ESPN, Inc.: 2022 in Review
Success Driven by Cross-Platform Audience Growth, Milestones, Groundbreaking Content and Innovation
In 2022, ESPN continued to build a strategic path forward, while connecting with audiences in innovative ways. Throughout the year, ESPN successfully reached sports fans in record numbers and expanded its reach through a multi-platform ecosystem across linear, streaming, digital and social outlets.
Highlights included strong viewership numbers for live event and studio programming, continued growth in the Direct-to-Consumer space, the highest quality storytelling content, impactful technological advancements and difference-making collaboration as part of the industry-leading scale and scope of The Walt Disney Company.
“Sports fans hold ESPN to the highest standard, and 2022 showed once again how committed we are to delivering for them. We brought the very best offerings to every conceivable sports-related environment and experience, and often did so in record numbers. On top of that, we developed innovations and secured new agreements that will drive a successful future for ESPN and The Walt Disney Company. In an ever-changing and competitive landscape, ESPN continues to lead through a focus on quality, creativity and an inclusive culture.”
— Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content
ESPN will finish 2022 as the No. 1 full-time cable network among Men and Adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-52 in total day.
- This will mark the 31st consecutive year that ESPN has held the No. 1 spot for Men 18-34 and 18-49 specifically, and 13 straight years No. 1 among people 18-34 and 18-49.
- For the ninth straight year, ESPN will be the No. 1 cable network in prime time among all key adult demos (P18-34, P18-49, P25-54).
- ESPN is up +8% among P2+ and +5% among P18-49 (through 12/18/2022)
- ESPN is also up +14% and +12%, respectively in prime time (through 12/18/2022)
- ESPN is accounting for the largest share of total sports minutes consumed of any nationally measured network (broadcast or cable) year-to-date (thru 12/13/22) among total viewers (20%) and Adults 18-49 (22.5%).
- ESPN2 has been the No. 2 cable sports network among M18-34 every year (once tied) since its 1993 launch behind only ESPN.
ESPN+ - rapidly expanding reach and content
- ESPN+’s total paid subscribers grew to 24.3 million – up 42% during the year.
- The direct-to-consumer platform delivered more than 27,500 live events (up from 22,000 in 2021).
- During 2022, ESPN+ showcased its most-viewed event, most-streams in one day and three most-viewed original series ever.
- October 30: first exclusive NFL game on ESPN+ (Denver vs. Jacksonville in London) was the most-viewed offering (event or program) in ESPN+ history.
- April 9: most-watched day ever on ESPN+, with coverage of The Masters, UFC 273, soccer and more.
- In January, Man In The Arena: Tom Brady became the most-watched original series on ESPN+, with the return of Peyton’s Places (Season 3) and the debut of The Captain rounding out the top three.
- New programming and product features added:
- NHL: The NHL came to ESPN+ (and Hulu) as part of a groundbreaking new long-term multiplatform agreement. The schedule included exclusive national games and “NHL Power Play,” the season-long lineup of 1,050+ live, out-of-market contests available to all ESPN+ subscribers.
- PGA TOUR LIVE: Officially launched on ESPN+, streaming 35 tournaments throughout 11 months of coverage and over 4,000 live hours.
- LaLiga: ESPN+ completed its first season and kicked off its second as the U.S. English- and Spanish-language home for LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank.
- SharePlay: ESPN+ added SharePlay support for iOS and tvOS devices, giving subscribers a way to view live sports and original content in sync with their friends while on a FaceTime call.
- “Spoiler Mode” and “Continue Watching”: allows viewers to hide scores in the App and start live events from the beginning or from where they last watched in the App.
- SoonerVision: a multi-year agreement with the University of Oklahoma unveiled SoonerVision, that includes more than 100 annual live events, studio programming and archival content on ESPN+.
ESPN Digital - the leading sports digital platform
- ESPN — by far the leading sports digital platform — continued to see growth in 2022 averaging 106.7 million unique visitors per month this year, up +3% from 2021.
- ESPN Digital set a new U.S. Sports category record two months in a row with 122.7 million unique visitors in September, followed by 122.8 million unique visitors in October.
- Best weekend of all time (Sept. 10-11) – fueled by ESPN’s coverage of the NFL, college football, U.S. Open Tennis, UFC 279, WNBA Finals, LaLiga and Bundesliga soccer, Formula 1 and ESPN Fantasy Football.
- The ESPN App continues to be the most popular sports app in the U.S. in terms of reach, 4.2 times larger than the No. 2 sports app and up +10% from 2021.
- The ESPN App set a new U.S. sports mobile app category record in September 2022 with 29.5 million unique visitors, and recorded its two best days ever (Sept. 10-11), reaching 13.1 and 12.6 million unique fans, respectively.
- The ESPN Fantasy App continues to be the #1 fantasy sports app in the U.S. in terms of reach, 53% larger than No. 2. Additionally, Sunday, Sept. 11 was its best day ever (9.2 million unique visitors), shattering the previous record set three days prior (8.3 million on Thursday, Sept. 8).
Notable Moments and Innovations
- January 1: ESPN Radio, the nation’s largest sports network, celebrated its 30th anniversary.
- January 17: NFL’s first-ever Monday night Super Wild Card game (L.A. Rams vs. Arizona Cardinals) became the most-watched Monday night NFL game during ESPN’s Monday Night Football era (2006 – present).
- February 9: Extension and expansion of agreement with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions:
- Added a fourth year (through 2024 season) of Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli.
- Expanded to include alternative presentations across other sports, and with other hosts — UFC 278 with The Gronks, College Football with Pat McAfee, PGA Championship with Joe Buck and Michael Collins, and NBA in Stephen A’s World.
- February 28: Andscape (formerly The Undefeated) launched, dedicated to embracing and sharing the full range of Black culture and identity.
- March 16: ESPN announced the signing of acclaimed play-by-play commentator Joe Buck and leading football analyst Troy Aikman to become the new voices of Monday Night Football. Buck and Aikman made their ESPN debut on September 12 in Seattle.
- April 1: During the Women’s Final Four, The Bird & Taurasi Show, featuring basketball legends Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, was introduced as the latest in ESPN’s string of impactful alternative telecasts. Also in April, the new season-long series of MLB alternative productions – KayRod Cast (MLB) – debuted.
- April 6: ESPN and Autograph, the Web3 brand co-founded by Tom Brady, collaborated on a series of NFT’s in promotion of Man in the Arena: Tom Brady, the 10-part ESPN+ documentary series. The NFT collections sold out within minutes of their launch.
- April 6: As part of ESPN’s support of the NBA’s 75th anniversary season, ESPN produced an alternate presentation of the Brooklyn Nets vs. New York Knicks game inspired by the league’s storied tradition. The NBA 75 telecast emulated the 1960s look for the first quarter (in black and white), the 1970s for the second quarter, the 1980s for the third quarter, and the 1990s for the fourth quarter.
- April 7: ESPN continued its MLB production innovations by establishing regular, live, in-game player conversations for nearly all of its MLB telecasts in 2022. These conversations served as a first-of-their-kind and included participation from some of the game’s biggest stars throughout the season.
- April 14: The Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame honored ESPN, receiving the first Iconic Network award.
- May 24: ESPN led all network groups with 11 Sports Emmy Awards and was the recipient of two major Sports Business Journal’s Sports Business Awards: ESPN as Best in Sports Media and ESPN+ as Best in Digital Sports Media.
- ESPN has now won 232 Sports Emmy Awards in 35 years of eligibility, and the 2022 total tied its own records for most wins in 2015 and 1996.
- June 1: Fifty/50 launched, a landmark initiative highlighting the civil rights journey of women in sports and culture.
- June 15: NHL Stanley Cup Finals returned to The Walt Disney Company after a 17-year hiatus, with the Colorado Avalanche ultimately defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
- June 23: Malika Andrews made history on the 50th anniversary of Title IX by becoming the first woman to host the NBA Draft.
- July 20: ESPN’s long-time personality Dick Vitale delivered an emotional and memorable speech after receiving the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the ESPYS.
- August 17: Featuring an expanded playoff format, the 2022 WNBA playoffs debuted on ESPN platforms, which included the launch of WNBA Countdown prior to every WNBA playoff game.
- August 19: The Department of Defense Warrior Games kicked off from the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World resort. ESPN+ streamed 90+ live hours across nine sports from the event, which celebrates the resiliency and dedication of wounded, ill and injured active duty and veteran U.S. military service members.
- September 2: ESPN presented the last match in the historic career of Serena Williams, a third-round U.S. Open defeat to Ajla Tomljanovic. It delivered ESPN’s largest tennis audience on record.
- September 19: Monday Night Football presented two games for the first time, with staggered kickoff times and overlapping action on the same night. Viewers had more than four hours of uninterrupted NFL game action, with Tennessee at Buffalo which began at 7:15 p.m. on ESPN and Minnesota at Philadelphia which began at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.
- October 30: ESPN+ streamed its first-ever, exclusive NFL game (Denver Broncos vs. Jacksonville Jaguars), which became the most-viewed event ever on the platform.
- November 11: ESPN staged and televised the Armed Forces Classic (Gonzaga vs Michigan State men’s basketball) from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln to cap off its America’s Heroes initiative, honoring veterans and active military.
- November 25: ABC’s first-ever Black Friday primetime college football game (Florida at Florida State) delivered the biggest audience for a Friday game on any network since 2011.
Programming Agreements
- PFL: In January, ESPN and PFL agreed to a multi-year renewal which included PPV rights to the PFL Championship, the promotion’s first-ever PPV event.
- XFL: In May, the Walt Disney Company (TWDC), ESPN and the XFL reached an exclusive, global multi-year agreement for every regular-season and playoff game to be presented on an ESPN/TWDC platform beginning in February 2023 (including ESPN platforms, ABC and FX with all games simulcast on ESPN+).
- The Australian Open: Also in May, ESPN signed a nine-year agreement to continue to exclusively air “first ball to last ball” coverage of The Australian Open, (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+), continuing ESPN’s longest professional sports programming relationship (since 1984).
- Soccer: In August, ESPN announced multi-year extensions with:
- German Football Association, for the exclusive U.S. media rights to DFB-Pokal, Germany’s top domestic soccer cup competition,
- English Football League (EFL) and the Carabao Cup, for the knockout competition for all of England’s Premier League and EFL clubs beginning in the 2022-23 season,
- Royal Spanish Football Federation for exclusive U.S. media rights to Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España, Spain’s top two soccer cup competitions.
- Formula 1: In October, ESPN announced an agreement with Formula 1 to continue distribution across ESPN platforms through the 2025 season.
- SRX: In December, Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) and ESPN reached a multi-year agreement that will bring back “ESPN Thursday Night Thunder” in Summer 2023.
- College & High School Sports:
- March: McDonald’s All-American Games: ESPN announced an extension of the agreement to carry the high school basketball events through 2025, continuing a tradition that began in 1999.
- April: Hockey East: ESPN+ and ESPNU added more collegiate hockey that began this fall and included more than 200 games annually from one of the sport’s premier conferences.
- April: Water Polo Championships: ESPN added the Women’s and Men’s Water Polo Championships to its existing NCAA agreement through 2023-24.
- August: National Junior College Athletics Association: agreement to nationally televise the NJCAA’s Div. I Football, Men’s Basketball, and Women’s Basketball Championships across ESPN platforms, starting in 2022-23.
- November: Conference USA: new multi-year deal that features midweek football games plus basketball games on linear networks, in addition to making ESPN the exclusive digital home for C-USA Olympic sports, beginning in 2023-24.
- Boston Marathon: In June, ESPN reacquired the Boston Marathon in a deal with the Boston Athletic Association beginning in 2023. ESPN previously aired the race in the early 1980s and 1997-2004.
- Lacrosse: new deals for World Lacrosse Championships, Premier Lacrosse League(PLL) and Athletes Unlimited.
- X Games: In October, ESPN sold a majority stake in the X Games to investment firm MSP Sports Capital, while retaining a minority interest and continuing to televise the event in the U.S.
Event viewership highlights – another big growth year for women’s sports
- Women’s Sports
- Live women’s sports events on ESPN networks amassed nearly 19 billion viewing minutes, an increase of 4% over the full year 2021.
- Key event growth:
- Most-viewed women’s college basketball regular season since 2015-16
- Most-viewed NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game (South Carolina/UConn) since 2004
- Most-viewed NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship (Oklahoma/Florida/Auburn/Utah) since 2011
- Most-viewed NCAA Softball regular season since 2015
- Most-viewed Women’s Lacrosse game ever (UNC/Boston College)
- Most-viewed WNBA Draft since 2004
- Most-viewed WNBA regular season since 2008
- Most-viewed WNBA Postseason since 2007
- Most-viewed tennis telecast ever on ESPN (Serena’s final match in U.S. Open)
- Most-viewed NCAA Softball Super Regionals game (Texas/Arkansas) for ESPN on record
- Second most-viewed NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship (Louisville vs. Texas) since 2018
- Most-viewed regular season Women’s Volleyball match (Louisville/Kentucky) for ESPN on record
- NFL
- Through 13 weeks, ESPN’s Monday Night Football matched the franchise’s best viewership since 2013 as MNF heads into the final stretch of the season. The 13.4 million viewers a game, matched 2021 and is up more than 6% from each season dating back to 2016.
- Through 13 weeks, Monday Night Football has been the most-watched telecast of the night, making ESPN the most-watched network (broadcast or cable) in primetime all 13 weeks.
- Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season was ESPN’s most-watched Monday Night Football game since 2009 and its third best Monday game in the current era (2006 – present and 270+ games) with 19,845,000 viewers – across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.
- Debut of the NFL’s Monday night Wild Card in January 2022 was the most-watched Monday night NFL game during ESPN’s Monday Night Football era (2006 – present). ESPN’s MegaCast presentation (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes) registered 23,150,000 viewers.
- College Football
- ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 delivered their most-watched college football season since 2016, up 7% among all viewers from last year.
- The networks had their best Kickoff Weekend since 2016, which included the most-watched game across the family of networks in 5 years.
- ESPN specifically had its best year since 2016 and finished up 22% year-over-year.
- ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 delivered their most-watched college football season since 2016, up 7% among all viewers from last year.
- NBA
- The Playoffs averaged 6.3 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, up 23% from the 2020-21 season.
- The NBA Finals were the most-watched in three years. The six-game series averaged 12.4 million viewers, up 22% from last season.
- Formula 1
- World Championship – most-watched season ever on U.S. television with an average of 2 million viewers across ESPN platforms.
- Miami Grand Prix on ABC delivered the largest U.S. audience on record for a live F1 race, generating an average viewership of 2.6 million.
- MLB
- Sunday Night Baseball increased its viewership overall (to 1,486,000 viewers) across 25 telecasts, as well as year-over-year gains in several key demos, including in P12-17, M35-54, P35-54, and F2+.
- Viewership for ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 2022 Wild Card Series was up 64 percent from 2020, the only other MLB Wild Card Series. Nine games across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC combined to average 2.8 million viewers, up from 1.7 million viewers for 18 games in 2020.
- NHL
- The 2022 Stanley Cup Final on ABC averaged 4.6 million viewers on ABC, up +84% vs. 2021.
- Five of the six games (Game 1-5) were the most-viewed telecasts of their respective days among total viewers and adults 18-49.
- Female viewership increased 64% and younger demographics were up triple digits in people 18-34, 12-17 and 2-17 – with increases of 102%, 112% and 130%, respectively, versus 2021.
- The 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC averaged more than 1.6 million viewers, an increase of 60% versus all 2021 playoffs across cable and broadcast.
- The 2022 Stanley Cup Final on ABC averaged 4.6 million viewers on ABC, up +84% vs. 2021.
- U.S. Open Tennis
- Averaged 1.21 million viewers on ESPN, up 50% from last year.
- Third-Round match, featuring Serena Williams’ last appearance on the court, was the most-watched ESPN tennis telecast on record, with an average of 4.6 million viewers.
- This year included ESPN’s most-watched Men’s Semifinals telecast on record (Tiafoe/Alcaraz) with 2.96 million viewers and the third most-watched Men’s Final on record (2.2 million viewers, up +3% from 2021).
- Boxing and MMA
- Combat sports continue to be strong performers on both linear television and ESPN+.
- UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Holland in Orlando, FL. was the year’s most-watched UFC Fight Night telecast (ESPN and ESPN Deportes, 1 million viewers).
- The PFL finished the 2022 season with viewership increases on ESPN and ESPN2, up 13% vs. 2021.
- Little League Softball World Series
- ESPN’s most-watched since it expanded coverage of the tournament in 2017.
- NCAA Championships
- College Baseball:
- Most-viewed Men’s College World Series (MCWS) since 2018 and second since 2014.
- MCWS Finals up +12% YoY.
- Most-viewed Super Regionals since 2018.
- Most-viewed regular season since 2014.
- College Softball:
- Third most-watched Women’s College World Series (WCWS) since 2015.
- Most-watched Regionals since 2018.
- Most-watched regular season since 2015.
- Men’s NCAA Lacrosse Championship: most-watched lacrosse telecast on any network since 2013.
- NCAA Wrestling Championship: up +8% YoY.
- FCS Championship: up +45% YoY.
- Men’s NCAA Soccer Championship: Second most-watched since 2010 and second most-watched Men’s College Cup (Semifinals & Championship) since 2012; most-watched Men’s College Cup Semifinals since 2018.
- College Baseball:
Studio show viewership bolstered by signature and emerging series
- SportsCenter (midnight ET edition) was the most-watched daily sports news/studio show on television among P18-34, P18-49, P25-54, M18-34 and M18-49 in 2022.
- NFL Live
- Up 13% and on pace to deliver its most-watched year since 2016.
- Best Super Bowl week audience in six years; up 54% from 2021 and 34% from 2020.
- NBA Today recorded 14 straight months of year-over-year audience growth in November 2022, dating back to the show’s debut.
- College GameDay
- The most-watched sports news/studio show on cable in 2022, up +8% vs. 2021 (excludes NCAA programming).
- The show’s most-watched, regular-season ever.
- College GameDay & Monday Night Countdown
- The two most-watched sports news/studio shows on cable.
- The top 16 most-watched daily sports news/studio shows on television among total viewers.
- Pardon the Interruption (5:30 p.m. ET edition)
- The most-watched daily sports news/studio show among total viewers.
- Delivered its most-watched January since 2017.
- Year-over-year growth and record audiences for:
- Get Up: up +3% and on pace to deliver its best year ever! The show delivered its most watched episode ever (January 17), and best January, February, March, May and September ever this year.
- First Take: up +16% (last 12 months vs. same time period in ’21) and recorded its most-watched episode ever on January 17, plus its best May ever.
- Around the Horn: up +7% and delivered its most-watched January and March since 2017, and commemorated its 20th anniversary.
- This Just In: January featured its most-watched month and episode (Jan. 24th) ever.
Social Media – ESPN leading the way
- ESPN led the sports media category in fan engagement this past year with 6.8 billion total actions across Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook, up 44% year over year.
- ESPN is also a top brand in the entire social ecosystem, boasting four of the Top 50 most engaged brands overall: SportsCenter, ESPN, ESPN FC, and ESPN MMA (Shareablee).
- ESPN Social averaged over 18 million social engagements per day across 30 different brands.
- ESPN is a key driver of The Walt Disney Company’s #1 position in social engagement among all U.S. media companies, accounting for at least 70% of fan social interactions.
- YouTube:
- ESPN generated over 20 billion views on YouTube, reaching over 300M unique viewers monthly.
- Instagram:
- SportsCenter on Instagram more than doubled the number of followers in the past three years, surpassing 32 million.
- TikTok:
- ESPN remains a Top 3 most followed (surpassed 30M mark) and engaged (2.6B) brand on TikTok.
Quality storytelling and content from ESPN’s most distinctive brands and series
ESPN Films
- Notable releases: ESPN Films released “The Captain” on Derek Jeter, “Dickie V” and “Fate of a Sport” on the launch of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL).
- Other releases:
- 30 for 30’s “The Tuck Rule,” on the controversial play that changed the NFL.
- “The Greatest Mixtape Ever” on the impact of 1990s streetball and the And1 Mixtape on basketball culture.
- “Dream On” on the 1996 USA Women’s Dream Team.
- “The Black Widow” of billiards “Jeanette Lee Vs.”
espnW
- Launch of W. Studios with its first content series, Fifty/50 Shorts presented by Google, telling five stories and garnering 1.3 million views on ESPN’s YouTube platform.
- Sold-out annual espnW: Women + Sports Summit included more than 300 attendees and two million tuning in for the livestreamed panels via espnWevents.com, Twitter, the ESPN App, YouTube, Facebook, and ABC News Live.
- espnW brand campaign “That’s a W” returned with a new ad, “Change is Coming”, and the hashtag #ThatsaW had more than 21.9 million engagements and 631.8 million impressions across ESPN social handles. The full campaign won a silver Clio Sports Award.
Fifty/50
- ESPN led Fifty/50, a landmark initiative across The Walt Disney Company’s storytelling platforms, highlighting the civil rights journey of women in the sports and culture.
- ESPN presented content and experiences that explore stories at the intersection of women, sports, culture and the fight for equality.
Andscape
- February: brand relaunch and expansion (formerly the Undefeated), included an editorial division, book publishing, film and television division, and music publishing group.
- March – launch of Andscape Books, in collaboration with Disney Publishing Worldwide.
- August – The first title, Rise of the Black Quarterback: What it Means for America by senior NFL writer Jason Reid, was published.
- October – BlackTold: 33 Dynamic Essays from Andscape was published.
- March 7: debut of Starkeisha, a short film on Hulu.
- March 14: debut of On & Coppin on ESPN+, a documentary on Coppin State University’s historic victory in the 1997 NCAA Tournament.
- Andscape continued its agenda-setting journalism highlighted by “Sidelined,” a season-long look at the NFL’s lack of diversity in coaches and team executives.
Additional long-form storytelling series
- E60: ESPN’s award-winning storytelling program presented more stories from the world of sports. Topics included:
- An investigation of migrant worker deaths in Qatar before the World Cup; allegations of abuse in women’s professional soccer; the journey of the Ukraine men’s national soccer team; the legacy of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno; the 1990’s heated rivalry between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche; and a look back 50 years with a survivor of the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympics.
- SC Featured: SportsCenter’s original storytelling brand continued the 20-year tradition of Sunday features during the NFL offseason. Features included:
- A reunion of the cast of the movie White Men Can’t Jump; a look at the forgotten history of Black Cowboys; the origins of pickleball; and a reunion of the only team to beat LeBron James in his high school career.
- Cover Story: continued its mission to be the sports fan’s monthly ticket to the biggest stories on the most captivating athletes.
- Features included: Trae Young, Francis Ngannou, Auston Matthews, Coach K, Jonquel Jones, Oklahoma Softball, Coco Gauff, Davante Adams, Klay Thompson and Justin Jefferson.
Sports betting content continued to expand and evolve
- Ahead of the NFL season, ESPN announced new shows, updated roles, and more new content.
- Doug Kezirian named ESPN sports betting insider.
- Tyler Fulghum took over as host of sports betting informational show Daily Wager.
- Sports Betting analyst Joe Fortenbaugh signed a new deal and is a co-host of a new radio show on ESPN Radio, “Joe & Amber” with Amber Wilson.
- Analyst Erin Dolan launched Bet with Erin Dolan on Snapchat.
- Evolved ‘Bad Beats’ from a SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt segment to a monthly, 30-minute show.
ESPN Deportes served wide-ranging content and expanded ESPN’s reach
- September: Hispanic Heritage Month
- 18th consecutive year of month-long Hispanic Heritage Month content initiative.
- Content focused on: MLB and the music influence Latinos bring to the league, WNBA Latinos, UFC’s biggest Latino names and a special look into the most influential Latino athletes in the country.
- December: FIFA World Cup 2022
- 270+ live hours of news and information programming.
- 25 former international players and soccer journalists leading coverage.
- Production from six remote studio locations overlooking iconic locations in Doha.
ESPN Audio witnessed success from radio and podcasts
Radio
- Celebrated the 30th anniversary of the nation’s largest sports radio network in January.
- ESPN Audio accounted for over half of all sports listening and more than one in five people (22%) listen to ESPN Audio across all platforms each week on average.
- 250+ signature live events: MLB Postseason (25th consecutive year), NBA Playoffs and Finals, College Football Playoff Semifinals and National Championship, NFL Draft and NBA Draft.
- April: Chris Canty and Chris Carlin debuted new, national Canty & Carlin.
- December: ESPN announced a new weekday schedule on NY 98.7FM featuring major expansion of local studio programming beginning Jan. 3, along with two new shows featuring signature hosts added to the national network lineup.
Podcasts
- Video/YouTube expansion:
- 40 million ESPN Podcast-related views on YT.
- The Lowe Post with Zach Lowe set multiple monthly audience records, including over 29 million audio downloads.
- The Right Time with Bomani Jones won AdWeek’s 2022 Sports Podcast of the Year.
- Agreement with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions brought a new lineup of original podcasts to the ESPN Podcast library.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Black Sports Business Symposium: ESPN was named founding partner and title sponsor at the inaugural event , which took place in Atlanta (June 16-18).
- Rhoden Fellowship:
- Sixth annual year-long journalism training program.
- Launched by award-winning sports columnist William C. “Bill” Rhoden, in partnership with Andscape, as an opportunity to increase diversity and inclusion in sports journalism.
- 2022 class included students from: Alabama State University, Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Howard University, North Carolina A&T State University and Xavier University.
- Year Three of #ChampionBlackBusinesses (CBB):
- A collaboration between Andscape and the NBA.
- CBB continues to elevate Black-owned businesses, their stories, and cement the importance their imprint has on their communities across ESPN platforms during the NBA Finals and beyond.
- ESPN worked with women and Black-owned marketing agency JOY Collective.
Corporate Citizenship
- ESPYS Week initiative (July):
- ESPN helped raise $2.87 million for the V Foundation.
- Individual giving was up 909% and individual donors up 694%, compared to 2021.
- To date, ESPN has raised over $169 million for the V Foundation.
- Choose Kindness (October):
- A year-long initiative supported by ESPN, ABC, and the Walton Family Foundation.
- Dedicated to inspiring a more inclusive world by championing three areas — bullying prevention, intentional inclusion and mental health.
- Return to Play Fund:
- ESPN became a founding partner and through the year expanded its support efforts.
- The Fund’s mission is to use the power of sport, collaboration, and direct investment to strengthen communities, champion youth, and stop perpetuation of racial inequities.
- Supports and inspires black and brown youth.