- Best April ever for Get Up and 6 p.m. ET SportsCenter
- Entire ESPN studio show lineup up 21% overall in viewership over April ‘25
- April success builds upon overall Q1 viewership momentum
Bolstered by big events including the men’s and women’s college basketball championships, the Masters Tournament, the NFL and WNBA Drafts, the NBA and NHL playoffs and more, ESPN’s signature sports studio shows continued their upward trend of viewership in April with overall and individual show increases as well as several records.
The month built on the momentum of ESPN’s daily studio shows recording a 14% gain in average viewership for the Nielsen first quarter of 2026, with five shows scoring their highest Q1 averages ever and two others drawing their largest Q1 viewership average in 10 years.
The entire lineup of ESPN studio shows was up 21% overall in viewership over April of 2025 and up 10% year-over-year (YOY) in the coveted Persons ages 18-49 demographic.
Best April ever for two shows
- The 6 p.m. SportsCenter averaged 529K viewers, up 28% YOY.
- Get Up (8 a.m. M-F) averaged 447K, a YOY increase of 24%.
Multiple shows continue strong years in April
- In setting its best April viewership since 2017, PTI (5:30 p.m. M-F) averaged 719K viewers, the highest viewership average for the month among ESPN’s studio shows.
- The 2 p.m. edition of SportsCenter, averaging 394K viewers, was up 64% YOY for April, the highest percentage increase among the shows.
- The Pat McAfee Show (noon M-F) averaged 430K (linear and digital). Focusing only on linear, the program was up 29%. Pat McAfee’s Draft Spectacular special on April 23 drawing 54M minutes viewed across platforms.
- Continuing its consistency, First Take (10 a.m. M-F) was up 6%, averaging 491K viewers.
- SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt averaged 580K for the month (after being dark for one week) and attracted 1.6M viewers after the first night of the NFL Draft.
- NBA Today (3 p.m. M-F, averaging 364K viewers), up 36% YOY.
- NFL Live (4 p.m. M-F, 470K) saw an increase of 34% YOY and had its most-watched April since 2014.
SportsCenter lights up April
- SportsCenter: Overall up 21% vs. April 2026 | Averaged 643,000 viewers
- 7 a.m.: Up 23% | averaged 288K
- 2 p.m.: Up 64% | averaged 394K
- 5 p.m.: Up 23% | averaged 446K | Best April ever
- 6 p.m.: Up 28% | averaged 529K | Best April ever
- Midnight: Up 39% | averaged 444K viewers
- 1 a.m.: Up 10% | averaged 344K viewers
- SC AM (Sat.): Up 29% | averaged 541K
- SC AM (Sun.): Up 12% | averaged 474K
Please Note: April 2026 is defined by Nielsen as March 30-April 26. All metrics are based on Nielsen Big Data + Panel and YouTube Analytics.
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