ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” Achieves its Most-Watched Regular Season Since 2019 & All NFL on ESPN Studio Shows Increased Viewership in Key Demos, Highlighting the 2023 Success

• Sunday NFL Countdown Up 8% Year-Over-Year and Second Best Viewership in Almost a Decade

• Monday Night Countdown Maintains Audience on ESPN, Averages More than Four Million for Select ABC Shows

• NFL Live Adds to its Most-Watched Seasons Since 2016 with Current Cast

• NFL Primetime Leads the Way on ESPN+ Again

ESPN’s NFL studio shows added to success of the NFL on ESPN’s entire 2023 season with Sunday NFL Countdown generating its best viewership since 2019, Monday Night Countdown gaining more exposure on ABC and maintaining its audience on ESPN and NFL Live adding to the current cast’s successful run since the revamp several seasons ago.

Sunday NFL Countdown with Season-Long and Weekly Wins

Sunday NFL Countdown (10 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET) earned its most-watched regular season since 2019 and its second best since 2016, as the weekly pregame show elevated its audience to 1,335,000 viewers per show. The viewership marks a significant 8% jump from the 2022 season and was up 15% from the 2021 season. This season, Sunday NFL Countdown increased its audience in every key demo including Persons 18-49 (6%), Persons 18-24 (3%), and Females (5%).

On the months-long path to season success, the show produced many weekly wins, including delivering its most-watched episode in nine seasons (Week 4) and matching its most-watched Week 2 episode since 2016. The early success was sustained throughout the season, including a New Year’s Eve edition (Week 17) which was up 9% year-over-year.

Current Era of NFL Live Continues to Out Pace Prior Years

The current era of NFL Live – with Ryan Clark, Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky, Marcus Spears and Laura Rutledge – continues to outpace former iterations, as the daily show deepens its connection with NFL fans.

This season’s NFL Live (4 – 5 p.m. ET, daily), with a viewership of 406,000 viewers, along with the 2021 and 2022 seasons of the show, are the three most-watched seasons of NFL Live dating back to 2016. Additionally, the show increased its younger audience, with a jump in Persons 18-24, and achieved a highwater mark for the year with 588,000 viewers on October 31 – the show’s NFL Trade Deadline edition. Andrew Hawkins also contributed to the show regularly this season.

Monday Night Countdown Delivers Multiple Wins Across ABC and ESPN

Monday Night Countdown (6 – 8 p.m.) averaged 1.4 million viewers on ESPN-only and an additional 4.2 million viewers for the five shows on ABC, providing the lead-in to ESPN’s Monday Night Football’s 20+ year viewership high. The show’s ESPN-only viewership was in-line with the show’s 2022 viewership, even with more MNF on ABC, and, continuing the trend of increases in demos, the show elevated its female audience (2%), as well as its younger audience by 3% (Persons 12 – 17) this season. This year was the most extensive presence the show has had on ABC in the current era of Monday Night Football.

NFL Matchup with Strong Growth

NFL Matchup (Saturdays) earned its best audience since 2019, as the weekly film breakdown program averaged 320,000 viewers. The audience was up 7% year-over-year.

NFL Primetime Leads the Way on ESPN+

NFL Primetime (Sundays, 7:30 p.m. ET and on-demand) continuous to be the most-watched original studio program on ESPN+ during the season.

Please note: Sunday NFL Countdown excludes weeks it went up against an International game not on an ESPN platform. Monday Night Countdown excludes Weeks 2 and 3 when format was different due to multiple Monday Night Football games. NFL Live season-to-date range is Sept. 7 to end of regular season and compared to similar dates in past seasons.