ESPN Inc.: 2023 in Review (2024)

• January 2: SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt had its largest audience ever as 5.2 million viewers tuned in after the NFL suspended the ESPN Monday Night Football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills due to Bills’ player Damar Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest on the field.
• January 16: The NFL Super Wild Card finale – Dallas Cowboys-Tampa Bay Buccaneers – was the most-watched NFL Playoff game in Disney’s history with 31.2 million viewers.
• March 14: ESPN, Disney Channel and the NHL teamed up to bring fans the “NHL Big City Greens Classic,” the first-ever live, animated NHL game telecast, featuring the Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers.
• March 31/April 2: The 2023 NCAA Women’s Final Four was ESPN platforms’ most-viewed NCAA Division I women’s semifinals on record averaging 6.5 million viewers. The Championship game (LSU defeated Iowa) drew 9.9 million viewers making it the most-viewed women’s college basketball game everand ESPN platforms’ most-viewed college basketball game (men’s or women’s) on record.
• May 22: ESPN won 13 Sports Emmy Awards, a company record.
• September 4:Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe began joining First Take’s fall football guest lineup every Monday and Tuesday. Sharpe, like Chris “Mad Dog” Russo (who joined in February 2022), is regularly featured alongside commentator and executive producer Stephen A. Smith and host Molly Qerim.
• September 7: The Pat McAfee Show,the highly successful and innovative weekday sports talk and discussion program, launches on ESPN platforms.
• September 9: The 2023 US Open Women’s Championship between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka became the most-viewed Women’s Final of any tennis major ever on ESPN.
• September 11: The Walt Disney Company and Charter Communications announced a transformative agreement for distribution of Disney’s linear networks and direct-to-consumer services.
• September 11: The newMonday Night Countdowncrew debutedwith recently re-signed host Scott Van Pelt joined by Ryan Clark, Robert Griffin III, Marcus Spears, Alex Smith, Adam Schefter and Michelle Beisner-Buck.
• September 11: The third season ofMonday Night Football with Peyton and Elidebuted while additional Omaha Productions deals with ESPN led to the creation of alternate telecasts such asNBA Unplugged with Kevin Hart.
• October 1: ESPN, TWDC and the NFL presented a first-of-its-kind NFL Game presentation – “Toy Story Funday Football” – as real-time action between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars (from London) is experienced in Pixar’s iconic “Toy Story” Universe in Andy’s room, one of the movie’s most recognizable settings.
• October 24: ESPN presented its first ever “NHL Frozen Frenzy,” showcasing all 32 teams in continuous action across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+. The tripleheader of games that night averaged 432K total viewers and 195K P18-49 viewers, up 11% and 10% vs. the prior season’s NHL on ESPN average.
• October 25: ESPN on TikTok officially became the #1 most-followed brand – not just in sports, but overall – on the app with 44 million followers.
• October 25: Doris Burke made her debut as part of the lead NBA broadcast team, alongside Mike Breen and Doc Rivers. She will become the first woman to call the NBA Finals on television in the 2023-24 season.
• November 8: The TWDC’s Q4 FY2023 earnings call marked the first-ever breakout of ESPN’s financials.
• November 14: ESPN BET, a newly-branded online sportsbook for fans in the U.S. debuts, going live in 17 states. With the launch, ESPN began using official odds provided by ESPN BET across editorial and other content and rebrandedits sports betting show Daily Wager to ESPN BET Live (Nov. 10).

• November 18: College GameDay celebrated its 30th season on the road at James Madison University in front of record crowd of 26,000 fans.
• November 20: The Super Bowl LVII rematch between Philadelphia and Kansas City became the most-watched Monday Night Football game in 27 years, drawing more than 29M viewers (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes and NFL+). The audience is the television franchise’s best – and TWDC’s best – since 1996 (Green Bay at Dallas, 31.5M), spanning more than 450 games and the entire ESPN era of MNF.

• • • With the record-breaking audience, ESPN delivered its two most-watched Monday Night Football games ever during the 2023 season, surpassing Week 1’s audience of 22.6 million (Bills-Jets).

• December 6: The 2023 college football season was the second most-watched since 2016 across ESPN platforms. Overall, ESPN platforms were responsible for 46% of college football live game minutes viewed across nationally-rated linear networks, the largest share of any media company and more than the second and third companies combined.
• December 9: The Los Angeles Lakers victory over the Indiana Pacers in the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament Championship Gameaveraged 4,580,000 viewers on ABC and ESPN2, making it the most-watched non-Christmas NBA game during the regular season on any network in nearly six years.

Pickleball: Recognizing the growing import and impact of pickleball, ESPN signed two separate deals to bring sports fans unmatched coverage of the burgeoning sport:

• Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP): In January, ESPN and the APP announced an agreement for ESPN2 to televise eight one-hour recap shows and ESPN+ to stream more than 200 hours of live coverage of the APP Tour’s 2023 events.
• Carvana Professional Pickleball Association (PPA Tour): In May, ESPN and the Carvana Professional Pickleball Association (PPA Tour) announced an agreement to telecast eight PPA Tour tournaments in 2023.

Pro Football Hall of Fame: In August, ESPN and the Pro Football Hall of Fame reached a new multi-year media rights agreement.

National Women’s Soccer League: In August, ESPN and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), the top professional women’s soccer league in the United States, announced a multi-year agreement for the English-, Spanish- and Portuguese-language media rights to televise select matches in the U.S. and Latin America.

TGL: In October, TGL, the new tech-forward, team golf league developed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports in partnership with the PGA TOUR, and ESPN announced a multi-year partnership that makes ESPN the exclusive home of TGL matches in the United States. (The launch was later delayed until early 2025.)

Atlantic 10 Conference: On December 14, the A-10 and ESPN reached a new multimedia rights extension through 2028-29. The agreement will feature the conference’s top men’s and women’s basketball games on ESPN’s linear networks, including the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship Game, as well as hundreds of additional A-10 events on ESPN+.

College Football:

• 2nd most-watched regular season on ESPN networks since 2016 (1.7M viewers), driven by both ESPN’s and ABC’s 2nd best seasons since 2017.

NFL:

• The ESPN networks delivered their most-watched NFL Playoff game on record with 31.2M million average viewers watching the Dallas/Tampa Bay Wild Card game across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+.
• The 2023 NFL Draft audience across all ESPN networks was up double digits from 2022 (+17%).
• Through 13 weeks, Monday Night Football on the ESPN networks was averaging 16.7M viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, +29% versus 2022 season-to-date across the same mix of networks.
  • • ESPN’s presentation of the Super Bowl LVII rematch between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs in week 11 was the most-watched Monday Night Football game in 27 years, drawing more than 29 million viewers (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes). The audience of 29M viewers is the television franchise’s best – and The Walt Disney Company’s best – since 1996 (Green Bay at Dallas, 31.5 million), spanning the entire ESPN era of MNF.
    • Through 13 weeks, ESPN MNFdelivered its two most-watched Monday Night Football games ever in week 11 (Philadelphia/Kansas City, 29M) and week 1 (Buffalo/New York Jets, 22.7M).

Men’s College Basketball:

• Most-viewed regular season on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 since 2018-19.

Women’s College Basketball:

• Most-watched regular season on ESPN Nets since 2014-15.
• Most-watched Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament since 2009 and +55% YoY.
• WCBB NCAA Tournament Championship Game (LSU/Iowa, 9.9M) became the most-watched women’s college basketball game ever and ESPN’s most-watched men’s or women’s basketball game on record. It is also the most-watched college event ever on ESPN+.

Volleyball:

• December 17: On ABC, Texas defeated Nebraska in the 2023 Women’s Volleyball National Championship becomingthe most-watched NCAA women’s volleyball matchin history.

NBA Playoffs:

• Most-watched NBA Playoffs since 2019 on the ESPN networks (6.4M viewers) driven by:
  • • ESPN nets’ most-watched First Round ever (4.5M viewers across 15 games).
    • ESPN’s most-watched First Round game ever (Sacramento Kings/Golden State Warriors, Game 6, 5.0M viewers) that was also the most-watched First Round game on any network since 1999.
    • ESPN nets’ 2nd most-watched Conference Semifinals ever (6.1M viewers in 12 games).
    • ESPN nets’ most-watched Conference Finals since 2018 (7.9M viewers in 4 games).

NBA Draft:

• Most-watched NBA Draft on record across ESPN and ABC averaging 3.8M viewers.

NHL:

• The 2022-23 NHL regular season on ABC finished +19% YoY and recorded nine of the top 10 most-watched NHL games overall in the ’22-’23 season.
• The 2023 Stadium Series (2/18) was the most-watched edition since 2019.
• The 2023 All-Star Game averaged 1.5M total viewers, +31% from last year.
• Overall, the 2023 NHL All-Star Weekend on ESPN/ABC averaged 1.3M total viewers, +14% YoY.
• The First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs finished +22% YoY.
• The 2023-24 Opening Night Tripleheader on ESPN was +40% vs. last year and ranks as the 2ndmost-viewed opening night ever on cable.
• Chicago Blackhawks/Pittsburgh Penguins on Opening Night 2023-24 is ESPN’s most-viewed regular season game on record, averaging 1.43M viewers.

US Open Tennis:

• The 2023 US Open Women’s Championship was ESPN’s most-viewed Women’s Major Tennis Final (3.4M viewers), and the network’s 2ndmost-viewed US Open telecast on record.

• Most-viewed Men’s and Women’s Semifinals on ESPN since the current deal started in 2015.

Wimbledon:

• 2023 Wimbledon viewership across ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 was +7% from last year.
• Most-watched Wimbledon Men’s Championship since 2019 averaging 3.2M viewers, +43% YoY.

Little League Softball:

• Most-watched Little League Softball World Series since 2010 (340K viewers on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2).
• ABC’s Championship game stands as the 2nd most-watched Little League Softball game on record (dating back to 2001) and +208% from last year’s event on ESPN.

Little League Baseball:

• Little League Baseball averaged 787,000 viewers across all networks and rounds, +6% YoY.
• Most-watched Williamsport audience since 2015 (1.1M viewers on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2), +22% YoY.
• ABC’s World Championship became the most-watched LLWS game since 2019 (2.9 viewers, +18% YoY).

WNBA:

• ESPN nets most-watched regular season since 2016 (440K viewers; +18% YoY).
• 2023 featured four of the Top 15 most-watched regular season games on ESPN Networks since 2008, highlighted by Brittney Griner’s return (June 27) delivering the most-watched WNBA regular season game on cable since 1999 (683K viewers on ESPN).
• The 2023 WNBA Playoffs were the most-watched playoffs since 2007 (averaged 470K viewers).
• The Liberty-Aces Finals delivered the most-watched WNBA Finals since 2003 with an average of 728K viewers across four games.
• The Finals included the most-watched Finals Game 1 ever on ESPN Networks (729K viewers on ABC), the most-watched Finals Game 3 since 2005 (659K viewers on ABC), and the most-watched Finals Game 4 ever (889K viewers on ESPN).

NCAA Championships:

• Women’s Gymnastics Championship ranked as the most-watched college gymnastics telecast since 2007 (1.0M viewers).
• Men’s College Hockey Championship ranked as most-watched NCAA Hockey Championship game since 2011 (Quinnipiac/Minnesota, 808K).
• Men’s College Lacrosse Championship ranked as most-watched NCAA Lacrosse Championship game since 2007 (Notre Dame/Duke, 757K).
• 2023 Men’s College World Series ranked as the most-watched full tournament (1.6M; +48% YoY), Finals (2.9M) and single game (CWS Final Game 3, 3.6M) ever on ESPN Nets.

F1:

• The 2023 Formula One Grand Prix season was the second most-viewed ever (1.11M viewers) ranking immediately behind last season’s record-breaking audience on ESPN networks.
  • • Seven of this year’s races were their most-viewed editions on record, including Canada and Mexico on ABC.
    • Monaco’s official live debut on ABC became its most-viewed live edition on record, behind 2002’s tape-delayed original broadcast on ABC.
    • The Miami GP became the second most-viewed live GP on record, and third most-viewed GP overall when including tape-delayed original broadcasts.

UFC:

• The two most-watched UFC PPV Prelims ever on ESPN Networks took place in 2023, boosted by simulcasts on ABC/ESPN/ESPN Deportes.
  • • UFC 291 was the most-watched ever, which averaged 2.0M viewers across ABC/ESPN/ESPN Deportes.
    • UFC 290 was the 2ndmost-watched ever, which averaged 1.9M viewers across ABC/ESPN/ESPN Deportes.
    • PPV Prelims averaged 1.3M viewers across ESPN English Nets, +29% YoY.
    • UFC Fight Nights averaged 901K viewers, +18% YoY.
    • Most-watched Fight Night of all-time on ESPN+ was Noche UFC: Grasso vs. Shevchenko on 9/16/2023.
    • UFC 285: Jones vs. Gane was the 2nd most-watched PPV Prelims of all-time on ESPN+/Hulu behind UFC 275: Poirier vs. McGregor 2.

Professional Fighters League:

• The 2023 PFL Season averaged 311K viewers across nine PFL Fights on ESPN/ESPN2, +32% vs. the 2022 average.
• Across three events, 2023 PFL Playoffs averaged 339K viewers on ESPN, +22% vs. the 2022 PFL Playoffs.

Cricket:

• The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Final India vs. Australia was the most-watched cricket match ever on ESPN+.
• Four out of the top five Cricket matches ever on ESPN+ occurred in 2023, as well as seven of the top 10.

PGA:

• The 2023 Genesis Invitational and THE PLAYERS Championship were the two most-watched PGA TOUR events ever on ESPN+.

FA Cup:

• The 2023 FA Cup Final Manchester City vs. Manchester United was the 2nd highest FA Cup match and 2ndhighest soccer feed ever on ESPN+.

• College GameDay was the most-watched CFB pregame show and recorded its 2nd most-watched season since 2011.
• Pardon the Interruption at 5:30 p.m. ET was the most-watched daily sports news/studio show on television among total viewers in 2023. The show delivered its most-watched July, September, and November since 2019.
• The 12AM SportsCenter was the most-watched daily sports news/studio show on television among P18-34, P18-49, and P25-54 in 2023.
• Many daily studio shows showed growth year-over-year and delivered record audiences this year:
  • Get Up was +4% and on pace to deliver its best year ever, recording its best Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jul, Aug, and Nov ever this year.
  • First Take was +12% and was also on track to deliver its best year ever and was on a 16-month streak of YoY growth. The debut of Shannon Sharpe helped boost show growth this year. The episode on October 9 (853K P2+ viewers) was the 2nd most-viewed of the year and 6thmost viewed of all time. The show also delivered its best January, February (since 2018), March, April, May, July (since 2017), August (since 2017), September, October and November ever this year.
  • Many editions of SportsCenter showed growth in 2023: 7a SC (+9%), 6p SC (+1%), 11p SC (+7%), 12am SC (+6%), 1am SC (+20%), Wknd AM SC (+5%).

Return to Section Menu

ESPN Films

• • Released the award-winning documentary short “Black Girls Play” chronicling the history of hand games.

• • The year’s 30 for 30 documentaries included: “Bullies of Baltimore,” “The Luckiest Guy in the World,” “The American Gladiator Documentary,” “Candace Parker: Unapologetic,” “The Great Heisman Race of 1997” and “The Minister of Defense.”
  • Original Content projects that premiered included the fourth season of Peyton’s Places andWhy Not Us: Grambling Dance.

E60: ESPN’s award-winning storytelling program presented more compelling stories from the world of sports. Topics included:

• • • An exploration of psychedelic “magic mushrooms” use in athletes’ mental health treatment.
    • Recalling the perfect undefeated season of the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
    • Examining the relationship between sports and hip hop on the 50th anniversary of the music form’s invention.
    • How the Disney film “The Mighty Ducks” led to the Anaheim Ducks NHL franchise.

SC Featured: SportsCenter’soriginal storytelling brand continued its tradition of Sunday features during the NFL offseason. Topics included:

• • • A look back at Jim Valvano’s extraordinary ESPYS speech.
    • An inspirational high school coach who led his team to a conference championship while battling ALS.
    • The gripping journey of a Kansas City Chiefs superfan indicted for bank robbery.

espnW

• • espnW TikTok surpassed one million followers in less than two years since launching.
  • Sold-out both the 14th annual “espnW: Women + Sports Summit” and “espnW Summit NYC” to over 350 in-person attendees and over 1.2 Million more tuning into the live streamed panels acrossespnWevents.com, X, YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN app.In May, the first annual espnW Summit Canada launched in front of a sold-out audience in Toronto.
  • espnW brand campaign“That’s a W” continued with five new spots running in primetime programming including during The Oscars. #ThatsaW had more than 25.3 million engagements and 581 million impressions across ESPN social handles.

Andscape

Andscape produced five film and television projects, exclusively on Hulu; and published three titles under the Andscape Books imprint, a collaboration with Disney Publishing Worldwide.

• Film and Television: Andscape produced critically acclaimed films and documentaries about sports exclusive to Hulu, including:

• • • Algiers, America: The Relentless Pursuit– a five-part documentary that chronicled the journey of Coach Brice Brown, the Edna Karr Cougars, and their quest for a fifth state high school football championship in six seasons (March).

• Andscape Books published two sports-related titles:
  • • Love and Justice: The Story of Triumph on Two Different Courts and The Yards Between Us: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Football.

• Editorial: In 2023, the Black media platform deepened its commitment to groundbreaking journalism and storytelling including:

• • • “Hip-Hop at 50,” “Sidelined,”“The Rebirth of Hinchliffe Stadium” and “LeBron’s Power Plays”

• In anticipation of its 20th anniversary (January 7, 2024), ESPN Deportes kicked off a year-long content initiative. Themed “Somos” (We are), the campaign celebrates the influence of the Hispanic community in the world of sports, through a mix of programming featuring of live events, as well as original content.
• Introduced new voices for its Spanish-language coverage of Monday Night Football.

Rhoden Fellowship:

• Seventh annual year-long journalism training program kicked off in June 2023.
• Launched by award-winning sports columnist William C. “Bill” Rhoden (above, left), in partnership with Andscape, as an opportunity to increase diversity and inclusion in sports journalism.
• 2023/24 class included students from: Howard University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University.

Year Four of #ChampionBlackBusinesses (CBB):

• Following three successful years since the program launched in 2020, ESPN, in collaboration with the NBA, Andscape and ABC, launched year four of the award-winning Champion Black Businesses (CBB) initiative in May 2023. CBB continues to elevate Black-owned businesses, showcasing the diversity and creativity of Black entrepreneurship and cementing their importance by sharing their stories across ESPN platforms during the NBA Finals and beyond.
• Black Sports Business Symposium:For the second consecutive year, ESPN sponsored the Black Sports Symposium, which took place in Atlanta (April 13-15).

• ESPN was honored with the 2023 “Golden Halo” Award for best-in-class corporate social impact efforts.
• To date, ESPN has helped raise nearly $200 million for the V Foundation in the fight to end cancer.
• As the global presenting sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports, ESPN has enabled over 7,000 athletes and coaches in critical programming this year, and served as the official broadcaster of the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin last summer.
• ESPN’s Sports 4 Life program with the Women’s Sports Foundation has enabled 5,500 girls of color to build life skills through the power of sports in 2023, for a total of 75,000 since its inception nine years ago.
• ESPN’s “My Wish” series, which aired its 16th season in 2023, has now helped to fulfill 79 sports-themed wishes for children with critical illnesses.