ESPN’s latest late-night experiment didn’t get off to a hot start.
The Friday night (or Saturday morning) debut episode of They Call it Late Night with Jason Kelce averaged just 290,000 viewers on ESPN, per Puck’s John Ourand. By his estimation, the numbers were “not particularly good.”
Ourand notes ESPN averaged 436,000 viewers during the same time period in January 2024. The show, produced by NFL Films, is on an initial five-week run.
ESPN has high hopes for the show. Kelce is a rising media star thanks to his popular New Heights podcast and his work as a studio analyst on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown. But the show’s premiere, which aired at 1 a.m. ET, disappointed many critics, despite all the hype and a guest appearance by Charles Barkley
Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner said the show “delivered neither the laughs nor the sports talk that its target audience would expect at that hour.” He went on to note “The biggest problem with They Call It Late Night is that it tries too hard.”
The Athletic’s Dan Shanoff noted the bits involving actors were “more cringe than comedy.”
One of the traits that has made Kelce so popular is his unpredictability and his living-in-the-moment persona. Many on social media said his show felt too scripted, citing moments such as this one involving a conversation between Kelce and his wife, Kylie.
Many shows have underperformed, even totally flopped, coming out of the gate, only to find their groove and develop an audience. So it’s far too early to count out Kelce’s show.
Ourand says ESPN is likely “happy” with Kelce’s despite the lackluster ratings: “From ESPN’s perspective, viewership numbers from a late-night talk show that has a five-episode run don’t matter nearly as much as other aspects of this programming deal. ESPN is happy to be in business with Jason Kelce, regardless.”
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.