September was a big month for ESPN with milestones across multiple platforms. In the month that ESPN turned 30, sports fans tuned in, logged on and listened to content from television, online, mobile and digital audio at record levels.
The cross-platform growth momentum continued into early October, when ESPN’s Monday Night Football between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers delivered the biggest audience in the history of cable television (over 15 million homes) and the highest rating (15.3) in ESPN’s 30-year history. Online, ESPN.com had more than 110 million page views to NFL content accessed via computers and mobile devices for Monday through Tuesday at noon – up 47% from the comparable time period last year. Specifically, page views for the NFL section on computers and mobile were up 44% from last year. Additionally, ESPN.com streamed 3.7 million NFL related videos.
September was the most-viewed month in the history of both ESPN and ESPN2, helping lift the combined audience for those nets plus ESPNEWS and ESPN Classic to new highs on a total day basis for the month. The networks set a mark for September with 1,654,000 homes, up 12% from the previous high, 1,481,000 in 2008. Other highlights:
In September, ESPN averaged an all-time high for any month (1,164,000 HHs). The audience was 7% larger than last year, a then-record 1,092,000 households.
ESPN2 averaged 33% more homes for the month than a year ago (396,000 HHs, up from 298,000), its best ever, breaking the record for the month set in 2007 (343,000 HHs) and the record for any month set in June 2006 (358,000 HHs). ESPNEWS averaged 65,000 homes in September, up 12% from 2008 (58,000).
