The October 8 premiere of SABAN averaged 529,000 viewers on ESPN, making it the network’s most-watched Original debut since 2022, ESPN announced Monday.
The six-part documentary series also ranked third among ESPN Original premieres, the network said. The television audience figure comes from Nielsen Big Data + Panel measurement and ESPN Research and Analytics.
ESPN reported a separate measure of the series’ promotional reach. Content supporting SABAN has generated 110 million video views and 6.7 million engagements across the network’s social platforms since August.
Those social totals cover promotional content over several weeks. They are not the premiere’s television audience, an average streaming audience or a count of individual people who watched the full series.
Produced by ESPN and Words + Pictures, SABAN examines Nick Saban’s life and coaching career, including his partnership with his wife, Miss Terry, and his approach known as The Process.
All six episodes are available on the ESPN App. The second episode is scheduled to air on ESPN on Thursday, October 15, at 4 p.m. Mountain Time. ESPN’s release did not give a separate streaming audience for the series.
Audience figures
| Measure | Figure | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Premiere TV average | 529,000 | ESPN, Oct. 8 |
| Original debut ranking | Third | ESPN-reported historical rank |
| Social video views | 110M | Promotional content since August |
| Social engagements | 6.7M | Promotional content since August |
