ESPYs Draw 7.7 Million Viewers

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

ABC’s Wedneday night telecast of ESPN’s 2015 ESPYs Awards drew 7.7 million viewers, the network announced Thursday.

The awards presentation, which recognized achievements in sports and was highlighted by Caitlyn Jenner -- who received the ESPY’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award -- was up 250% over viewership for ESPN’s presentation of the awards show last year, according to Nielsen. The show marked the first time ABC televised live the ESPY awards, which previously aired on ESPN. 

The ESPYs were also the most social show of the evening, generating more than 1.2 million tweets accessed by more than 9.2 million unique Twitter users, according to Nielsen’s Twitter TV Ratings report.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.