- Sunday NFL Countdown Generating Highest Viewership Since 2015, Up 24% Year-Over-Year
- NFL Live Delivers Best Audience Since 2016, Again
- Revamped Monday Night Countdown See Growth Among Persons 18-34
- NFL PrimeTime Leads on ESPN+
The start of the NFL season has seen ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown presented by Snickers and NFL Live deliver their highest audiences in eight and seven seasons, respectively, while simultaneously raising their viewership among the key persons 18-49 demo and among women. The revamped Monday Night Countdown kicked off the season with a record audience and delivered growth in the persons 18-34 demo. The studio show success, combined with multiple Monday Night Football presented by Panera audience records, has resulted in a strong viewership start across ESPN’s entire NFL portfolio.
Sunday NFL Countdown Shows Remarkable Growth
Sunday NFL Countdown presented by Snickers (10 a.m.-1 p.m. ET) has generated its largest audience to begin a season since 2015, averaging 1.59 million viewers per show. The overall audience is up 24% year-over-year, 28% in the persons 18-49 demo and 31% amongst women. With those increases, the persons 18-49 demo accounts for nearly half the audience (47%) and women make up 27% of the audience.
In addition to overall success, individual week-to-week episodes have seen significant year-over-year growth in Weeks 2, 3 and 4.
NFL Live Continues to Elevate Audience, Tops Its Previous Multi-Year High Audience
NFL Live (4-5 p.m., Monday through Friday) continues its trend of elevating its own audience each year. Through the first five weeks of the season, the daily show is experiencing its best viewership since 2016, averaging 430,000 viewers a show. The audience is up 5% from last season – which at the time was the best start since 2016. Additional NFL Live highlights:
- Up 8% in the key persons 18-49 demo, which now makes up 44% of the audience.
- Women viewers are up 6%, now accounting for 19% of the audience.
Monday Night Countdown Among Younger Audiences
The re-imagined Monday Night Countdown presented by Panera (weekly, 6-8 p.m.) is up 3% in the persons 18-34 demo, continuing the positive viewership trend of ESPN’s studio shows in key young demos. The program also achieved the show’s best Week 1 audience since 2015 this season and overall is averaging 1.3 million viewers a show.
In Weeks 1 and 2, Monday Night Countdown aired for 30 minutes on ABC (7:30-8 p.m.), delivering an average of 3.95 million viewers. Those audiences are not included in the ESPN average.
NFL PrimeTime Continues to Lead on ESPN+
NFL PrimeTime, the iconic highlights show with Chris Berman and Booger McFarland, is the most-viewed studio show on ESPN+ since the start of the football season.
Please note: Sunday NFL Countdown excludes Week 5 when it went up against a London game not on ESPN platforms. Its year-over-year comparison is to Weeks 1-4 in 2022. Monday Night Countdown excludes Weeks 2 and 3 when the format was different due to multiple Monday Night Football games. NFL Live season-to-date range is Sept. 7 to Oct. 9 and compared to similar dates in past seasons.
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Media Contacts:
Derek Volner: [email protected]
Lily Blum: [email protected]
