Rejoice: ESPYs Ratings Hit Their Lowest Point In Sixteen Years

We wrote this morning about the brewing anti-ESPN revolution the "Free Bruce" campaign exposed. No longer was ESPN everyone's mostly benevolent overlord—now it was the Soviet Central Committee, purging ne'er-do-well reporters wherever they might pop up.

And today we get word that ratings for the ESPYs, ESPN's annual unfunny circle-jerk, hosted by inveterate unfunny masturbator Seth Meyers hit their lowest point since 1995, which is as far back as ESPYs ratings go.

Here's Sports Media Watch:

For some perspective, Wednesday's United States/France Women's World Cup match topped the event by 69% in viewership and 20% in adults 18-49.

Other shows to draw more viewers Wednesday include TV Land's Hot in Cleveland (2.001M) and TNT's Franklin and Bash (2.547M) - though both of those shows drew lower ratings in the adults 18-49 demo.

There's a broader conclusion to draw here, about how the ESPYs are a relic from the days when ESPN was an all-consuming option, those mid-90s, early-00s years where you'd watch SportsCenter all day. In recent years, though, ESPN has doubled down on live sports and given us little new of worth in the way of televised gab. Once upon a time we knew all the anchors and their jokes, now SportsCenter offers us a caravan of relatively stiff rent-a-suits. (Seth Meyers is SNL's equivalent of a stiff rent-a-suit.)

Given ESPN's recent M.O., we wonder why they still do the ESPYs. Maybe they won't anymore.

ESPY Awards Hits Lowest Level in Over a Decade [Sports Media Watch]