The audience for the ESPYs has disappeared

Award shows are a dying form of entertainment. And ESPN’s ESPYs have become the Detroit Lions of award shows, reaching a unique mark of futility at a time when all award shows are struggling.

It was thought that the 2020 ESPYs, left to flounder during the pandemic at a time when sports had stopped, might have been a victim of circumstance. The awards had 482,000 viewers last year, setting a new record low from the 1.98 million in 2018. But, while sports came back last year, the ESPYs audience did not: Only 1.1 million tuned in for the award show on Sunday.