Despite turning 30 this year, ESPN hasn’t gone through the normal malaise and mental anguish most of us do when we leave our 20′s. No weight gain, no thinning hair, no settling for what’s comfortable. In fact, the ESPN family of networks just posted their most-viewed year and their most watched 4th quarter ever, according to Nielsen.
The 4th quarter was bolstered by ESPN’s highest rated season of Monday Night Football posting cable’s 16 biggest audiences of 2010 and ranking eighth among all television shows in primetime, cable or broadcast. Maybe it’s parity, or maybe it’s the risk of a lockout next season, either way fans are tuning into NFL programming in record numbers and ESPN is surely benefiting.
Two of the younger networks amongst ESPN’s offerings include ESPNU and ESPN Deportes. ESPNU nearly doubled its audience from a year ago and ESPN Deportes was again the most-watched U.S. Spanish-language sports network this year, and ranked second among all Spanish-language cable networks for viewership among Hispanic men.
ESPN’s six networks combined to average a record 1,282,000 homes on a 24-hour basis in 2010, an increase of five percent over last year.
Maybe 30 really is the new 20.
