The NFL is back and while the drama on the field usually takes most of the attention, some big moves in the commentary booths have made headlines in 2024.
The NFL is back and while the drama on the field usually takes most of the attention, some big moves in the commentary booths have made headlines in 2024.
With the broadcasting debut of legendary quarterback Tom Brady and commentary teams being reshuffled, we wanted to see which play-by-play and color analysts NFL fans enjoy listening to. To do that, we used a social listening tool to analyze posts and mentions of every commentator who featured on a broadcast during the first two weeks of the 2024 NFL Regular Season.
The data revealed that Fox’s Adam Amin is the commentator fans enjoy the most. When looking at positive and negative posts mentioning Amin, a whopping 63% were positive.
With the arrival of Tom Brady to Fox, former NFL tight end Greg Olsen is now teamed up with Joe Davis in the booth. The new pair seem to have gone down well with fans as both had enough positive online sentiment to put them in the top five.
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo made a seamless transition into broadcasting after his retirement. From his detailed analysis to perfect play predictions, Romo quickly became one of the more popular figures in NFL broadcasting. Fans still seem to enjoy Romo’s ability in the booth as posts mentioning him had a positive sentiment score of 45%, putting him in 9th place.
When looking at Brady himself, 29% of posts mentioning the seven-time Super Bowl winner during weeks one and two were positive which placed him just inside the top 20.
The top 20 most popular NFL commentators can be found below.
Rank | Commentator | Network | Positive Sentiment |
1 | Adam Amin | Fox | 63% |
2 | Mike Tirico | Sunday Night Football (NBC) | 59% |
3 | Joe Davis | Fox | 58% |
4 | Greg Olsen | Fox | 56% |
5 | Jim Nantz | CBS | 55% |
6 | Noah Eagle | NBC | 49% |
7 | Jason McCourty | CBS | 48% |
8 | Kevin Harlan | CBS | 46% |
9 | Tony Romo | CBS | 45% |
10 | Kenny Albert | Fox | 42% |
11 | Adam Archuleta | CBS | 42% |
12 | Tom McCarthy | CBS | 38% |
13 | Ian Eagle | CBS | 34% |
14 | Charles Davis | CBS | 33% |
15 | Troy Aikman | Monday Night Football (ABC/ESPN) | 32% |
16 | Spero Dedes | CBS | 32% |
17 | Kevin Burkhardt | Fox | 31% |
18 | Mark Sanchez | Fox | 31% |
19 | Joe Buck | Monday Night Football (ABC/ESPN) | 30% |
20 | Tom Brady | Fox | 29% |
There were some big names in the broadcasting world missing from the top 20. Perhaps surprisingly, NBC’s Cris Collinsworth and his former colleague Al Michaels missed out. Collinsworth received a positive sentiment score of just 11% following the first two Sunday Night Football games, whereas Michaels received a score of 26% after this season’s first Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime Video.
And while you’re preparing to enjoy the game, make sure you check out our NFL betting for some of the best sports betting options. And if you’re interested in more NFL stats, check out our blog for all the insider knowledge on your favorite team.
Methodology
We looked at announcing assignments for weeks one and two of the NFL Regular Season and listed the play-by-play and color commentators who covered games.
Using the social listening tool Brandwatch, we analyzed online mentions of each commentator from Thursday 5th September 2024 to Monday 16th September 2024.
Each commentator was then ranked by the percentage of mentions which were positive.
Data correct as of 09/16/2024.
