Dave Portnoy and FOX Sports dealt massive ratings | Sports News

FS1’s Wake Up Barstool launched earlier this month with massive ambitions, however up to now, it’s staring down a ratings catastrophe.

The newly minted morning show, powered by Barstool Sports and anchored by Dave Portnoy, who lately fired a Barstool intern for a political tweet, promised a daring, various tackle sports activities speak. But amid the hype, the numbers are telling a harsher story.

In its second week on air, FOX‘s Wake Up Barstool averaged simply over 12,000 viewers, in accordance with online monitoring. On Tuesday, the show fell to a low of 7,000 viewers, and it cracked 10,000 solely twice during the week. It comes after Portnoy admitted to firing a Barstool star for committing the “ultimate deal-breaker.”

These figures mark a drop from already modest Week 1 viewership, and recommend the show is shortly turning into one of the lowest-rated in FS1’s historical past. Portnoy himself has acknowledged the weak begin. “The FOX ratings for Wake Up Barstool, I think, came out. Those are awful,” he mentioned.

Portnoy added, “I don’t know what to expect. I think they want a lot of online. I don’t know what they were before. It wasn’t like we had some gigantic promo. We just kind of did it.”

Portnoy admitted that early viewership would possibly naturally be restricted, regardless of the show’s lineup or execution. “That could have been like the best show in the history of the world with the best people the way it’s promoted, I don’t think you’d expect much different numbers. We want to build it up,” Portnoy mentioned.

“I think obviously, if it goes 20,000 or whatever it was, and next week, you’re down to 500 people, that, to me, is a bigger red flag.”

“I thought it was better with three people instead of four. I’m hosting. I like doing like a rundown host style. We’re bouncing around segments. It’s a lot of work,” Portnoy mentioned. “We’ve only done two. I haven’t been, like, nailed it. That’s great. I don’t, and I feel like I have a pretty good idea when I do my own content.”

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In at the moment’s media panorama, networks care as a lot about digital attain as they do about conventional TV ratings — and FOX seems prepared to be affected person. Wake Up Barstool isn’t simply meant to fill a morning slot; it’s designed to feed into FOX’s wider content material strategy, from social clips to viral moments and streaming views.

But for a high-profile launch tied to Barstool’s model and backed by a main community, the early returns are underwhelming. ESPN’s First Take nonetheless pulls audiences within the a whole lot of 1000’s, whereas even area of interest broadcasts like Major League Pickleball average 15,000 viewers. By comparability, Wake Up Barstool’s 12,000 appears minuscule.

For now, FOX and Barstool are urgent forward. The show runs reside for 2 hours every weekday, then re-airs, hoping to construct momentum over time. Portnoy’s wider deal with Fox — which incorporates appearances on Big Noon Kickoff — suggests the community views this as a long-term play.