Ratings: Caitlyn Jenner-Headlined ESPY Awards on ABC Double Last Year’s ESPN Telecast

Fox, CBS originals suffer losses to sports ceremony emceed by Joel McHale

2015 ESPYS: Caitlyn Jenner accepts the Arthur Ashe Courage Award (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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The ESPYS were in town last night — both literally in Los Angeles, and also for the first time ever on broadcast TV — and with Caitlyn Jenner headlining the ABC event, the other networks didn’t stand a chance.

Still, two nets tried putting up originals against the ESPN awards show, but all four combined episodes fell week-over-week in the key 18-49 demographic.

The 2015 ESPYS 2.2 demo rating doubled 2014’s 1.1, when the celebration of sport was still on Disney’s cable gem. Last night’s show also doubled the demo rating of its closest competition.

ABC was first in ratings with a 2.2 rating/8 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 7.7 million, according to preliminary numbers. The ESPYS at 8 was the only show on the network’s schedule. Ratings peaked between 10:30 p.m. and 10:45, when Caitlyn Jenner was making her Arthur Ashe Courage Award speech.

CBS, NBC and Fox tied for was second in ratings, each with a 1.1/4. CBS was second in total viewers with 5.1 million; NBC was third with 4.5 million, airing just reruns; Fox was fourth with 3.7 million.

For CBS, “Big Brother” at 8 received a 1.9/8 and 6 million viewers. Following a repeat, “Extant” at 10 had a 0.6/2 and 4.6 million viewers.

For Fox, “MasterChef” at 8 got a 1.4/6 and 4.7 million and 4.7 million viewers. “Bullseye” at 9 posted a 0.8/3 and 2.6 million viewers.

Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.7/3 and in viewers with 1.7 million.

Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.6/2 and in viewers with 1.5 million.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.3/1 and in viewers with 995,000, airing just repeats.

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