WFAN extends dominance over ESPN New York in autumn quarterly ratings book
WFAN morning show with Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti on Feb. 3, 2022, in New York. Credit: Brittainy Newman
WFAN expanded upon its ratings dominance over ESPN New York in the quarterly period for autumn, which Nielsen Audio released on Tuesday.
The ratings book covered Sept. 15 to Dec. 7, and its details were obtained by Newsday from an industry source.
WFAN’s Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti finished first overall in the market from 6 to 10 a.m. with an average of 9.7% of men ages 25-54 tuning in.
That was far ahead of ESPN New York, which finished 15th at 2.5%.
Craig Carton and Evan Roberts finished second overall with an average of 7.5% of the audience in the key demographic from 3 to 6:30 p.m., the time during which they overlap with ESPN’s “The Michael Kay Show.”
Carton and Roberts trailed only the Spanish-language music station WSKQ-FM.
Kay finished 15th overall at 2.9%.
That gap was bigger than the one in the spring book, in which WFAN won, 6.3-3.3.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., WFAN’s Tiki Barber and Brandon Tierney finished third with 6.4% of the audience compared to ESPN’s 14th and 2.4% during that time.
From 5 to 6 a.m., WFAN’s “The Warm Up Show” with Al Dukes and Jerry Recco finished second in the market with 12.4% of men 25-54. ESPN was fourth in that hour, with an 8.4% share.
All data includes both over-the-air and streaming numbers but not the shows’ TV simulcasts.
On Jan. 3, ESPN New York will seek to narrow its deficit relative to WFAN with a new daily lineup that will be its most local-centric ever, starting with Rick DiPietro and Dave Rothenberg from 6 to 10 a.m.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
