Any television show will undergo a fair amount of change if it makes it to its 47th season. Inside the NFL is no exception, though the award-winning show has had its fair share recently.
On Monday, Inside the NFL announced it will be “flexed” from its Friday night time slot to Wednesday nights.
Inside The NFL is getting flexed 💪
Catch us WEDNESDAYS at 9/8c, starting this week on @TheCW! pic.twitter.com/kElIHqsJ5f
— Inside the NFL (@insidetheNFL) October 7, 2024
The move comes just five episodes into the new season, the first in which the show moved from its traditional Tuesday night slot to Fridays.
Inside the NFL is in its second season airing on The CW as part of a relatively recent pivot to sports programming from the broadcaster. The show does not lack for star power. Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back and current ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark hosts the show alongside a cast of three-time first-team All-Pro wide receiver Chad Johnson, two-time Super Bowl-winning defensive end Chris Long, and six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick.
The move from Friday to Wednesday could be explained by the viewership trends for the show so far this season. In five episodes to this point, four have aired on Friday while one episode aired on a Wednesday night to accommodate a NASCAR Xfinity Series race. The four Friday episodes have averaged just 277,000 viewers per Nielsen while the one Wednesday episode, which aired following week 2 of the NFL season, averaged 489,000 viewers on The CW, the most-watched episode since the show launched on the network last season.
Awful Announcing confirmed this reasoning with The CW, who also mentioned how Friday has become a crowded evening for football fans with the amount of college football games airing at that time. With both Fox and ESPN competing for eyeballs on Friday nights, it makes sense for The CW to shift to Wednesday which has less competition. Additionally, the move to Wednesday allows the Inside crew to preview the Thursday Night Football game happening the next day. The CW’s decision may also help fill programming gaps for NFL Network, which re-airs the show during hours when it doesn’t have live programming.
All-in-all, it seems like this move is a win-win. Football fans will have an easier time watching Inside the NFL, and The CW will get a larger audience.
