Skip Bayless’s Early Ratings Are Way Ahead of Previous FS1 Fare But Way Behind First Take

The morning sports take wars are on and the early returns show that Skip Bayless has his work cut out for him.

According to The Wrap, Tuesday’s debut of Bayless’s new show Undisputed on Fox Sports 1  drew a 0.1 overnight rating (which translates to 125,000 viewers). That number dropped to 0.07 for the second episode.

Those figures are well behind those of the pundit’s previous show ESPN 2’s First Take — now starring Bayless’s former partner, Stephen A. Smith. Per The Wrap, First Take pulled in a 0.32 overnight Wednesday — more than quadrupling Undisputed.

There is some good news for Bayless. Undisputed‘s numbers are way up from the timeslot’s previous offerings. The Wrap notes that random repeats which previously aired at that time attracted just 16,000 viewers.

Fox Sports 1 has made an enormous investment in Bayless. The Hollywood Reporter pegged his salary at close to $6 million per year.

In an interview with The Washington Post, ESPN mainstay Scott Van Pelt expressed deep skepticism that the moves Fox Sports 1 has made to ink high-profile, outspoken talent such as Bayless, Colin Cowherd, and Jason Whitlock will help the network gain much ground on ESPN.

(Fox Sports president) Jamie Horowitz is a guy that’s a friend, and every article he’s quoted in he mentions SportsCenter’s failing ratings. And not one says, “Well how about Speak for Yourself which gets 50,000 people.” We don’t have a single show that rates that badly. He gets constantly quoted talking about our ratings, and that is an astonishing thing that continues to happen. … At some point, if you’re going to talk [junk] about our ratings, you should be held accountable for yours. They’re not close. And by not close, I mean it’s like Washington to Los Angeles, not Washington to Baltimore. You’re a long, long, long, long flight away.

[image via screengrab]

–

Follow Joe DePaolo (@joe_depaolo) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!