• Monday Night Countdown and NFL Live attain their best regular seasons in nearly a decade
• Sunday NFL Countdown records its most-watched regular season since 2019
• All three signature NFL on ESPN studio shows increased their audiences by double digits vs. 2024, delivering strong growth across key demos, including P18–49, youth, and female audiences
• NFL Primetime tops ESPN App studio show offerings among ESPN original content
• Multiple editions of Monday Night Countdown, Postseason NFL Countdown, NFL Live & NFL Primetime surround the postseason

ESPN’s NFL studio shows turned in a standout 2025 regular season, with Monday Night Countdown, Sunday NFL Countdown and NFL Live, all delivering double-digit year-over-year growth and reaching multi-year audience highs, with NFL Primetime leading the way on the ESPN app among ESPN original content.

Overall, NFL Live and Monday Night Countdown each posted their most-watched season since 2016, while Sunday NFL Countdown averaged its largest audience since 2019. Contributing to this success were strong increases across all key demographic groups for each show—most notably among the coveted P18–49 demo, as well as female and youth audiences.

ESPN’s successful 2025 NFL studio show performance coincides with Monday Night Football delivering its second-most-watched season in the past 20 years.

The slate of NFL studio shows will continue into the playoffs with Postseason NFL Countdown (utilizing the Sunday NFL Countdown commentators) and NFL Primetime throughout the weekend. Concluding the Wild Card round of the playoffs, Monday Night Countdown and NFL Live will proceed ESPN’s presentation of Texans-Steelers on Monday, Jan. 12.

Monday Night Countdown records consecutive seasons of strong female audience growth with 25% increase
Monday Night Countdown (Monday, 6–8 p.m., ESPN) averaged 1.6 million viewers, up 14% vs. 2024, marking its second straight season of strong year-over-year growth. The show posted gains across all key demos, including a 25% jump among female fans (after increasing their female audience by 16% in 2024), a 38% increase among youth viewers (P2-17) and a 4% increase in the key sales demo (Persons 18-49). In Week 16, Monday Night Countdown recorded its season-high audience of 1.8 million viewers.

Led by Scott Van Pelt alongside Ryan Clark, Jason Kelce, Marcus Spears, Michelle Besnier-Buck, Adam Schefter, the pregame show continued to build energy and anticipation ahead of kickoff.

Sunday NFL Countdown jumps 15% vs. 2024, driving double-digit growth across all demos
Sunday NFL Countdown (Sunday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., ESPN), elevated their audience to 1.34 million average viewers, up 15% vs. 2024. The premier Sunday pregame show experienced double-digit growth across all key demos, highlighted by a 12% increase amongst Persons 18–49, a 28% increase amongst the youth audience (P2-17) and a female audience jump of 29%.

Hosted by Mike Greenberg, alongside Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss, Rex Ryan, Alex Smith, Adam Schefter, Erin Dolan and well-connected national NFL reporters, Sunday NFL Countdown seamlessly set the table for a full day of NFL action throughout the season.

NFL Live continues to thrive as youth viewership climbs 78%, female viewership jumps 48%
NFL Live (Monday, 3–5 p.m. ET; Tuesday–Friday, 4–5 p.m. ET, ESPN) averaged 449,000 viewers during the regular season—up 18% vs. 2024. On Mondays, originating from the Monday Night Football game site and expanding to two hours, the show averaged 502,000 viewers, up 15% vs. 2024. Notably, December 8, NFL Live delivered its most-watched episode in more than two years, drawing 570,000 viewers.

Impressively, NFL Live led year-over-year growth among ESPN’s NFL studio-show portfolio, posting gains across all key audiences, including a 48% increase among female viewers, a 78% increase among youth viewers (Persons 2–17), and a 14% increase in the key sales demo (Persons 18–49).

Fresh off its Sports Emmy win for Outstanding Studio Show – Daily in May 2025, NFL Live—led by Laura Rutledge alongside Ryan Clark, Andrew Hawkins, Mina Kimes, Jason McCourty Dan Orlovsky, Adam Schefter, Peter Schrager and Marcus Spears—continued to thrive as appointment weekday viewing.

NFL Primetime leads ESPN app among all ESPN original studio programming
NFL Primetime (Sunday, 7:30 p.m. and on-demand) remained the most-viewed ESPN original studio show on the ESPN app. The iconic highlights show, featuring Chris Berman and Booger McFarland, recapped Sunday’s action each week.

NFL Matchup continues bringing fans the Xs and Os
NFL Matchup (Saturday and Sunday, ESPN), which has existed for over 40 years, kicks off NFL-centric programming each weekend of the season. Sunday editions of the film-study show saw increases of 11% among female viewers and 13% among youth viewers.

More on ESPN’s postseason studio programming
Postseason NFL Countdown will debut on Saturday (10 a.m.–Noon ET, ESPN) and Sunday (10 a.m.–1 p.m. ET, ESPN), leading into Wild Card action. NFL Primetime will be live on the ESPN app immediately following the final game each night (approximately 11:20 p.m. ET) and available on demand.

Monday Night Countdown (6-8 p.m. ET, ESPN) will precede ESPN’s Wild Card showdown between the Texans and Steelers following NFL Live, which kicks off coverage from Pittsburgh (3–5 p.m. ET, ESPN). Additional details on ESPN’s Divisional Round studio programming will be announced in the coming days.

Notes: Sunday NFL Countdown excludes weeks it went up against an NFL international game. Monday Night Countdown excludes weeks in which the format was different due to multiple MNF games. NFL Live includes ESPN episodes only, and season-to-date range is Sept. 4 to end of regular season and compared to similar dates in past seasons.

-30-