The Walt Disney Company’s sports media brand ESPN said it drew an average minute audience of 2.3 million viewers in prime-time during the first quarter (Q1) of the year, one of its best early quarters in years.
The average minute audience on a daily basis was around 868,000 viewers, ESPN said, citing data from Nielsen Media Research. Its prime-time programming fared much better, boosted 36 percent on a year-over basis and driven by a number of premium live sports events like evening basketball games.
When combined with programs aired on ABC, ESPN says viewers collectively consumed 145.1 billion minutes of content — a higher amount than any other Q1 ratings period covered by Nielsen dating back more than a decade. The total number was up 16 percent compared to Q1 2024, the network affirmed.
Across all Nielsen-rated networks, ESPN had a 36 percent share of sports viewing, compared to 33 percent during Q1 2024.
