Over the course of their year-plus-long partnership, ESPN has made it clear that The Pat McAfee Show‘s success on its airwaves won’t only be measured via traditional ratings.
And with that in mind, the Worldwide Leader is celebrating what it sees as a massive win for the program, touting this past Tuesday as its “most-watched episode/day” ever with 50 million views.
While the methodology that ESPN used to make that determination remains unclear — McAfee said it was formulated by ESPN executive Mike Foss — the social graphic used to celebrate the occasion included logos for ESPN, ESPN Plus, YouTube, TikTok, X and Instagram. In addition to airing on ESPN at 12 p.m. ET Monday-Friday, The Pat McAfee Show is simulcast on YouTube and TikTok daily.
The graphic also included a picture of Davante Adams’ surprise cameo during Aaron Rodgers’ weekly appearance. That’s hardly a coincidence, as it seemed to be the viral interaction — which came shortly after news of the Pro Bowl wide receiver being traded to the New York Jets was first reported — that spurred most of the attention the show received.
Assuming ESPN used views/interactions with posts featuring Adams’ appearance — and the use of the social media logos in the graphic suggests as much — Adams-related content would have accounted for a good chunk of the views. Clips posted by the show’s official social media accounts featuring the 31-year-old wide receiver’s surprise appearance totaled no fewer than 10 million views.
So does what does all this mean? It’s tough to say, especially considering that social media platforms use different methods to count views (on TikTok, someone watching your video for just one second counts as a view, while it takes three seconds to do the same on Instagram). And the same could be said of each platform’s ad rates, especially considering the recent changes to monetization at X.
It’s also worth noting that this appears to be a formula specifically developed to measure the McAfee Show, so it’s impossible to know how it compares to other ESPN programming. In any event, it was clearly an impressive day for the show and exactly what ESPN executives had in mind when it began leasing it last year.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.