Could the Worldwide Leader looking over its shoulder?
According to deadline.com, two months after laying off hundreds of
staffers and five weeks before the launch of Fox’s rival sports network, ESPN
saw its second-quarter ratings plunge compared with last year.
Sports Business Daily reports that the Disney-owned sports
behemoth saw a 32% ratings dive for the April-to-June period versus the same
period in 2012.
The discrepancy is due in part to the network’s rotten luck
with a little-watched NBA Western Conference Finals — the San Antonio Spurs’
sweep/beatdown of the Memphis Grizzlies — compared with its airing of the
thrilling 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, in which the Miami Heat beat the
Boston Celtics in seven games.
But the bad news gets worse: ESPN also posted its lowest
total-day numbers since the George W. Bush administration, down 20% to an
average of 715K viewers on a 24-hour basis. The depressed numbers come despite
record viewership for The Masters in April and near-record tune-in for the NBA
Draft.
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