As a seasoned gamer of sports and statistics, I must say that these numbers are nothing short of astounding! The expanded College Football Playoff has truly taken the excitement to new heights, with record-breaking viewership figures that put even some of the most highly anticipated games this season in the shade.
As a die-hard college football enthusiast, I must say that the debut of the enlarged College Football Playoff may not have delivered any timeless classics on the field, but certainly caught the eyes of a substantial number of viewers on their screens.
The first four games of the initial round played on both Friday and Saturday garnered an average of 10.6 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, and TNT Sports. Among these contests, the evening matches – Tennessee versus Ohio State on Saturday and Indiana against Notre Dame on Friday – were the second and third most-watched college football games this season.
This year’s College Football Playoff (CFP) games differ significantly from previous years, as only four teams were involved instead of the usual format. Despite this change, ESPN points out that the combined viewership for these four games surpassed the average viewership of non-CFP New Year’s bowls after the 2023 season (8.14 million viewers) and even exceeded the average audience of this year’s major conference championship games (10 million viewers).
On Saturday evening, Ohio State’s victory against Tennessee with a score of 42-17 attracted the largest television audience during the initial round, boasting 14.3 million viewers on ESPN and ABC. Previously, Notre Dame’s 27-17 win over Indiana on Friday night had garnered 13.4 million viewers; they currently rank second only to the SEC championship game on December 7 (with 16.6 million viewers) among all college football broadcasts this season.
On Saturday, TNT Sports broadcast two daytime games as part of a sub-licensing agreement with ESPN, who holds the rights. These games turned out to be the two most-viewed college football matches ever on TNT, marking their return to airing college games since 2006. The Texas vs Clemson game, which ended in a 38-24 victory for Texas, attracted 8.6 million viewers during the late afternoon hours, while Penn State’s dominating 38-10 win over SMU brought in an average of 6.4 million viewers during the noon Eastern Time slot.
ESPN plans to broadcast the rest of the playoffs, culminating in the national championship match on January 20th. The semi-finals last year attracted around 23.3 million spectators, while the championship game pulled in a viewership of approximately 25.05 million.
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2024-12-24 02:24