re: Whitlock: How a Gawker-Affiliated Website Made ESPN Politically Correct

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Sure, there's multiple reasons. ESPN's content as of right now, hasn't really hurt them all that much. it doesn't mean it won't in the future, just means not that many people are cutting the cord with the main reason being that they just don't like ESPN any more.

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Except that it has. Here are some facts for you Deep Root Analytics

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We analyzed viewership data in a large media market in a swing state (Cincinnati, OH) for the entirety of 2015 and 2016. Also, to control for any changes in partisan identification between 2015 and 2016, Deep Root Analytics analyzed viewership among the same audiences across both years.

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In our analysis, a clear trend emerges: ESPN’s viewership in this key swing state market became less Republican during 2016.

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In 2016, every daypart on ESPN became less conservative, with Daytime being only 2% more Republican than Democratic, while Late Fringe and Overnight programming became 10% and 12% more Democratic than Republican – a 22 and 28 point shift, respectively. The same is true across other ESPN properties. ESPN2 skewed Republican across most dayparts in 2015; in 2016 all dayparts skewed Democratic. Every daypart also switched on ESPN News from 2015 to 2016. ESPNU was the only network that retained its mostly Republican audience.

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Sports fans are cutting the cord DESPITE THE FACT that it will cost them ESPN. This is the first time in the history of the channel that this is the case.