ESPN’s flagship program has raised so many red flags that the Worldwide Leader is trying a shake-up.

As “SportsCenter’s” competition increases and its ratings decrease, the sports media powerhouse has taken desperate measures to spice up the show’s content and encourage viewers to stick with the original home of “all things sports.”

ESPN showed it’s committed to that reform plan Tuesday, when the network announced a makeover for the 6 p.m. edition of “SportsCenter,” signing veteran employees Michael Smith and Jemele Hill to multiyear deals to serve as co-hosts of the prime-time show. Smith and Hill, who have spent three years forging their on-air chemistry as hosts of “His & Hers” on ESPN2, are taking over for anchor Lindsay Czarniak, who is set to go on maternity leave in November.

The personnel change is the latest in ESPN’s effort to tailor each show to the time of the broadcast and the target audience. Last September, ESPN launched a late-night edition of “SportsCenter” and named Scott Van Pelt as host with the intention of creating more buzz around the sports highlights of the day and drawing viewers away from popular late-night shows with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel. The show, buoyed by Van Pelt’s humor and likability, has given “SportsCenter’s” ratings a boost and led to more breakthrough experiments, like Stan Verrett and Neil Everett’s West Coast show and a 7 a.m. edition begun in February.

“One thing we do know is that people watch differently over the course of the day,” Rob King, ESPN’s senior vice president of “SportsCenter” and news, told Variety Tuesday. “They have different needs.”

King targeted the 6 p.m. show, in particular, because he noticed people were less inclined to catch up on standard sports news and highlights after consuming it all day through online sources.

“By 6 p.m., and 3 p.m. on the West Coast, we understand that audiences have pretty much come across the headlines that have happened in the course of a day, either through social content, or through mobile or digital content,” King said. “What they actually really need is a sense of why it matters, and a sense of context, as opposed to just news.”

ESPN is banking on Smith and Hill’s conversational style giving the show more personality to make it more appealing to younger generations.

“We think it’s a pretty good model to match up a unique point of view, a unique voice, with a time of day,” King said.