More than a third of Sunday afternoon’s NFL pregame audience is tuning into CBS this year, claiming significant market share gains over similar programming offered by Fox and ESPN.
Through the first four weeks of the season, an average of 7.9 million households watched the three pregame shows each week, unchanged from the same period last year. CBS’s share has increased approximately five points, while ESPN and Fox lost four and one percentage points, respectively.
Greg Gumbel hosts “NFL Today” on CBS along with analysts Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason and Shannon Sharpe. The Fox “NFL Sunday” studio crew includes James Brown, Howie Long, Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson. “Sunday NFL Countdown” on ESPN is hosted by Chris Berman, and includes Michael Irvin, Tom Jackson, Chris Mortensen and Steve Young.
| Week-by-week comparison of Sunday NFL pregame shows on Fox, CBS and ESPN for the first month of the season. |
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| Fox “NFL Sunday” (noon-1 p.m.) |
| Week | 2005 Rating/share | 2004 | 2003 | Change 2004-05 | Change 2003-05 |
| 1 | 3.2/9 | 4.0/12 | 3.5/10 | -20.0% | -8.6% |
| 2 | 2.7/8 | 2.9/8 | 3.1/9 | -6.9% | -12.9% |
| 3 | 2.8/7 | 3.5/10 | 2.7/8 | -20.0% | 3.7% |
| 4 | 3.1/8 | 3.1/9 | 3.0/8 | 0.0% | 3.3% |
| Season-to-date average | 3.0/8 | 3.4/10 | 3.2/9 | -11.8% | -6.3% |
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| CBS “NFL Today” (noon-1 p.m.) |
| Week | 2005 Rating/share | 2004 | 2003 | Change 2004-05 | Change 2003-05 |
| 1 | 2.8/8 | 2.8/8 | 3.1/9 | 0.0% | -9.7% |
| 2 | 2.7/7 | 2.2/6 | 2.6/7 | 22.7% | 3.8% |
| 3 | 2.2/6 | 1.9/5 | 2.2/6 | 15.8% | 0.0% |
| 4 | 2.1/6 | 2.3/7 | 2.2/6 | -8.7% | -4.5% |
| Season-to-date average | 2.5/8 | 2.3/6 | 2.4/7 | 8.7% | 4.2% |
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| ESPN “Sunday NFL Countdown” (11 a.m.-1 p.m.) |
| Week | 2005 coverage area rating | 2004 | 2003 | Change 2004-05 | Change 2003-05 |
| 1 | 2 | 2.3 | 2.2 | -13.0% | -9.1% |
| 2 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.2 | -4.3% | 0.0% |
| 3 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.1 | -13.6% | -9.5% |
| 4 | 2 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 5.3% | -16.7% |
| Season-to-date average | 2 | 2.2 | 2.2 | -8.0% | -8.0% |
