Shannon Sharpe’s debut on “First Take” was not only a ratings success for ESPN, but a social one as well.
Stephen A. Smith announced that Sharpe’s debut on Sept. 4 drew the show’s second-most viewers for the year at 727,000. A report by Front Office Sports said that “First Take” averaged 754,000 viewers in its first two days with Sharpe, which is up 30% from the prior year and well over twice as much as FS1’s “Undisputed.”
Related: Stephen A. Smith adds another high profile guest to ESPN ‘First Take’ lineup
But in the age of social media, clicks and engagement have also become a barometer of success for these networks, and Sharpe helped spike those numbers as well.
“First Take” content garnered 6.8 million views on ESPN’s YouTube account during Sharpe’s two-day debut, which is up over 600% from the 1.1 million it had during the same period last year, an ESPN spokesperson told TheStreet.
Two of the videos of Sharpe had over a million viewers.
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Shannon Sharpe’s debut also generated at least one post that was one of the top five best performing posts of the year for “First Take” on Instagram and TikTok in terms of engagement, according to ESPN.
It remains to be seen whether Sharpe’s presence will be a sustainable success driver for television and social media performance for ESPN, especially as sports season comes around with the return of the NFL on Sept. 7, the MLB playoffs on the horizon, and the NBA and NHL seasons restarting in a month.
“First Take” had its highest rated month ever in January of this year, averaging about 561,000 viewers, including 685,000 on Mondays.
Wait until @KingJames aka GOAT JAMES drops FIDDY on someone’s head. We’ll do a milli. Bring pepto cause I’mma make you sick. 🤪🤪🤪 https://t.co/BxhuNgI89U
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) September 7, 2023
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