ESPN earns highest October viewership in a decade for its weekday programming; Several shows score multi-year highs

• October’s success follows strong September viewership amongst same studio shows
• All 10 ESPN daily studio shows posted year-over-year audience growth in October, with majority hitting multi-year highs
• Get Up and The Pat McAfee Show recorded their most-watched October ever
• NFL Live and SportsCenter (6 p.m.) achieved their best October in ten years

ESPN’s weekday daytime viewership (7 a.m.–7 p.m. ET) was its highest in a decade for the month of October, driven by audience growth across all 10 studio shows in the 12-hour window. ESPN’s daytime viewership, averaging 424,000 viewers, up 13 percent year-over-year, and its best mark since 2015, follows a September where every individual studio show also saw healthy year-over-year growth. This results in one of ESPN’s strongest starts to the fall sports calendar amongst studio shows in recent years.

Individually, Get Up (464,000 viewers) and The Pat McAfee Show (439,000 viewers — YouTube and ESPN) set new October viewership records for their respective shows, while First Take (524,000 viewers) delivered its second most-watched October in the show’s history. NFL Live (443,000 viewers) and the 6 p.m. SportsCenter (502,000 viewers) each posted their best October in ten years and were up more than 20 percent year-over-year.

With the NBA season tipping off, NBA Today experienced a 26 percent year-over-year jump, while Pardon the Interruption also saw a 20 percent year-over-year jump. The 5 p.m. SportsCenter was also up 16 percent year-over-year from the same timeslot. Additionally, outside of the daytime window, the daily 11 p.m. SportsCenter (645,000 viewers) experienced a 45 percent year-over-year jump in October.

Among the individual show highlights:

• SportsCenter (7 a.m.): 268,000 viewers, most-watched October since 2019; up 6% year-over-year.
• Get Up: 464,000 viewers, most-watched October audience since the show debuted in 2018; up 13% year-over-year.
• First Take: 524,000 viewers, second most-watched October in the show’s eight-year history; up 3% year-over-year.
• The Pat McAfee Show: 439,000 viewers (YouTube viewership and ESPN metrics), most-watched October audience; up 5% year-over-year across YouTube and ESPN and up 12% year-over-year on ESPN only.
• SportsCenter (2 p.m.): 312,000 viewers, most-watched October since 2020; up 16% year-over-year.
• NBA Today: 331,000 viewers, most-watched October for an ESPN NBA daily afternoon studio show since 2017; up 26% year-over-year.
• NFL Live: 443,000 viewers, most-watched October since 2015; up 23% year-over-year.
• SportsCenter (5 p.m.): 446,000 viewers; up 16% year-over-year from the same timeslot.
• Pardon the Interruption: 720,000 viewers, most-watched October since 2019; up 20% year-over-year.
• SportsCenter (6 p.m.): 502,000 viewers, most-watched October since 2015; up 28% year-over-year.
• SportsCenter (11 p.m.): 645,000 viewers; most-watched October since 2019; up 45% year-over-year.

Source: P2+ Viewers Nielsen Big Data + Panel
Year-over-year comparisons are October 2025 to October 2024

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