ESPN still lays a strong claim to being the worldwide leader in sports, according to numbers published in the network’s 2018 year-end report. The network has made major strides with its digital offerings, but still boasts an impressive cable TV audience.
So far in 2018, ESPN has aired 17 of the top 20 most-viewed cable TV programs, including all of the top six. ESPN’s Monday Night Football finished as the most-watched series on cable for the second straight year in 2018 and had an eight percent increase in year-over-year average viewership compared to 2017. MNF’s average viewership in 2018 was also two percent bigger than that in 2016.
With an average of 115 million users per month, ESPN digital claims to be the world’s leading sports digital platform. ESPN’s website is first in sports in average minute audience, total minutes of usage, and total visits. ESPN’s mobile app also ranks as the No. 1 most popular sports app and recorded back-to-back most-visited months in September and October. The ESPN fantasy app again ranked as the top provider of fantasy sports in 2018.
In April, ESPN redesigned its app to integrate the ESPN+ streaming service, which had reached one million subscribers within five months of launch. ESPN’s year-end report also shows the network has grown its podcast audience. ESPN’s collection of podcasts saw a 55 percent year-over-year increase in downloads for 2018 through October.
On Facebook, the ESPN and SportsCenter pages showed a 48 percent year-over-year increase in 2018, while the increase on Twitter was 32 percent. SportsCenter on Snap, short episodes produced each morning by ESPN for the Snapchat platform, had a daily audience of 2.5 million and 17 million per month. Viewers aged 18 to 24 were 33 percent more likely to watch ESPN on Snapchat compared to ESPN on TV.