ESPN's Revamped Morning Lineup Paying Off, With "First Take" Strong Among Males 18-34

More young men have tuned into ESPN on weekday mornings since network execs shuffled its morning lineup earlier this year. That is one of the messages from a top ESPN sales exec -- Exec VP/Global Ad Revenue & Sales Operations Eric Johnson -- has been pushing over the past several weeks. The five hours of “SportsCenter: AM” (7:00-10:00am ET) and “First Take” (10:00am-noon) are drawing higher viewer numbers in the advertiser-friendly male 18-34 demo than any other net -- broadcast or cable, Johnson said. Even with cable news seeing dramatic rises in viewership, both “First Take” and “SportsCenter: AM” easily top shows like “Fox & Friends” and CNN’s “New Day” among young males. Johnson: “We’ve always done well in the morning. ‘SportsCenter’ in the morning has always provided some of the youngest demos we have across our portfolio. But I think the success of ‘First Take’ has really taken us to the top of the heap.” The net’s next test will be in early ’18, when ESPN launches Mike Greenberg’s morning show, taking over the timeslot that houses “SportsCenter: AM,” which moves over to ESPN2. “Based on everything I’ve seen with how the Greenberg show looks -- the format of it, how it’s going to lay out -- we expect to have another program on this list,” Johnson said.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: While the overall size of the audience in the mornings remains smaller versus primetime, Johnson was quick to point out that there are still “significant advertising budgets for early morning and late night.” Johnson said that between Scott Van Pelt’s midnight “SportsCenter” and the morning shows, ESPN’s sales proposition is to be “selling the idea that we have young males with high ratings compared to the rest of the marketplace in those dayparts.”

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? Many details of Greenberg’s new show remain TBD, including his co-host. Johnson said Greenberg and the ESPN production team are looking at “different types of sponsorship elements than within any current studio shows.” Johnson: “The unique nature of (Greenberg’s) show itself lends itself to new formats, similar to when we launched the new ‘SportsCenter’ set, which allowed us a whole new way to integrate brands within ‘SportsCenter.’ ... I think Greenberg is amenable to doing things that will be quite breakthrough. We’ll probably know what those elements are in the next 60 days, and then we’ll be going to market with those.”