The results are in for Shannon Sharpe’s ‘First Take’ debut and they are a resounding success.
Stephen A. Smith announced on Twitter on Sept. 7 that Shannon Sharpe’s “First Take” debut on Monday, saw 727,000 viewers, which he said was the show’s second-highest rated telecast of the year.
“Just wanted to take a moment to give some love to my man @ShannonSharpe,” Smith tweeted.
Related: Skip Bayless, 'Undisputed' see positive results to end first week with 'Dream Team'
Smith joked that Sharpe still has “some climbing to do” because his appearance still fell short of the top marker for the year.
Just wanted to take a moment to give some love to my man @ShannonSharpe. Why? Because I’m his first day in the job, @FirstTake did 727K Viewers. It’s our 2nd-Highest rated show of the year, so ya still got some climbing to do, my brother! Just kidding. Welcome aboard bro! Let’s…
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) September 7, 2023
Sharpe replied minutes later saying that he thinks the two might hit a million viewers when the NBA season returns and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has a big scoring game.
Wait until @KingJames aka GOAT JAMES drops FIDDY on someone’s head. We’ll do a milli. Bring pepto cause I’mma make you sick. 🤪🤪🤪 https://t.co/BxhuNgI89U
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) September 7, 2023
Sharpe and his former partner Skip Bayless had been known to quarrel about the greatness of James, with Bayless known as one of James’ harshest critics in sports media.
But “First Take” did achieve a million views -- at least on YouTube. The ESPN YouTube account posted several videos of “First Take” during Sharpe’s debut, with two of them achieving over 1 million views, including one discussing James.
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“First Take” has seen sharp growth over the last year, as it has grown in each of the last 13 months, according to ESPN PR.
It remains to be seen whether this marker is sustainable for ESPN and “First Take” during the Mondays and Tuesdays that Sharpe will be joining the show. However, the 727,000 viewership mark is encouraging even compared to some of the highs that the company achieved this year.
Its top viewership month for the year was in January, when “First Take” averaged 561,000 viewers. Monday was its best day, averaging 685,000 viewers that month.
Bayless' "Undisputed" did not have the same viewership spike during the first week of its new crew, though it did end on a positive note.
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