ESPN Takes A Hit As Q2 Ratings Dive 32% Over 2012
Is the Worldwide Leader looking over its shoulder? Two months after laying off hundreds of staffers and five weeks before the launch of Fox’s rival sports network, ESPN saw its second-quarter ratings plunge compared with last year. Sports Business Daily reports that the Disney-owned sports behemoth saw a 32% ratings dive for the April-to-June period versus the same period in 2012. The discrepancy is due in part to the network’s rotten luck with a little-watched NBA Western Conference Finals — the San Antonio Spurs’ sweep/beatdown of the Memphis Grizzlies — compared with its airing of the thrilling 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, in which the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics in seven games. But the bad news gets worse: ESPN also posted its lowest total-day numbers since the George W. Bush administration, down 20% to an average of 715K viewers on a 24-hour basis. The depressed numbers come despite record viewership for The Masters in April and near-record tune-in for the NBA Draft. But Credit Suisse analyst Michael Senno is upbeat about ESPN going forward; he reiterated his “outperform” recommendation for Disney shares this week and raised his target price for the stock by $1 to $74. Football will be a salve for the recent burns in the late summer and fall, when ESPN starts airing NCAA games and NFL Monday Night Football. But before that, on August 17, Fox Sports 1 will take the field — and Wall Street predicts that it will be a winner. The News Corp-owned 24-hour sports net plans to announce its pending arrival in a big way next week with a 90-second ad during Fox’s coverage of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Call it a brushback pitch.
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