ESPN’s X Games sees hefty audience growth on TV and digital

At a time when some major sporting events like the Olympics have been reporting disappointing ratings, similar problems did not plague the return of ESPN’s X Games Summer Competition in mid-July.

The event was cancelled last year as a result of the pandemic but in its July 2021 return, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC experienced double-digit viewership increases on television and triple-digit growth on @XGames social and digital media platforms, ESPN reported on July 26.

X Games 2021 telecasts, totaling 15.5 hours of content, saw a 13% bounce in TV viewing versus X Games Minneapolis in 2019.

On the social media front, X Games 2021 delivered more than 105 million video views – a 439% increase from X Games Minneapolis 2019 – and 326 million impressions across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, which drove an increase of 318% versus 2019.

Following the success of X Games Aspen 2021 on TikTok, X Games once again teamed with the platform to stream 17 competitions and feature a #XGamesMode banner on the TikTok discover page from July 14-16. This resulted in 1.9 million live views on TikTok, adding to the total X Games 2021 livestream views of 6.75 million across all social platforms.

X Games 2021 also delivered more than 105 million video views (+439% from 2019) and 326 million impressions (+318%) across its TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat

The #XGamesMode hashtag on TikTok added more than 400 million views over the week of X Games 2021 and has currently surpassed 2.2 billion total views

Internationally, X Games 2021 was syndicated in 192 countries and territories and to more than 500 million homes. TV Technology