ESPN recently attained its second most-watched season of Monday Night Football in 24 years, averaging 15 million viewers per game on linear television and reaching 112 million fans. On top of that, the 10-episode regular-season slate of Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli averaged 1 million viewers per episode, marking the fourth consecutive year it has attained this threshold. Concurrent with the viewership success of live game broadcast feeds, ESPN NFL studio programming also had a strong year that was led by Monday Night Countdown averaging 1.34 million viewers per episode.
The Monday Night Countdown program broadcast from the studio and traveled on the road throughout the season, garnering a 5% year-over-year improvement in average viewership. This was the first season under the current cast of the program, which includes host Scott Van Pelt with analysts Ryan Clark, Jason Kelce and Marcus Spears. Michelle Beisner-Buck and Adam Schefter contributed to the program throughout the year as well with comprehensive storytelling and breaking news.
The program bolstered its viewership in multiple demographics, increasing 16% among women and 7% among Persons 2-17. The Week 17 broadcast of the show ahead of the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers game emanated live from Santa Clara, Calif. outside Levi’s Stadium and averaged 2.4 million viewers, its most-watched episode since 2016.
ESPN had additional success with Sunday NFL Countdown, celebrating its 40th season on the air with Mike Greenberg hosting in his first year. The program averaged 1.2 million viewers per episode, down 10% year-over-year after achieving its most-watched regular season since 2019. Average viewership for the program was up from the 2020 and 2021 seasons as it led viewers into the Sunday afternoon slate of games.
Broadcasting during the week from 4 to 5 p.m. EST, NFL Live averaged 381,000 viewers per show in the NFL season. The show was down by 6.15% from its average of 406,000 viewers last season, but it surpassed viewership in 2019 before the show was revamped with its current cast, consisting of Laura Rutledge, Dan Orlovsky, Marcus Spears, Mina Kimes and Ryan Clark.
The Saturday NFL Matchup program on ESPN averaged 313,000 viewers, which represented a year-over-year increase in the similar day and timeslot in 2023. Moreover, NFL Primetime with Chris Berman and Booger McFarland continued its stretch as the most-watched original studio program on ESPN+ during the season.
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