ESPN2 won’t finish the year as the #2 sports network, falling behind both NBCSN and FS1
The entire ESPN family of networks has been synonymous with sports on television for decades now. ESPN remains the clear leader in that field, and 2018 will be no different, as it comfortably leads the pack.
More troubling, perhaps, is the fact that ESPN2 will not finish second. That’s actually never happened before; since the launch of ESPN2 in 1993 (leather-clad Keith Olbermann and all) the two networks have always finished first and second, respectively, among sports networks. Worse still for ESPN, ESPN2 is going to slide all the way to fourth, according to John Ourand at Sports Business Daily:
Even with three weeks left in the TV ratings year, it’s clear that ESPN2 will fall all the way to fourth in both prime time and total day viewership. That puts the network behind both NBCSN and FS1 — both of which posted record high viewership for their channels this year in the time period from Jan. 1-Dec. 2.
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