I stay up all night because the show keeps me awake; after you host a show, you have to land the plane. You’re wide awake at 1:00am and you can’t go to sleep at 1:30am. It takes until 3:00am, 3:30am, sometimes 4:00am, and then the kids are up in the morning. So not a lot of sleep. We’ve added a new child in the interim, so now with two kids and a midnight show, sleep is at a premium.
Q: What are some perks of going solo at midnight vs. "SportsCenter" at 6:00pm ET?
Van Pelt: We have results of games to talk about. That for me is the biggest draw for something in the evening space. At 6:00pm, there are no results, so you have to manufacture the conversation to a large degree. We have outcomes of games and that’s still what I love the most about sports -- who won, why, what was interesting about it. We talked to (Florida State football coach) Jimbo Fisher right after his team had come back to beat Ole Miss. We could talk to him as it happened, as opposed to the next morning. People’s attention spans are such that it’s a very short window you get and we get it at midnight.
Q: Anything new you're experimenting with in year two of the show?
Van Pelt: More than anything, we’re just excited to go back to some of the staples that people loved, and a bunch of them are gambling related. We have Trombone Shorty back in the studio, so you have Winners and Bad Beats -- the franchise things that people really liked that we did during football. While we don’t have anything specific, we have made a point, collectively, to try and do some new things. As an example, we came up with Filth for baseball, which is a just term for a pitcher who has nasty stuff, and Swingers for somebody that hits home runs. Those have become these kind of catch-alls for highlights. The old days of a minute-and-a-half highlight have largely been replaced by what’s the significant play. So you have these devices or mechanisms to get results into the show.
Q: Who are you paying attention to on competing late-night shows?
Van Pelt: No one. And that’s not arrogance, it’s just has nothing to do with our show. It’s not that I discount other people. I think James Corden is brilliant, but I don’t think anybody’s going to come and sing in a car with me, nor would I try. I don’t think we’re trying to attract the same people. I don’t have the time or energy to concern myself at all with that, because I don’t believe I’m competing with anyone else. We’re just trying to do a good hour and we trust that that’s good enough to attract who it’s going to attract. I don’t view myself as being in competition with anyone. It’s much more like golf -- you play your round and whatever the scorecard says, the scorecard says.
Q: Pick a favorite child -- doing sports talk on radio or helming the "SportsCenter" desk?
Van Pelt: This "SportsCenter" allows enough of a feel for radio, like with the “1 Big Thing” stand-alone segment. For so long, opinion was a third rail, but now we create places for me to share what I think. That’s entirely new. I loved doing radio. It’s an incredibly challenging format, but this show allows me to take elements from that and use them in a television format. And, you’re in and out in an hour. It’s a third of the time and you get on with your life. I loved radio, but this for me is getting to scratch both itches, so to speak.
