Flora Kelly

Hi, I'm Flora | SVP @ESPN Research | bringing you thoughts on fans, sports & media trends

[RightOnTopOfThatROSE @SueEllenCrandal]

SEE YOU IN CLEVELAND #alwaysknicks #Knicksnation @nyknicks

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

Men’s College Basketball is on fire at this point. On Monday Houston/Kansas drew 2M & Louisville/North Carolina drew 1.7M.

Big Monday, up +86% YoY.

The freshman class paired with a highly ranked Big 12 have really supercharged ratings.

[ESPN PR @ESPNPR]

It was another big week for Big Monday #NCAAMBB on ESPN 📈

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

On Saturday viewers watched 1.9 billion minutes of men’s college basketball across 19 live games – a single-day regular season record for ESPN. Growth was driven by Michigan/Duke at 4.3M & Arizona/Houston at 2.4M. Great momentum for the sport during a Winter Olympics weekend.

[ESPN PR @ESPNPR]

This past Saturday, viewers tuned in for a HISTORIC day of #NCAAMBB

🏀 @umichbball-@DukeMBB | 4.3M avg. viewers
🏀 @ArizonaMBB-@UHCougarMBK | 2.4M avg. viewers
🏀 ESPN’s most-consumed day of regular season men's college basketball on record (1.9B minutes watched)

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

Fellow Christ the King alumni showed what New York basketball is all about last night #ctkbasketball

[ESPN @espn]

JOSE ALVARADO WITH EIGHT THREES OFF THE BENCH 😳

Knicks new addition fitting in nicely 🔥

[Austin Karp @AustinKarp]

The @UNC_Basketball vs. @DukeMBB game on Saturday night drew 3.5 million viewers on ESPN, which is the best for the regular season matchup since Coach K's finale in March 2022.

Also ESPN's best regular season game in 4 years

[ESPN PR @ESPNPR]

This past weekend's '26 NHL #StadiumSeries DELIVERED!

🏒 Most-viewed #NHL reg. season game EVER on cable
🏒 Most-viewed Stadium Series on cable
🏒 ESPN's most-viewed NHL reg. season game on record

More: https://t.co/bs6qcloQVa

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

Sabalenka, Alcaraz, Djokovic, Sinner, Gauff, Anisimova, Pegula & Shelton are fueling tennis’s momentum.

Australian Open quarterfinals were the most-watched in nine years. Star power + depth matters.

[ESPN PR @ESPNPR]

2026 #AusOpen Quarterfinal action on ESPN & ESPN2 was the most-watched in 9 years

🎾 418K viewers, up 64% YoY

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

Every snowstorm brings the same assumption: “PUT will be up, ratings will follow.” This weekend says otherwise. OOH matters more than ever — and it’s why Friday Prime has quietly worked for us. Time to stop revisit viewing assumptions

[Austin Karp @AustinKarp]

NFL has least-watched conference championship Sunday since 2021

https://t.co/UhtK2rwwTj

[Brandon Zimmerman @BZSEC]

Vance from Georgia tells @finebaum that a tree fell through his house into his bedroom 10 minutes ago.

When asked why he decided to stay on the line, Vance says there was nothing he could immediately do about it, and assures us that he and his dogs are OK.

"I was on hold and thought, 'Well, what are you going to do? There's nothing you can do this second.'"

Unfazed, Vance goes ahead asks Paul a question about LSU's transfer portal class.

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

@chris_cook26 But week in week out it is difficult to watch. I know everyone is arguing that the SEC is “mid” but IMO overreaction . One CFP doesn’t mean that. Ole Miss kept it close with Miami -as did Ohio State. Indiana was absolutely dominant.

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

I agree with Mike on a lot, but I don’t think one title defines “product quality.”

Parity matters. The SEC delivers it: more double-ranked matchups in the regular season (23 vs 12) and significantly closer games (13.5 MOV vs 19.9 elsewhere).

That’s the weekly product.

[Michael Mulvihill @mulvihill79]

Having the best product on the field, which the B1G now obviously does, will help viewership but there are still going to be some meaningful structural advantages for SEC viewership.

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

@chris_cook26 Thank you for calmly disagreeing. For me a big part of “quality” is competitive games in the regular season. You have to admit many of those games were difficult to watch because they were so lopsided . No doubt some of the teams are absolutely dominating.

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

@TVGrimReaper We are both experienced professionals and we simply have a difference in opinion. I completely respect Mike. Instead of this post why don’t you post about the difference in his comment section vs mine. Not sure anyone called him a bimbo when he posted his opinion

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

@PLamRecruiting @espn I am talking about this year but okay by my math since 2006. Sec 14x, big 10 4x, acc 3x. What’s your point.

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

@richarddeitsch @bhofheimer_espn @jksports @bhofheimer_espn is the main act. No lead-in needed. 🤣🤣🤣

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

In a complex TV environment simplicity and lead-ins matter more

“Sankey attributes the SEC’s audience increase to its ardent fan base…..Stacking SEC double- & triple-headers on ABC also helped build audiences, as opposed to Big Ten games shown across different networks”

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

Two years since the two athletic conferences aggressively expanded, the SEC’s TV audiences are surging ahead of the Big Ten’s. https://t.co/uH2pHh6loz

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

30.1M viewers watched the National Championship Game. An amazing number period

Keep in mind that this number was reached without a Georgia/ Bama/ Michigan or Ohio State

And this number was reached on ESPN’s cable networks - no ABC distribution

Just let that sink in

[ESPN PR @ESPNPR]

The 2026 #NationalChampionship ft. @CanesFootball & @IndianaFootball delivered:

📈 30.1M viewers, 33.2M peak
🏈 2nd most-watched #CFBPlayoff title game
📺 2nd best cable telecast ever
🏆 Most-viewed non‑NFL sports event since '16 World Series Gm 7

🔗 https://t.co/IFdlYlrxmc

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

Houston/Patriots drew 37.9M a record-breaker for ESPN and a higher audience than the Sunday 3PM Divisional window delivered over the past two years.

Peak hit 45M between 5:45PM-6PM

[ESPN PR @ESPNPR]

ESPN's Divisional Round presentation delivered a historic audience‼️

More on ESPN's most-watched event ever: https://t.co/9CzmwIL9qp

[Austin Karp @AustinKarp]

Just a reminder:

The Pop-Tarts Bowl (8.696 million viewers) was slightly higher than the Golden Globes last weekend (8.660 million)

[Flora Kelly @ESPNFlora]

Now that MNF is in: this year’s NFL Wild Card weekend was up 13% across all networks.

Pitt–Houston pulled 29.1M viewers—one of ESPN’s most-watched Wild Card games in our history and up 15% YoY.

[ESPN PR @ESPNPR]

ESPN's presentation of @HoustonTexans-@steelers concluded a thrilling #NFL Wild Card weekend🎉